This denomination was produced from 1854 to 1889. For more details and history behind the series I suggest that you read the book the Q. David Bowers and I wrote in 2005. It is available through Stack’s and fine numismatic booksellers everywhere.

The ten rarest Three Dollar gold pieces are as follows:

1. 1870-S:

The 1870-S is the only unique regular issue U.S. gold coin. The sole example resides in the Harry Bass core collection that is currently housed in the ANA Museum in Colorado Springs. Bass purchased it for $687,500 at the Eliasberg sale in 1982. It had been acquired by private treaty from Stack’s in January 1946 for $11,500. The coin is not visually impressive when you see it in person. It has the details of Extremely Fine/About Uncirculated but it was once used as a watch fob by the former Chief Coiner of the San Francisco mint. It has the numbers “893” scratched on the reverse above the wreath tips at 12:00. Nonetheless, it remains one of the two most desirable regular issue United States gold coins, along with the 1822 half eagle. What would this coin bring if sold in the near future? That’s a hard question to answer. There are not many collectors that specialize in this series and the coin itself, as I mentioned above, is not destined to win any beauty contests. That said, it’s unique and it’s a legitimate regular issue with no mystery or controversy trailing it. I’d set the over/under line at $5 million and probably take the over…if I were a betting man.

2. 1875:

This date has been a celebrated rarity for well over a century and it is the first United States coin to eclipse the $100,000 mark at public auction, all the way back in 1972. The mintage is traditionally said to be 20 pieces, all in a Proof format. We can deduce with certainty that more than this were made to satisfy contemporary demand. Today, there are between two and three dozen known. Ironically, the 1875 is among the least rare Three Dollar proofs from this era, in relation to the total numbers known. But the fact that business strikes do not exist make it a very rare issue from the standpoint of overall availability. Gems continue to sell in the $175,000-250,000+ range and the level of demand for the 1875 continues to be as strong as ever.

3. 1876:

The 1876 is the second Proof-only date in the three dollar series. Like the 1875, its reported original mintage (45 coins in this case) does not include examples that were made later in the year for collectors. I believe that as many as 50-60 are known and it is possible that the original mintage may have been as high as 75-100. The 1876 is actually one of the most common dates of this entire type as far as Proofs go but, as with the 1875, there are no business strikes known which make it very rare from the standpoint of total numbers extant. Proofs are usually seen in the PR63 to PR64 range and Gems are rare with probably no more than a dozen or so known. There are auction records for this date in the high five figures as recently as a year or two ago.

4. 1873:

The 1873 Three Dollar exists with two significant varieties. The first is the Closed 3 which was struck as both a business strike and a Proof. The exact mintage of business strikes is not known but it is estimated to be in the area of 750-1000 pieces. There are around 75-100 known in all grades with most seen in the EF40 to AU50 range. In Uncirculated, the 1873 Closed 3 is very rare with six to eight known. The highest graded are a small number of MS64’s but I can’t recall having seen one that I felt was better than MS63. Proofs of this variety exist and these are extremely rare with just half a dozen or so known. There are also Proof 1873 Three Dollars with an Open 3. The estimated mintage is 40-50 (despite a Mint report of just 25 being produced) with fewer than 20 believed to exist. Business strike 1873 Closed 3 Three Dollar gold pieces are usually seen with semi-prooflike or nearly fully prooflike surfaces and most show extensive vertical die striations in the fields.

5. 1877:

Until fairly recently, this was a secret date in the Three Dollar series whose true rarity was known mainly by specialists. It has become better known and with good reason. There were a total of 1,468 business strikes produced of which an estimated 75-100 exist today. Most are in the EF45 to AU55 range and this date is very rare in Uncirculated with fewer than ten accounted for. I have personally seen five or six that I regard as properly graded Uncirculated coins and nearly all are in the MS61 to MS62 range. The best 1877 Three Dollar that I am aware of is Bass II: 696, graded MS64 by PCGS, that sold for a very reasonable $30,800 back in October 1999. This date is almost always seen with fully prooflike surfaces but it is reasonably easy to distinguish business strikes from Proofs based on their “look.” The surfaces are usually “ticky” with numerous small abrasions in the fields. Even though prices have risen quite a bit for this date in recent years, attractive, original pieces are rare and remain a good value.

6. 1865:

This is one of the more popular dates in the Three Dollar series due to its status as a Civil War issue and its very low mintage of 1,140 business strikes. Unlike the 1861-1864 issues, it was not saved or hoarded and my best estimate is that only 85-115 exist today. It is comparable in rarity to the 1877 in higher grades with maybe a dozen (at most) known in properly graded Uncirculated. Unlike the 1877, there are a few Gems. The finest is an NGC MS67* that was sold in the Jewell Collection by ANR in March 2005 for $57,500. PCGS has graded two in MS66 with one in the Great Lakes collection. The 1865 is generally found with prooflike fields and the few that remain with original color are characterized by attractive rose, green and orange-gold hues. As with the 1877, prices have risen appreciably in the last decade but choice, original examples remain good values at current levels.

7. 1884:

Many non-specialists think that the 1881 is the rarest business strike Three Dollar from the 1880’s but this is incorrect. The honor actually belongs to the 1884 which is a rarer coin than the 1881 in spite of a higher mintage. There were a total of 1,000 business strikes made in 1884 and around 90-120 are known today. Interestingly, the 1884 is an issue that is all but unknown in circulated grades. To wit, the current PCGS population is 82 of which just 12 (or under 15%) are in circulated grades. It is probable those most were never released by the Mint and were later melted. Because of poor handling, there are not many Gems. The typical 1884 grades MS62 to MS64. There are fewer than ten in Gem. The highest graded pieces include three in MS67 recorded by NGC and two in MS66 seen by PCGS. Heritage recently sold an NGC MS67 for $43,125 but the finest I am aware of is the PCGS MS66 in the Great Lakes collection. This date is typically found with good eye appeal. Most are prooflike but there are a number of frosty pieces as well. The color is typically a light to medium yellow-gold.

8. 1881:

The 1881 Three Dollar is a scarce by virtue of its tiny original mintage of just 500. Other dates from this era have very low mintage figures as well but the 1881 was not saved as carefully by contemporary collectors or hoarders and an estimated 100-150 exist today. The typical 1881 saw a small amount of circulation and grades in the AU50 to AU55 range. In Uncirculated, the 1881 is extremely scarce with around two dozen known. The finest known by a significant margin is a PCGS MS66 in the Great Lakes collection. I have never seen another Gem. There are an estimated four or five known in MS64 and around ten in MS63. As one might expect, all business strikes of this date are found with nearly fully prooflike fields. Business strikes are not hard to distinguish from Proofs. The former have no space between the top ends of the wreath on the reverse while the latter have space. I personally like this date very much and feel that its low mintage figure will continue to ensure its popularity.

9. 1854-D:

At first I wasn’t even going to put this date on the list but then I said “hey, wait a minute, a Top Ten list for Three Dollars and no 1854-D? Are you kidding me?” So, here it is, even though it technically might not be rare enough to make the list. The 1854-D is certainly one of the most popular Three Dollar gold pieces and it is, of course, the only coin of this denomination from Dahlonega. Just 1,120 were struck of which around 125-150 are known. This issue circulated more than one might expect and most are in the EF40 to AU50 range. Properly graded AU’s are very scarce and this issue is extremely rare in Uncirculated with only three or four extant. The finest is a PCGS MS62 in the Great Lakes collection. In addition to being numismatically unique, the 1854-D has a very readily identifiable “look.” Most are flatly struck on the obverse denticles from 7:00 to 3:00 and are weak on the reverse border from 3:00 to 8:00. The 1854-D may not be the best value on this Top Ten list but it is probably the most liquid issue in the series and it is a coin that most collectors of U.S. gold would love to own at some point in time.

