By Paul Green for Numismatic News

It should be elusive, if not rare. It is neither. This is what makes the 1880 gold dollar such an interesting coin, even if we are not quite sure of the story behind the hoard that makes it available.

During the 1850s the gold dollar had been much more popular than the silver dollar. Silver dollars had mintage totals of less than 100,000 and were mostly produced at the main facility. Gold dollars were being produced not just at Philadelphia, but also at assorted branch mints. The total at Philadelphia was sometimes in the millions.

By 1880, however, the gold dollar had fallen from favor. Much had changed since the 1850s. The Civil War played a major role in causing gold to all but disappear from circulation, except in California. Even though gold was back by 1880, there had been other changes as well.

Posted by: John Roberts on ANACS

Efforts to make America’s everyday coinage more artistically appealing reached a peak in 1916 with the introduction of the Mercury Dime, the Walking Liberty Half Dollar and the Standing Liberty Quarter. Struck in the final weeks of December and released in January of the new year, the 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter has one of the lowest mintages of any 20th century coin issued for actual circulation with 52,000 pieces. While they are not of the rarity that the date is often purported to possess, the 1916 is a key date in a popularly collected series and no set of Standing Liberty Quarters may be considered complete without an example. The coin has a long history of strong demand and even stronger prices. Retail pricing information may be found in the latest edition of A Guide Book of United States Coins available at www.whitmanbooks.com