By Richard Giedroyc – HCC Rare Coins

Once upon a time gold was worth a paltry amount compared to the lofty figures it commands per ounce today. Since gold didn’t have such an incredible value, nor did it fluctuate much in price, it was practical to be used as a coinage metal.

The United States is only one of many countries that over many centuries issued gold composition coins. As the United States expanded so did its need for circulating coinage. In 1848 gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in California. People dropped whatever they were doing, sometimes almost literally, and headed for the west coast of what today is the United States to seek their fortunes. Believe it or not even the gold mines in the Carolinas and Georgia in the Appalachian Mountains were abandoned as people perceived that it would be much easier to mine the golden metal in California than in the east.

Some found what they sought. Others would be disappointed. One thing, however, was certain. If the population explosion in California was to be sustained economically either barter would have to be greatly expanded or a lot more coins than had been available were going to be needed in commerce.

The United States recognized the need for a regionally located mint to fill this need. Prior to the establishment of the San Francisco Mint facility in 1854 private parties, primarily jewelers and assayers, produced their own coinage to fill the void. Since gold was readily available while silver was not the private coinage issuers in California used gold to produce what today are generally referred to as Pioneer or Private and Territorial Gold issues.

Although most collectors will remember the more famous issues struck in denominations of $5, $10, $20, and $50, these same private minters struck fractional denominations as well. These “quarters,” “half dollars,” and “dollars” were also struck in gold, since silver was not generally as available. These coins are tiny, many of them being less than 20 millimeters in diameter. (more…)

Much has been written about the $20 Saint-Gaudens series since it is quite possibly the most popular gold coin sought after today. I’d like to discuss the rarity/value relationship of the top ten scarcest dates, in mint state condition. I will exclude the 1933 from this discussion since there is only one coin legal to own and therefore unobtainable by the majority of registry collectors. Although most coins have appreciated in value over the last 10 years, the Saint-Gaudens series has been the area of some of the biggest increases. In compiling this list, PCGS and NGC population numbers are used as a starting point as well as CDN values over the last ten years. Needless to say, population report numbers are not entirely accurate due to resubmissions; however they do still represent a high degree of accuracy. The increasing popularity of registry sets makes such analysis important for current and future collectors. (All population data is current as of 2/2/07)

#10) 1908-S:

The 1908-S has the distinction of being the lowest mintage date (22,000) in the series (aside from the 1907 $20 High Relief) Since we are focusing on mint state examples today, some would be surprised to see this date in the top ten list, however with a certified PCGS population of 121 and an NGC population of 124 in all mint state grades I rank it number 10.

Most Uncirculated coins have soft satiny luster and an adequate strike. There are a small number of heavily abraded and unattractive lower grade mint state coins which came over from Europe in the last few years. None of those coins were above MS-63 in quality. This may be the reason that the CDN bid price has not adequately reflected this date’s value over the last 3 or 4 years. For example; 1908S has a current MS-63 CDN bid of $15,500. These have been trading at auction in the last year for between $19,578 and $21,850. The latter coin I purchased out of the ANR sale in Chicago, July of last year. Needless to say I resold the coin for a profit. The relative grey sheet value of the 1908S should therefore resemble the value of other key date Saints with equal rarity and population. (more…)

By Rob Lehmann – www.reedededge.com

There are many dates of Morgan Dollars which are collected as the semi-keys and keys. Carson City rarities, such as the 1879-CC, 1889-CC and 1893-CC have always been at the top of most collectors want lists. New Orleans, which produced both rare and deficient quality coins has their notable run of “toughies” between 1893 and 1897.
No single group of collective dates in the entire series is as rare as the key-date San Francisco Morgans.

All of these dates are scarce in mint state, and the 1895-O in particular, is downright rare. Even Philadelphia contributes the conditionally rare 1901-P as well as the proof-only 1895-P. Despite the aforementioned coins, no single group of collective dates in the entire series is as rare as the key-date San Francisco Morgans. There are eight dates in particular, and we’ll take an in-depth look at each in detail; 1883-S, 1884-S, 1892-S, 1893-S, 1895-S, 1896-S, 1903-S and finally the 1904-S.

1883-S …………………………………………………………………..