10. 1858:

The 1858 narrowly edges out the 1867 for the final spot in this Top Ten list. It is the scarcest pre-Civil War Three Dollar gold piece. There were just 2,133 business strikes made of which an estimated 125-150 exist. This date is typically seen in the EF40 to AU53 range and properly graded higher end AU’s are quite scarce. In Uncirculated, the 1858 is a very rare and much underrated issue. The finest known is a stunning PCGS MS65 in the Great Lakes collection. I have personally seen two others that I grade MS64 and another three or four that grade MS63. In all, I believe that there are no more than ten or so that grade Mint State by my standards. Higher grade 1858’s have nice luster and color and good overall eye appeal. The usual circulated piece offered in today’s market has been dipped and shows numerous surfaces abrasions. It is possible to purchase an appealing 1858 for less than $5,000 and this seems like really good value to me.

So there you have it. Another month, another Top Ten list. Hopefully these lists have provided you, the gold coin specialist, with some good reference information and maybe even some motivation to begin a new collection.

Popular legend has long held that no 1933 Double Eagles were ever “officially” released by the U.S. Treasury, and that somehow this made them illegal to possess (other than the two specimens “officially” given by the Treasury to the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution). This is despite the fact that several 1933 $20s were publicly advertised and sold in the numismatic market between 1933 and 1944, at which point the Treasury suddenly and arbitrarily decided that they could not be sold after all, and began seizing them and destroying them!

Although most common gold coins were required to be surrendered to the U.S. Treasury at face value by the Gold Surrender Act of 1933 and the Gold Reserve Act of 1934, the laws specifically exempted “gold coins having a recognized special value to collectors of rare and unusual coins” from the requirement, and the 1933 Double Eagle certainly qualified as a rare and unusual coin. These laws were ultimately nullified by Public Law 93-373, which made all forms of gold legal for Americans to own again and was signed into law by President Gerald Ford on August 14, 1974, and again by Executive Order 11825, promulgated by Ford on December 31, 1974.

This would appear to make the 1933 $20s legal to own now, a point arguably subject to debate and interpretation when the Treasury began seizing them in 1944. However, the Treasury now claims, without substantiation, that the 1933 $20s are actually stolen government property, a charge significantly not raised by the Treasury when two earlier victims of government seizure in the late 1940s and early 1950s sued the government for the return of their property.

Those lawsuits were conducted at a time when the Gold Surrender Act was in effect to support the Treasury’s otherwise weak position. In both cases the litigants abandoned their efforts in the face of the endless legal fees incurred in challenging Uncle Sam’s deep pockets. However, neither litigant was ever faced with the threat of criminal prosecution.

The government bases its current charges, unsupported by any police report involving the theft of property that I am aware of, on the premise that the Treasury has no record of the coins ever having been issued. However, the allegation that there is no official record of them having been issued does not constitute evidence that the coins were “stolen” in some manner, as there are literally thousands of U.S. coins in existence today that the U.S. Mint has no record of ever even striking, much less issuing.

The largest class of these are the Proof gold and silver coins dated before 1858, and the Proof copper, bronze and copper-nickel coins before 1878. These coins were basically treated as medals for the Mint’s accounting purposes, which were mainly concerned with keeping track of the metals used in them, and they were not included in the Mint Reports for the coins issued in a given year. Look at the Mint Report for Half Cents dated 1840 to 1848, and 1852. According to the U.S. Mint Report these coins were never struck and never issued. Should they be seized? Nonsense!

The same Mint Report also claims that no regular issue Half Dollars were struck at the Philadelphia Mint in 1815, and likewise that no $2.50 gold pieces were struck at the New Orleans Mint in 1845, yet both coins certainly exist! Should the U.S. Treasury therefore seize the coins, or should it calmly accept the assumption which the hobby makes that these coins were struck in early 1816 and early 1846 respectively from leftover dies, and that the U.S. Treasury’s records are understandably either wrong or incomplete? (We will ignore the coins which the Mint Report says were issued but were in fact never actually struck, such as the 1797 Quarter Dollars and the 1805 Silver Dollars which the hobby now knows to have been earlier-dated coins either struck or issued in those years. The Treasury would certainly have no interest in seizing coins which do not exist. We hope.)

Thus there is significant historical precedent to establish that the U.S. Treasury’s records are sometimes wrong and sometimes incomplete, and no reason to believe that they might not be wrong or incomplete in the case of the 1933 Double Eagle. The Mint might have released a few coins without telling the Treasury, or the Treasury might have released a few without telling the Mint. Also, there seems to be no record of how many of the 29 1933 Double Eagles reserved for the 1934 Assay Commission were actually assayed by that commission, and what happened to any unmelted coins.

There may also have been some uncertainty on the Mint’s part as to whether the embargo on gold was permanent or temporary. Though Roosevelt had issued the Gold Surrender Act, officially Executive Order #6260, on March 6, 1933, prohibiting the further release of gold coins struck by the country’s mints, the Philadelphia Mint continued to strike 1933 Double Eagles until April 5th of that year, and by some accounts struck them as late as May. There was no reason to strike the coins if the Mint did not believe that it might perhaps someday be allowed to issue them.

Thus there were, for a period of several weeks, genuine 1933 Double Eagles in the Philadelphia Mint where, under the Mint’s normal business practice (for the day) of courteously accommodating the public in general and coin collectors in particular, they theoretically could have been legally exchanged for another $20 gold piece or any $20 face value in gold.

As an example of this progressive attitude, Q. David Bowers tells in “Silver Dollars & Trade Dollars of the United States” how the Secretary of the Treasury in 1928 had the Philadelphia Mint make a 1928-P Peace Dollar, which had not yet been officially released, available to a powerful New York political organization which wished to include one in a cornerstone being laid in that year. I personally have seen a cover letter on San Francisco Mint letterhead from 1928 or 1929 telling a collector that the five different S-Mint dollars (all the way back to the 1921-S Morgan!) that he had requested and paid for were enclosed, and offering to supply other coins from their inventory.

The same could have happened to the 1933 Double Eagle, just as it did to other coins. When I was Senior Authenticator at the American Numismatic Association in Colorado Springs, I once had the pleasure of meeting with a family who was visiting our museum who had a coin which they wanted looked at. The coin was a 1921 Double Eagle, which is a very rare date despite a mintage of 528,500 pieces, as virtually all of the mintage was held by the Treasury as backing for Gold Certificates and later melted in 1933.

The grandmother in the family explained that her uncle, who was the Superintendent of the Philadelphia Mint at the time she was born in 1921, had given her the coin as a present upon her birth, and that it had been in her family ever since. (Alas, the family had cleaned it several times over the years!) She mentioned a name which I later verified in the “Coin World Almanac” as one of the two men who served as Superintendent in 1921, but I do not recall now which one it was.

Breen estimated that only 15 to 18 1921 Double Eagles exist today, and it is quite possible that all of these were courtesy releases just like that innocent grey-haired lady’s. Nevertheless, the date is considered to have been officially issued, and that makes them legal in the eyes of the Treasury.

If somebody of influence, or at least of means, had gone to the Philadelphia Mint during that window of opportunity in 1933 and requested a 1933 Double Eagle, there was no reason at that time why that request would not have been honored. There might also not have been a record of such an insignificant transaction, just as today you would not make a diary entry of the fact that you had given a friend two $10 bills for a $20.

Finally, we must remember that the Secretary of the Treasury from March 5 to December 31, 1933, was none other than the noted numismatist William Hartford Woodin, one-time owner of the two unique 1877 “Half Union” $50 pattern coins in gold. Woodin had been pressured into returning them to the Treasury in 1910, and was given the Mint’s fabulous 118-year accumulation of odds and ends, mostly patterns, in return for them. This hoard became the basis for the book “United States Pattern, Trial, and Experimental Pieces,” co-authored with Edgar H. Adams in 1913.

Woodin was a friend and financial supporter of FDR from his New York political days, and an enthusiastic proponent of his New Deal. As Secretary of the Treasury he helped shaped the wording of the various gold surrender acts, and may have been instrumental in providing for the exemption of numismatic coins from them. Whether or not he also helped preserve a few of the 1933 Double Eagles for posterity we will never know.

Woodin grew ill in the Fall of 1933 with respiratory problems, and offered his resignation on Oct. 31. FDR refused the resignation, but after a prolonged leave of absence in the Southwest failed to improve his condition, Woodin resigned again on Dec. 13, effective Dec. 31. He died on May 3, 1934, and his collection was disposed of privately.

—

There are many other items that the U.S. Treasury and/or the U.S. Mint consider or have considered to be unlawful for the average American citizen to own. The most mysterious is probably the 1964-D Peace Dollar, of which some 316,000 pieces were struck at the Denver Mint in 1965 but never “officially” released.

The U.S. Treasury’s decades-old supply of Morgan and Peace silver dollars, long held as backing for silver certificates, had been exhausted by a run on the Treasury during the years 1962-64, ignited by the surprising release of several original bags of 1903-O Dollars in October of 1962, which prior to that moment had been worth some $1,500 each in Uncirculated condition.

The supply of Dollars ran out in 1964, just as recently-inaugurated President Lyndon B. Johnson was beginning to exert his power as our first Western President. Silver Dollars had long been popular in the West, and when several of LBJ’s political cronies from the silver-mining states suggested that it would be a good idea for the U.S. Treasury to mint some more silver dollars, LBJ thought it was a good idea too.

LBJ ordered the Mint to get ready to make silver dollars, and to the Mint getting ready means making dies and testing them. Even though no change was contemplated from the Peace dollar design last used in 1935, the dies and hubs used for that coinage had long since been destroyed, and new ones needed to be created and tested for their striking characteristics.

The coins were authorized on August 3, 1964, but for some reason, probably the so-called coin shortage of 1964, production was delayed until May of 1965 when LBJ finally ordered the Mint to strike the coins. An initial test run of 316,076 pieces was struck as a final testing of the dies, but then the Coinage Act of 1965, effective July 23 of that year, forbade the issuance of any new silver dollars.

Bowers cites the noted Denver dealer Dan Brown as saying that the Superintendent of the Denver Mint, Fern Miller, had told him that employees at the Mint had been allowed to buy some of the test coins at face value just after they were struck, but that later the employees had been requested to return them.

I was able to confirm this story while talking with a retired Denver Mint employee who was visiting at ANA headquarters down in Colorado Springs, who verified that the employees had been given the opportunity to buy some of the coins. He told me that a friend of his at the Mint had bought two of the coins on his way out of the door on the first day that they were struck, and that the friend had spent them at a bar in Denver that night, perhaps figuring that he could always get more the next day.

However, that next day all of the people who had bought the coins were threatened with being fired if they did not return them. Several did, but the friend insisted that the coins were gone, and did not lose his job.

Another mysterious issue is the 1974-dated Aluminum Cent, and its cousin the 1974-dated Bronze-Clad Steel Cent. Some 1.5 million of the Aluminum Cents were struck in 1973 as a test of a proposed new alloy for the cent, after which a reported 16 of them were distributed to certain congressional committee members and their staffs. Apparently it was anticipated that all of the 1974 Cents would be done in aluminum, which would have made the trial pieces essentially meaningless.

However, the vending machine and copper-mining lobbies successfully defeated the Aluminum proposal, which presumably led to the Bronze-Clad Steel variation being struck. Ultimately no change was made, and the Treasury later began a quiet campaign to retrieve the Aluminum pieces. Seven were recovered, one was donated to the Smithsonian by its recipient, and eight remain unaccounted for. In the face of much unfavorable national publicity, the Treasury later declared the aluminum pieces to be illegal to possess, but wisely did not threaten members of Congress with criminal prosecution.

Five of the Bronze-Clad Steel striking are reported to exist. When they first became known to the hobby in 1994, the Treasury initially offered an informal opinion that they were legal to possess. However, after they were publicized the Treasury reversed its position and declared them to be illegal to possess and subject to seizure.

Lesser known is the 1977/6 Lincoln cent, which the U.S. Mint’s own Laboratory initially declared to be a genuine error. After it was widely publicized, however, the Mint then changed its mind and declared the piece to be an alteration, seizing the coin despite prior guarantees that it would not do so and refusing to allow it to be examined by outside experts.

(If you think there is a correlation between the publicity a piece receives and the likelihood of it being made subject to seizure, you may be right.)

On the positive side, the Mint, which has had a wide range of policies regarding error coins over the years, has showed signs of growth. At one time it declared virtually all error coins, such as off-metal, off-center and capped die strikes, unlawful to possess on the grounds that they did not contain the authorized compositions and/or inscriptions.

However, in the past quarter century it has become enlightened enough to admit that it is only human, and that honest mistakes do occur which can be lawfully released via mint-sewn bags. It continues to rightfully investigate and seize, where appropriate, deliberate errors smuggled out of the Mint for sale at a profit.

—

Many classic U.S. rarities have uncertain origins. Perhaps the most famous of these is the 1913 Liberty Head Five Cents piece, first offered for sale in 1920 by a former employee of the Mint. There are no records of these coins having been struck, and no explanation of how this Mint employee happened to come by them, though they were undoubtedly struck from U.S. Mint dies on U.S. Mint planchets. One of the five pieces is currently unaccounted for, having disappeared following the death of its owner in a car accident.

The 1894-S Dime is a significant rarity, but at least the low official mintage of 24 pieces is listed in the Mint Report. Extensive research by James Johnson and William Burd has established that the Superintendent of the San Francisco Mint had the 24 pieces struck for distribution in eight equal groups to seven of his friends and to his daughter, who sold two of her three pieces to a dealer in 1954, having spent the other one on ice cream in 1894! As the Superintendent passed all of these coins through the official records their legality is beyond question.

Our most famous coin is probably the 1804 Silver Dollar, whose story you should read in the book “The Fantastic 1804 Dollar” by Eric P. Newman and Ken Bressett. First struck in 1834 for inclusion in diplomatic presentation sets, in the mistaken belief that other 1804 Dollars had already been struck in 1804, the coin was later recognized as a numismatic rarity when it was realized that the 1804 strikings had actually been dated 1803 or even earlier.

Already engaged in restriking earlier rarities for sale at a profit, the Mint was preparing in 1858 to make more 1804 Dollars as well when the night watchman, a son of the Chief Coiner, beat them to the punch and made a few of his own. These amateurish, plain-edged productions were sold to various coin dealers, repurchased by the Mint after the scandal of this striking broke, and resold in the 1870s after the edges of the coins had been lettered to resemble the 1834 strikings.

Nobody questions their legality today, and the Smithsonian Institution proudly displays its recently acquired Lindermann Specimen, which was donated to them by Willis DuPont. (I know the coin well, having recovered it in 1981 when it showed up at ANACS after being stolen from DuPont in 1967, and even when it lay in the U.S. Attorney’s vault in Denver as evidence the issue of the coins legality to own was never raised.)