Most uncirculated 1883-S Morgan Dollars came out of a handful of bags, several of which can be attributed to the LaVere Redfield hoard. Most 1883 Morgans produced in San Francisco found their way into circulation. This is a fairly common date in circulated grades, and is very available in grades up to AU. However, in mint state the 1883-S becomes scarce and in GEM BU (MS-65 and above) it is very rare. 1883-S dollars tend to be very frosty, and for the most part, are well struck. What plagues them, and this is especially true with the Redfield pieces, is a proliferation of bag marks. Finding a mark-free GEM with full, original blazing luster is a rare proposition. Although 1883-S dollars are known to exhibit semi-PL surfaces, and even some one-sided DMPL pieces are known, truly PL and DMPL two-sided pieces are rare. The most amazing example that this author has ever seen was the Clapp-Eliasberg specimen which graded MS-67PL at PCGS, and sold in the Eliasberg sale for $143,000.00. It was a truly GEM specimen, void of any mentionable contact marks and exhibited even satiny PL surfaces on both the obverse and the reverse. Overall, this is a greatly underrated date in GEM BU, and the current greysheet MS-65 price of $16,000.00 does not reflect its true scarcity.

1884-S …………………………………………………………………..

The 1884-S Morgan is one of the great anomalies in the Morgan Dollar series. Coming from a seemingly high mintage of 3.2 million pieces, this date is plentiful in grades up to AU and is downright common in grades of VG-VF. Mint state coins are a whole different matter. From a population standpoint, the 1884-S ranks as the 4th rarest Morgan Dollar in mint state behind only the 1892-S, 1893-S and 1895-O. This is a date which before the advent of third party grading was neither considered rare or particularly desirable. This was due to an abundance of AU and slider coins which got passed off as uncirculated. Today, most of the known truly uncirculated coins fall into the MS-60 through MS-62 grades. Most of these pieces are well struck with nice satiny luster and an abundance of contact marks. There are a few semi-PL pieces also known, which may exhibit minor to major striking weakness. I have never seen a truly cartwheel, frosty 1884-S Morgan. Equally as rare are truly PL and DMPL coins. Choice MS-63 pieces are very scarce. MS-64 pieces are RARE. And any coins meriting MS-65 and above grades are prohibitively rare, surpassed only at this grade level by the 1893-S, 1896-O and 1901-P. The few gems that are known are absolutely magnificent., with the astounding George Bodway-Jack Lee PCGS MS-68 being the finest. These GEM pieces exhibit thick, satiny luster (much like the known GEM 1892-S survivors), with an almost total absence of bag marks. The appearance in the market of a GEM 1884-S Morgan is a rare instance indeed. Furthermore, the Redfield hoard did not yield any of this date. (more…)

By Len Ratzman – The California Numismatist – CoinLink Content Partner

The high only lasted a couple of hours.

It took only that long to find out that my friend’s 1795 Flowing Hair 3-leaf dollar in MS-55 (my estimate) that had been left to her by her greatgrandfather was, sadly, only a good counterfeit.

When Sarah called me from work that day, she didn’t even say hello. Her fi rst, excited words were, “Len, what do you know about old dollars?” I told her my thirty-plus years in numismatics coveting only buffalo nickels didn’t include silver dollars of any age. But, since she knew nothing about coins, she knew from 20 years of friendship that I could research the coin for her.

When she told me over the phone that the dollar was dated 1795, it didn’t take a specialist in the hobby to know instantly what potential value laid waiting to be realized.

I jumped into the car and made it to the restaurant where she worked in 11 minutes—normally a 20 minute drive. With my loupe already in hand, I said, “Hi,” and with indescribable anticipation asked her to show me the coin.

Although my grading skills only covered buffaloes from 30 years of studying them, I could still tell from the fi ne detail that, if genuine, the grading companies would probably register the dollar as an MS-55 or better. Cha-ching!

The next two hours were a blur of researching the Internet, visiting coinrelated Web sites, phone calls to local dealers and opening that latest Red Book to a section I hadn’t ever paid attention to.

But wait! A $30,000 coin just popping up out of nowhere? If it’s too good to be true, it usually isn’t. So, before I started making plans to send in the coin to be registered, I dug a little deeper and learned from a prominent expert on dollars that countless counterfeits from a foreign country had reached the states and there were two ways to tell a fake from the real thing: (more…)