The Proof Trade Dollars of 1884 and 1885 have always existed under a cloud, with many people rashly assuming that these were a private production within the Mint. However, Carl Carlson revealed in Stack’s June, 1988 catalogue of the Sprinkle Collection that the dies and bullion used to make the 1884 pieces were indeed accounted for in the Mint’s records, even if the coins themselves are not listed in the Mint Report. Perhaps someday records will surface regarding the 1885 Trade Dollars as well.

An even greater rarity is the 1873-CC No Arrows Dime, currently believed to be unique, and its near-great sisters the 1873-CC No Arrows Quarters, of which only four are known. All of these began as regular issues in early 1873, but the bulk of the mintages were melted down after Congress authorized a slight increase in the weight standards to make them even multiples of grams rather than grains in the interest of promoting the metric system.

It is believed today that these five coins were rescued from oblivion out of the coins submitted to the 1874 Assay Commission, just as some of the 1933 Double Eagles might have survived the 1934 Assay Commission. As long as the government was reimbursed for the metal, there was no reason why any of them should not have been saved.

Finally, we have the 1870-S Half Dime, Silver Dollar and $3 gold piece. None of these are listed in the Mint Report, yet nine or ten of the Dollars have been known for years. The unique Half Dime was not discovered until 1978, when it was purchased over the counter at a small coin shop here in Cook County as a regular type coin!

The currently-believed unique 1870-S $3 made its first appearance (outside of its supposed resting place in the cornerstone of the San Francisco Mint, which was laid in 1870) in an advertisement in the April, 1907 “The Numismatist” by H. T. VanCamp of New York. It next appeared in the May, 1909 “The Numismatist,” as a reference in a notice entitled “A Monograph of the Five-Dollar Piece and its Varieties in Preparation.”

The notice told about a work being prepared by the $3’s owner, who owned the only known complete collection of $3 gold pieces, namely “the well-known collector of United States gold coins,” Mr. William H. Woodin! Did Woodin also own a complete set of St. Gaudens $20? We may never know.

Originally published in COINage magazine in May, 1996. Reprinted with permission of Harlan J Berk Ltd. Copyright 1997 by Thomas K. DeLorey.

http://www.harlanjberk.com. E-mail: info@harlanjberk.com

612.5 Tonnes

The Netherland central bank, De Nederlandsche Bank, oversees all of the the Dutch national finances, including the country’s 612.5 tonnes of gold . The Dutch gold is currently worth over $20 billion .

765.2 Tonnes

Japan is ninth largest gold owner in the world, with 765.2 tonnes of gold that accounts for only2.1% of the nation’s total foreign reserves. On the open market, Japan’s gold reserves are worth approximately $25.4 billion and are managed by the Bank of Japan.

1040.1 Tonnes

The Swiss National Bank oversees the country’s 1,040.1 tonnes of gold. The gold is believed to be stored in huge underground vaults near the federal Parliament building in Berne, however the Swiss National Bank treats the location of the gold reserves as a secret. Switzerland’s stockpile is worth approximately $34.5 billion in today’s gold market.

1054 Tonnes

The world’s most populous country also has the world’s seventh largest gold reserve. With a population of 1,330,440,055 (A rough estimate as of July 2009), the country holds about $26 worth of gold per person, worth a total of almost $35 billion.

1120.6 Tonnes

Originally listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2004, SPDR Gold Shares is one of the fastest growing ETFs in the world. All of the Trust’s gold is held by the Custodian, HSBC Bank, in their London vault.

2450.7 Tonnes

The Banque De France is responsible for France’s gold holdings, which have been reported at about 2,450.7 tonnes by the International Monetary Fund. With the fifth largest gold reserve in the world, France’s amount to about $81.3 billion.

2451.8 Tonnes

The Italian National Bank, Banca D’Italia, manages the country’s large gold holdings, with approximately 2,451.8 tonnes of gold in reserve, Italy’s holdings are very close to France’s and are also worth approximately $81.3 billion at current prices.

3217.3 Tonnes

The International Monetary Fund oversees the global financial system of its 185 member countries and was formed to stabilize international exchange rates and facilitate development, mainly to poorer countries.

3412.6 Tonnes

The Deutsche Bundesbank, Germany’s central bank, is one of the most influential member of the European System of Central Banks. With a hefty 3,412.6 tonnes of gold reserves, which are valued at about $113.2 billion at current prices.

8133.5Tonnes

The United States holds the largest gold reserve in the world. With 8,133.5 tonnes, the US gold holdings are worth approximately $269.67 billion. This massive gold reserve represents about .9436 an ounce for ever person living in the country. The majority of the American gold is reported to be held in the world famous United States Bullion Depository in Fort Knox, Kentucky, although no audit has been conducted in over 40 years. ]]> http://www.coinlink.com/Articles/gold-silver-bullion/who-owns-the-most-gold/feed/ 0 http://www.coinlink.com/Articles/us-coins/two-legged-buffaloes/ http://www.coinlink.com/Articles/us-coins/two-legged-buffaloes/#comments Tue, 14 Jul 2009 06:19:47 +0000 Len Ratzman - TCN http://www.coinlink.com/Articles/us-coins/two-legged-buffaloes/ by Len Ratzman – California Numismatist – Vol. 6 No.2 (Summer 2009)

When a mint error is first discovered, a predictably lengthy process is begun involving multiple recognized experts in the field to examine and scrutinize the coin’s authenticity under high magnification to separate a bona fide error from a manufactured counterfeit.

Ideally, after sufficient time and examinations have been made, the coin is either accepted or rejected by the numismatic community. But, in reality, there is a third possibility – unending disagreement among the experts. This outcome, of course, leaves many of us who are looking for definitive answers in relative limbo.

If decades go by and recognized, numismatic authorities still are conflicted as to the authenticity of the coin, what then? If, for instance, someone tried to buy or sell a specimen with this error to a dealer, another collector or at auction, how could they vouch for the legitimacy of the error and, in turn, ask a realistic price? This article is devoted to one such enigma that the author discovered by accident.

In a relatively recent attempt to determine if the Smithsonian Institute’s buffalo nickel collection was missing any specimens after all these years, an email inquiry was sent in early January to Mr. Richard Doty, the senior curator of numismatics for the Behring Center.

Sent from the American Museum of Natural History Behring Center where the coins are stored, Mr. Doty’s e-mail responded, “Your inquiry was passed to me. We do have a set of buffalo nickels, only lacking the 1934 two-legged and 1916 doubled die and 1918/7 varieties.”

Nineteen thirty-four, two-legged? When anyone specializes in one coin and finds (after decades devoted to researching that coin) that a variety exists unknown to that collector, it’s a very humbling experience.

A search of the Red Book, several Internet population reports, and reference books containing buffalo mint errors revealed many mint errors were listed but no mention of any two-legged varieties.

Determined to find one or more sources that mentioned the authenticity of the variety’s existence or debunked its legitimacy, a search was begun with e-mails and references in local libraries to provide sufficient data to pose this “discrepancy” to you readers for your evaluation.

Agreeing with the researched sources, Walter Breen discredits these varieties by acknowledging the 1937- D, three-legged variety but warning, “On the other hand, the 1935 and 1936 two-legs coins have lately been proved counterfeit, the 1936 unmintmarked and ‘S’ coins having the same obverse die. All are overweight despite apparent extreme wear, the blebs (or raised lumps) on surfaces of both dates, and the distortions of lettering, are inconsistent with mint technology of the period.”

The next obvious inquiry was to try to determine what sources Mr. Doty used from which he determined the Smithsonian’s collection was missing one or more, two-legged buffaloes. His prompt and helpful reply stated, “I found the coins mentioned in Bill Fivas and J.T. Stanton’s ‘Cherrypickers Guide” and Frank G. Spadone’s ‘Major Variety-Oddity Guide of United States Coins.”

Weeks later the second book mentioned (Spadone’s) arrived in the mail, ordered from Amazon.com, and sure enough, an alarming picture of a two-legged variety appears with both the right foreleg and right hind-leg missing. The quality of the photograph, unfortunately, wasn’t outstanding, but the “blank” area where the right hindleg should be is unmistakable.

The final piece to the puzzle, the Fivas/Stanton book, arrived later and “supported” the non-existence of the variety by its absence.

I wonder if they make prosthetic legs for Buffaloes?

As I have mentioned before, certified population figures can be helpful but they can also be confusing. Take, for instance, the 1875 gold dollar in Proof. This is a coin with a reported original mintage of 20. But it has a combined PCGS/NGC population of 24 (twelve at each service). Something is obviously not right here. But, for once, the fault does not lie with the population reports.

Despite being created with the best of intentions, the PCGS and NGC population figures are full of inaccurate information which can be misleading to collectors. This isn’t necessarily the fault of the grading services. It is the fault of dealers (and collectors) who resubmit coins and do not send in their extra inserts. I’ve rambled on (and on) about this in the past and do not plan to offer my two cents this time on how I think that dealers who do this are doing themselves and the coin market a major disservice.

In the case of the Proof 1875 gold dollar the disconnect between the number struck and the number graded has to do with information from the Mint which is not necessarily accurate.

We know for a fact that 20 Proof gold dollars were struck on February 13 as parts of complete gold proof sets. For a number of reasons (some of which will be discussed below), the demand for Proof 1875 gold dollars was higher than expected and it is likely that another 20 or perhaps even a few more were made later in the year and sold to collectors. These appear to have been struck from the exact same dies and cannot be distinguished.

Looking at auction records for Proof 1875 gold dollars over the last few decades, it looks like the actual number known to exist might be as high as 20-25 pieces. Given the fact that survival rates for small denomination Proof gold coins of this era is typically around 50%, this is in line with an original mintage figure of around 40-50 coins.

Striking additional Proof gold coins to satisfy demand is not without precedent. It was clearly done in 1875 and 1876 for the Three Dollar gold piece.

There were a number of times that the Mint engaged in “questionable” practices in order to produce coins as special favors for VIPS or to use as trade bait to acquire coins for their collection. And there were also times that clandestine strikings of certain coins occurred in order for certain Mint employees to make extra money on the side. But in the case of the Proof 1875 gold dollars I don’t think that anything sleazy occurred.

By the mid-1870’s, collecting proof gold coins by date was fairly popular with collectors. This was not necessarily the case with the higher denominations as ten dollars or twenty dollars was an excessive amount of money for all but the wealthiest individual collectors. But the gold dollar, quarter eagle and three dollar denominations were within the range of many contemporary collectors.

My guess is that once the Mint reported that the total number of gold dollars struck in 1875 was so low (only 400 business strikes were made), a certain number of collectors were intrigued enough to buy an example. There were probably also dealers who were willing to speculate on a low mintage issue like an 1875 gold dollar, especially given the fact that a Proof could be obtained from the Mint for a relatively small premium above face value. Since few collectors differentiated between Proofs and business strikes in 1875 and the business strikes may have already been unavailable from the Mint, it seems likely that there was enough demand for the Mint to decide to have a second run of Proofs.

So why then was done in 1875 but not, say, 1876 or 1877 when Proof mintages were also tiny? My guess is that there were enough business strikes made this year to fulfill the demand. Or, maybe the speculators who bought Proof 1875 dollars didn’t make the “killing” they thought they would.

The story of the Proof 1875 gold dollar is an interesting one and one that is likely not yet fully known. It is these little mysteries that make numismatics such an interesting hobby and keep me compelled to learn more about a subject that I have found compelling for the better part of my life.

I purchased an 1849 quarter in November of 2006 that I was, at the time, unable to attribute using Briggs’ “Comprehensive Encyclopedia of United States Seated Quarters” (Lima, OH 1991 ISBN 1-880731-05-3). A short article by John McCloskey in The Gobrecht Journal (Issue 98, pages 35-36) published the following March described in detail a coin from the same die pairing as the coin in my possession.

During the past two plus years I have examined every 1849 quarter that I could find, whether in auctions, at bourse tables, or on eBay (when photo quality permitted) in an effort to complete the puzzle. I now own four distinct business strike die marriages of the 1849 quarter and though there is not yet a definitive conclusion, I do have what I call a working hypothesis.

I believe that the “unknown” obverse is actually obverse 3 in the Briggs Encyclopedia and that there are a couple of typos in the description that have caused some confusion.

First, the date location of “just right of 5″ is in error and should read “6/7″. Note that date position is determined based on an imaginary line drawn along the right side of the upright portion of the “1″ in the date. The date position number then references where this line intersects the shield above with respect to the shield lines numbered from left to right.

Second, instead of “slopes up left to right” it should read “slopes down left to right.” I’ve noted that the distance measurements from digit to rock provided in the book read 0.5 – 0.5 – 0.5 – 0.6 indicating a downward slope from left to right, though the text says “up”. Figure 1 shows three dates of 1849 seated quarters, the top is obverse 2, the middle is obverse 3 (or the unlisted obverse if the hypothesis is proven wrong), and the bottom is the proof obverse (obverse 4, from the Heritage online archive, Lot 2390, Auction 1104, April 16, 2008).

It should be mentioned here for completeness that obverse 1 has a date that is much further to the left than any of those shown.

So the question remains, “Is the middle date pictured here Briggs’ obverse 3, or a new unlisted obverse (which incidentally is the obverse die of Briggs’ plate coin even though it does not appear to correspond to any of the four obverse dies described in the text)?”

Based on two years of not finding any obverse dies other than the three pictured (and obverse 1) I suspect that the date pictured in the middle is, in fact, obverse 3. However, the fact that I haven’t found another obverse die does not prove that another obverse does not exist. Can anyone produce an 1849 quarter with a date that slopes up left to right? Or that has a date position that is “just right of 5?” You can contact me at greg.johnson56@verizon.net.

English hammered gold coins are so captivating in their designs, which invariably include intricate symbolism and Latin abbreviations of Biblical quotations favored by the respective monarchs, that many collectors focus too much on the coin designs, without understanding the historical motivations behind the coinages. Seen in their historical context, though, the coins become rich with meaning and a real reason for owning them occurs. A superb source of this information is C.H.V. Sutherland’s English Coinage 600-1900 (published 1973), which I condense here.

Prior to the 14th century, gold was rare in England. Almost no earlier gold coins exist. In the reign of Edward III (1327-77), the next to last Plantagenet King, this all changed. All the silver coinage types continued, with little alteration other than title, as they had been under Edward I and II. A complicated system of privy-marks developed under the first Edward, called “Longshanks” because of his unusual height. A wicked man who waged war in Scotland, he set up numerous mints to issue large amounts of silver coins, and died leaving England a wealthy nation.

For 20 years the nation suffered under the second Edward but the coinage continued the same types, and the ongoing war with France had been disastrous for the national treasury.

Edward III had the qualities of his grandfather, and his 50-year reign ended with the following inscription engraved on his tombstone: “The glory of the English, the flower of kings past, a pattern for kings to come.” It was well deserved, for many challenges and even the Black Plague were overcome during his rule. Defying the French, he kept the title “King of France” on his coins, slaughtered them in a naval victory at Sluys in 1340, and expanded England’s horizons into international trade.

This latter development was the reason behind the first sizable gold coinage for the nation. Alliance with the Low Countries (Holland) had military value, but it also meant a new trade of England’s wool for foreign goods and money. Edward I had forged a trade agreement in 1274 while crusading in Europe. But this commerce was held back because Flanders used a gold-backed currency, England a silver-backed one, and the exchange rate between the two metals varied too much for merchants on both sides of the trade to be happy. Sutherland calls it bi-metallic disharmony. For this reason, Edward III introduced gold coins similar enough to those of Flanders to make trade exchanges equitable. The first attempt did not last, despite their great beauty of design, because Edward’s new gold was of too high a quality. These were the famed Florins, Leopards and Helms, and it proved profitable in their day to melt them in exchange for more silver than they were worth in England. As a consequence, today they are all great rarities.

The second attempt at a gold coinage proved successful. We call these coins today the Nobles. Their fineness was decreased just a bit, to bring them into almost exactly the same exchange value both in the Low Countries and in England. They met with instant success and were made in large quantities. However, war with France again had an impact on the coins, this time creating a fascinating variety of “types” as the king’s title changed and mint initials were introduced, including a “C” for Calais, the port of France so long claimed as English soil. This time it became so English that an English mint was built there!

It is no coincidence that England’s wool-trade with the Flemish market gained sudden vigor right after the peace treaty of 1343, and the introduction of English gold in 1344. As already noted, the Florin series lasted only months before being withdrawn; but it broke an important tradition by not placing the king’s portrait on the coins, but rather the heraldry of England, readable all over Europe where the coins were intended to trade. In Edward’s mind, this strengthened his chance of becoming, in reality, king of France as well as of England. When the Noble was accepted, in late 1344, it again had a political impact because of the large cross shown on its reverse. As Sutherland says, “This was, in short, a Christian coinage ordered by a Christian king; and it deserved the acceptance due to any Christian coinage. . . .” Edward III aimed for his Nobles to be the gold currency of all of France, with himself as king.

From this ambition arises the fascinating array of types of Nobles seen during this reign. War ended in 1343 with the treaty of Malestroit, but broke out almost immediately again. As would be duplicated almost to the Nth degree in 1415 at Agincourt, the Battle of Crecy of 1346 saw a small army of English decimate a large French force. Victory was short lived, however, as the Black Death plague struck the same year and did not end until 1350, during which very little gold was needed, or made, for commerce. Battles resumed when the plague went away, and the King of England placed and removed various French titles on his gold Noble during the rest of his reign, which ended in 1377. His gold may be collected citing these changes, most notably divided into periods revolving about the 1360 Treaty of Bretigni and the establishment of the mint at Calais in 1363. Much of this Noble coinage in fact came from French gold, ransom paid to the English for the return of the captured French king, one of the terms of the Treaty. It was far from peace, however, and the king’s son The Black Prince continued to ravage France until outright war resumed in 1369. Large amounts of silver and gold coins were minted during the few years of relative peace, but output was sharply curtailed in time of war. Gem examples of the Noble therefore exist, caused by both output and fearful hiding of these insignia of wealth, which makes collecting them today all the more exciting.

“Edward III,” Sutherland concludes, “was neither the first nor the last man to discover that warfare, and especially protracted warfare, does terrible damage to the economy . . .” and when both Edward the king died in 1377, and his great warrior son The Black Prince died the year before him, England was inherited by a weak, fearful man, Richard II. He continued the Noble coinage but its output was meager, the nation suffered badly from the long war with France, and murderous politics put a sharp end to Richard’s claim to French lands. When the last Plantagenet died a prisoner in Pontefract castle, a new but divided Royal House came to England, that of Lancaster and York, and a new feud would erupt as an internal war. But war with France had not ended. Henry V would revisit the same argument over French sovereignty and again slaughter the French, at Agincourt in October 1415. It might fairly be said that the single best contribution of the last Plantagenets was the enduring glory and value of the gold Noble, ever a symbol of the struggle of kingship and the need for gold as an international money.

In the other fields of numismatics, some of the lesser fakes that we see are so easy to identify that we can do it over the phone with one hand tied behind our backs. For instance, many early U.S. and Confederate banknotes have been widely reproduced in what is commonly called replica form. These replicas are similar to the genuine items, but significantly different in some important way so that the maker cannot be accused of counterfeiting with intent to deceive, an important legal point.

On the replica banknotes, the key difference is usually in the heavy, parchment-like paper used, which one replicator “antiqued” by dipping the notes in pots of tea and drying them on a clothesline in the sun, giving them a look and feel much different than the flimsy rag paper typical of the originals. When I was with the Collectors Clearinghouse department at Coin World, or later with the American Numismatic Association Certification Service in Colorado Springs, we kept a list of the commonly seen replicas in our desks, so that when people called about one of the bills we could ask them the date and denomination of it and be able to tell them the serial number of their bill from the list.

Many colonial and territorial coins were also issued in replica form before the passage of the Hobby Protection Act of 1973, and many of these had distinguishing marks such as misspelled words or incorrect designs or a cryptic “R” (for REPLICA) that made them easy to spot over the telephone. Unfortunately, when people called us about Indian peace medals, there was almost nothing we could do without seeing the pieces, as most of the fakes were originally made by the United States Mint!

An excellent article on the entire Peace Medal series written by Robert W. Julian appeared in the November, 1994 issue of COINage (q.v.). For additional information on the struck pieces in this series, the reader is referred to the Peace Medal section of Julian’s definitive “Medals of the United States Mint–The First Century, 1792-1892,” published by the Token And Medal Society and available to members of the ANA through its library at 818 N. Cascade Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80903.

To briefly summarize the history of Indian Peace Medals, the British, French and Spanish Empires had each produced elaborate pieces of various sizes to present to Chiefs of varying importance whose tribes were friendly to their respective causes. Upon achieving independence with the help of certain tribes, and faced with the hostile opposition of other tribes who had been paid or persuaded to oppose the independence movement, the young American government quickly decided to continue the practice of gifting medals to native American chieftains it considered to be its friends.

Some of the earliest U.S. Indian Peace Medals were hand-engraved affairs on which large, thin ovals of silver were carved with the images of (usually) George Washington shaking hands with an Indian in front of a tranquil farmstead on the obverse, and the heraldic eagle from the Great Seal of the United States on the reverse. A heavy silver wire border was soldered about the edge to strengthen the disc, and either a loop or hole was added at the top so as to suspend the medal on a thong. Many were engraved by Joseph Richardson, Jr., a Philadelphia silversmith who was later employed by the Mint as Assayer, while others were cut by different hands in varying styles.

Unfortunately, these pieces are almost impossible to authenticate or condemn, because no two medals are exactly alike due to the hand engraving technique used to inscribe the designs. Similarly, there were different techniques used to shape and apply the borders, loops and holes. One unique piece has the designs engraved on separate sheets of metal that are held together by the border, but even this variance is insufficient reason to suspect the piece is not genuine, as will be seen by the Jefferson pieces which follows the next series.

Experts can offer learned opinions on the authenticity of specific engraved pieces, but often they respectfully disagree with one another. At ANACS we usually sent pieces submitted to us to at least three consultants in the field, and I do not recall that we ever reached a unanimous opinion on any one of them to where we reached a point that we felt confident enough to certify it as genuine.

Near the end of Washington’s presidency a set of three different obverses bearing peaceful domestic scenes depicting livestock raising, the sowing of grain and the spinning and weaving of cloth were paired with a common reverse commemorating Washington’s second term in office. Because the U.S. Mint did not have a medal press strong enough to strike these pieces, they were struck at Matthew Boulton’s private mint in Birmingham, England. These “Seasons” medals are legitimately rare, and have not been a problem as far as counterfeits are concerned because most U.S. collectors are unaware they exist.

Because the supply of Seasons medals lasted through the term of John Adams, the next medals were created for Thomas Jefferson in 1801. These round-format pieces in a two-inch, three-inch and a magnificent four-inch size were all too large for the Mint’s medal press to strike in solid form, but they could be embossed as two separate shells which were then filled with soft metal and soldered together at the edge with an attached loop. Jefferson medals are known to have been carried by Lewis and Clark on their voyage of discovery through the Louisiana Purchase and beyond, and a copy of its portrait was used on some Louisiana Purchase Exposition gold dollars struck in 1903.

This technique makes the piece highly susceptible to the making of electrotype shells which could be soldered together like the originals. Since the outer surfaces can be easily “antiqued” with a little deliberate abuse, the only way to disprove such a piece would be to destroy it so as to look at the inside of the shells.

The Jefferson design was later struck in solid form from new three-inch dies after 1840, when the U.S. Mint began to get into the business of restriking early items en masse. At first this was done with the semi-ethical purpose of providing trading material to be used to improve the Mint’s cabinet of coins, now the basis of the National Collection at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, but later it was done from pure greed to line the pockets of Mint employees.

The James Madison Indian Peace medal was the first to be issued in solid form, in two-inch, two-and-a-half-inch and three-inch sizes. As with the Jefferson pieces the larger medals were given to the more important chiefs, with the lesser pieces given to the lesser chiefs. This has affected the survivability of all of the smaller format Indian Peace medals, as the lesser chiefs died without fanfare and their goods and possessions were less likely to be preserved by their heirs.

Production in the three sizes continued for all Presidents through Zachary Taylor in 1849, except for William Henry Harrison who died after only one month in office in 1841. All had a common reverse copied from the Jefferson piece, namely a pair of hands shaking each other with crossed tomahawk and peace pipe above and the legend PEACE AND PROSPERITY.

Taylor’s successor, Millard Fillmore, saw his medals changed drastically. The two-inch size was dropped, and the engraving and striking of the medals with a new reverse design was entrusted to a private party. The same was done for his successors, Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan. Abraham Lincoln’s medals were engraved outside the Mint but struck in it, while Andrew Johnson’s medals were engraved inside the Mint by a former employee of the Engraving Department. The Mint eventually obtained custody of all of these dies.

Ulysses S. Grant’s medal was only struck in the two-and-a-half-inch size, and is only recognizable as an Indian Peace Medal by the presence of a peace pipe beneath Grant’s shoulder. Not only were the Indian’s omitted from this medals, but Grant’s name was left off it as well.

The next five Presidents saw a return to the oval format of Washington’s day, with a stock reverse reminiscent of that era. A final round piece was produced in 1890 under the administration of Benjamin Harrison, after which the practice of issuing Indian Peace Medals ceased. Perhaps the successful destruction of the Native American civilization during the Indian Wars of the 1870s and 1880s made Peace medals irrelevant.

All of this would have made for a fascinating collectible series except for the U.S. Mint’s modern practice of restriking the largest available dies for each design in Bronze and selling them at a nominal price to collectors. This restriking in the original designs (though not in the original metal, silver, or with the original Proof-like finish) has resulted in thousands of the bronze restrikes being holed, polished down to simulate wear, silver plated and then antiqued for the deliberately fraudulent sale as a silver original.

The most common outlets for them are gun shows, antique shows and flea markets, in that order. If you have purchased what purports to be a silver original Indian Peace medal at any of these venues, I would say that the odds are 9,999 out of 10,000 that it is a fake.

How can you tell? Well, a foolproof method is specific gravity, which will tell you if it is made out of bronze rather than silver without damaging the piece. The only problem with s.g. is that few people have a scale setup that can accommodate a piece that large and heavy, so you will probably have to pay one of the certification services to do it for you.

Another test is to check the hole at the top. Does it look freshly drilled, with clean, sharp corners at the tops of the ends of the hole? A genuine piece with genuine wear on the surfaces will also show wear at the tops of the ends of the hole where a metal loop has rubbed it over the years.

If the loop is missing, check inside the hole. Some of the less intelligent fakers silver plate the medal before they drill the hole, leaving a nice coppery tint inside. It should be silver.

Is there a lot of detail missing from the high points, without corresponding wear on the rest of the designs? Some fakers grind the high points down to simulate wear, while ignoring the fact that the rest of the coin does not have the random nicks and scratches typical of actual wear. A VF medal should look something like a VF silver dollar, with a lot of wear on the high points and some wear everywhere else.

“Antiquing” in the form of simulated contact marks may make the piece look old, but the pattern to the contact marks will probably be uniform all over the surface of the piece. Remember that the contact marks a piece received on its high points early in circulation or use will be worn off as those areas are worn off, so that the contact marks should be thicker in the exposed but recessed areas such as the field than they are on the head or other designs. Again, think of how a circulated silver dollar looks.

Your best protection is common sense. If a deal is too good to be true, it probably is. Buy only from established dealers who will refund your money if a piece is proven to be false in a reasonable period of time. It is very difficult to go back to a flea market stall after the market has closed for the day.

Originally published in COINage magazine . Reprinted with permission. Copyright by Thomas K. DeLorey.

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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.

These fractional denominations were useful in making small change, but they were also a nuisance due to their diminutive diameter. These small denomination gold coins were easily lost. There was little consistency to their designs or shapes. Some depicted the head of Liberty, while others depicted an Indian. Some were round, while others were octagonal. It was likely quite a relief once the San Francisco Mint was able to begin supplying sufficient quantities of small change coins to displace these fractional issues.

These small denominations first appeared in 1852. Some of them had as much as 85 percent of their face value as precious metal content, while others were gold plated. The Coinage Act of April 22, 1864 made all privately produced coinage illegal, however due to a lack of enforcement and poor wording of the legislation many of these small denominations continued to be issued simply without a denomination on them. For practical purposes the issues ceased after 1883, however after this date imitation tokens that were backdated to the 1850s continued to be issued right into the early part of the 20th century.

There is confusion regarding which of these many issues are true California small denomination gold coins meant to be used as money and which are those struck much later for use in the jewelry industry.

There isn’t room here to address all of the many issues, but the important point to be made here is that should you encounter a California fractional gold coin on which the California bear appears at about six o’clock on the reverse be aware these issues are always among those that were made at a later date for the jewelry industry.

These jewelry pieces are fun to collect, but keep in mind they are gold plated and as such are not the expensive issues produced prior to the founding of the San Francisco Mint.

#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.

One date that comes to mind is the 1926-D. The combined certified population of both dates in MS-60-62 is 139(1908-S) and 123 for the 1926-D, roughly equal, yet the 26-D trades for over twice the price of the 08-S. Moreover in MS-63 the 1908-S has a certified population of only 31 while 1926-D has certified population of 50.

Once again, the current CDN bid for the 1926-D is $34,500, more than twice the 1908-S. It isn’t until MS-64 and above that the 1926-D establishes its higher rarity. One could therefore make the argument that the 1908-S is undervalued by today’s price levels. Still, the 1908S has appreciated in the last 10 years climbing from a Jan. 1997 MS-63 CDN bid of $7100 to today’s CDN bid of $15,500.

#9) 1926-D:

The 1926-D has always been considered rare. Most of the original mintage of 481,000 coins is thought to have been melted by the government back in the 1930’s. The only coins that survive today seem to be a few that made it over from Europe back in the 50’s and 60’s and some that were retained by collectors of the day. The PCGS population of 113 and NGC population of 90 in all mint state grades seem to bear this out. The 1926-D is extremely rare in grades above MS-63. When available, the 1926-D is usually well struck with good luster. CDN bid prices for MS-60-64 grades have more than doubled over the last 10 years

#8) 1927-S:

The 1927-S, even with its high mintage of 3,107,000 is another date that did not escape the government’s melting pot. Considered a great rarity even back in the 1940’s, on par with the fabled 1927-D, until a small group of coins were discovered in the 50’s and 60’s. Currently it is still a very rare date, with a PCGS population of 69 coins and an NGC population of 81 coins in all mint state grades. Most of the certified population is for grades below MS-64. When available, the strike can vary from full to being weakly struck in certain areas, however luster is usually good. CDN bid prices for MS-60-64 grades have more than doubled over the past 10 years. Even so, the 1927-S tends to trade for higher than CDN bid prices at public auction.

#7) 1931-D:

The 1931-D is part of what I call “the Fab 5” of dates in the $20 Saint-Gaudens series. The Fab 5 referring to the date run of Double Eagles from 1929-1932. These dates have been some of the most sought after and highest appreciating in the series. The original mintage of 106,500, while low, was not generally released into circulation and the majority of the coins were subsequently melted. The few that survive apparently came over from Europe as it seems that 31-D’s were struck primarily for export. As such, almost no circulated coins have been discovered to date (Certified PCGS and NGC population of only 3)

Total certified mint state population is 95 for PCGS and 50 for NGC. The vast majority of coins graded are in the MS-62-64 grades. When available, the strike and luster are usually strong but they are typically plagued by bagmarks. To illustrate the dramatic rise in value of this date, we go back to Jan. 1997 when MS-63 CDN bid was $16,000. As of January 2007, CDN bid is $75,000, an increase of nearly 370%! In MS-64 they have increased from a Jan. 1997 CDN bid of $21,000, to a current CDN bid of $90,000, nearly a 330% increase. The higher grades have fared nearly as well with MS-65’s increasing from a Jan. 1997 CDN bid of $50,000 to a current CDN bid of $103,000: up 106%. Recent auction results however show MS-65’s selling for $126,500. So in reality the increase has been on the order of 153%

#6) 1932:

The 1932 has the distinction of being the last “Fab 5” date in the run as well as being the last readily collectible Saint-Gaudens double eagle. The mintage figure of 1,101,750 is high; however like the rest of the 1929-32 date run, most were melted by the US government in the early 30’s. Since this date was never released into circulation, no circulated examples are known to exist and none have been graded by either PCGS or NGC to date. The current PCGS population in mint state is 57 and the NGC population is 71. The vast majority of coins graded are in the MS-64-65 range.

When seen, the 1932 is always well struck and lustrous. The 1932, like the rest of the “Fab 5” has appreciated tremendously over the last 10 years. In Jan. 1997 MS-63 CDN bid was $16,000. Current CDN bid is $60,000, an increase of 275%. In 1997 MS-64 CDN bid was $19,000. Current CDN bid is $75,000, an increase of 295%. Gem MS-65’s have also done well, appreciating from a Jan. 1997 CDN bid of $34,000 to a current CDN bid of $88,000, an increase of roughly 160%. However, current auction records show MS-65’s selling for $102,500-$103,500.

#5) 1931:

The 1931 is another date in the “Fab 5” run. Although the mintage of 2,938,250 is considerable, most coins never made it out of the government’s vaults and were subsequently melted. Just like the 1931-D almost no coins entered circulation. The combined PCGS and NGC population of circulated coins is only 2. The PCGS population in mint state is 74 and the NGC population is 40. The vast majority of coins graded are in the MS-63-65 range. The typical 1931 is of high quality with a very good strike and frosty luster. The 1931 is of slightly higher rarity than the 1931-D and 1932 overall, although in gem MS-65 condition both are rarer than the 1931.

In terms of appreciation over the past 10 years, the 1931-P has risen from a Jan. 1997 MS-63 CDN bid of $18,000, to a current CDN bid of $55,000, a 205% increase. In MS-64 they have increased from a Jan. 1997 CDN bid of $24,000, to a current CDN bid of $70,000; a 190% increase. Gem MS-65’s have appreciated from a Jan. 1997 CDN bid of $47,500 to an $85,000 CDN bid today, an increase of 79%. Although current CDN bid does not reflect this, I personally sold a MS-65 coin in the past year for $100,000 wholesale and have witnessed another trade for slightly more.

#4) 1920-S:

The 1920-S double eagle is a classic rarity. The original mintage of 558,000 coins was never widely circulated and it is apparent that most were melted by the government in the 30’s. No group or hoards have ever been discovered and this date does not appear in any groups of coins discovered in Europe. As such, it has been recognized as a rarity as far back as the 1930’s. The PCGS population in mint state is only 46 coins, the NGC population is 49. The vast majority of coins graded are in the MS-60-62 range.

When available, 1920-S is usually weakly struck with mediocre luster. It can be a challenge to find an attractive coin. This date has appreciated in value in all mint state grades over the past 10 years. In MS-63 quality, CDN bid has gone from a Jan. 1997 level of $35,500 to a current CDN bid of $71,000, an increase of roughly 100%. In MS-64, they have risen from a Jan. 1997 CDN bid of $55,000 to a current CDN bid of $135,000; a 145% increase. Gems trade very infrequently, however MS-65 CDN bid has risen from $75,000 to $150,000 in the last 10 years. It is likely that if an MS-65 did appear for sale that it would garner at least $200,000. The most recent MS-66 example sold was out of the Morse sale in November 2005 where it brought $517,500.

#3) 1921:

The 1921 is another classic rarity in the Saint Gaudens double eagle series. Few dates inspire such zeal in collectors. Most of the original mintage of 528,500 coins seems to have been largely melted, as evidenced by the small number of coins left surviving today. While it is probable that a small number of coins made it over to Europe, very few coins have appeared from that source to date. In terms of overall rarity, the 1921 is very similar to the 1930-S, except in grades above MS-63 where the 1921 is significantly rarer. In fact, one could argue that the 1921 is the hardest date to obtain in gem condition in the entire Saint-Gaudens double eagle series.

In Uncirculated grades, the PCGS population is 46 while the NGC population is 45. The vast majority of coins graded are in the MS-60-62 range. When found, 1921’s typically have an average strike with soft satiny luster. This date has done exceptionally well over the last 10 years with MS-60 graded coins rising in value from a Jan. 1997 price of $25,000 to today’s price of $85,000, a 240% increase. Similar results have occurred for MS-62 grade which have climbed from $45,000 back in 1997 to a CDN bid of $145,000 today. This represents a 222% increase. In MS-63 condition, CDN bid has risen from $51,000 in Jan. 1997, to today’s CDN bid of $200,000, a 292% increase. On that note, an MS-63 recently traded in the October 2006 Heritage sale for $218,500. This represents an increase of roughly 330% over 1997’s levels.

#2) 1930-S:

The 1930-S stands out as an important rarity. The original mintage of 74,000 coins was never released into circulation and was then sub sequentially melted. It is therefore likely that the only surviving coins were obtained directly from the mint in 1930. The 1930-S is one of the greatest rarities in the Saint-Gaudens series with fewer coins surviving in all grades than any other date aside from the famous 1927-D. While none were released in circulation, PCGS and NGC show a combined 2 coins graded in AU-58 condition. The remainder of the mint state population shows 38 coins graded by PCGS and 15 coins graded by NGC.

The majority of the coins graded are in MS-63-64 condition. When encountered, the 1930-S usually shows an adequate strike and soft luster, although bagmarks tend to be prevalent. As with the other dates on this list, the 1930-S has appreciated substantially in the last 10 years with MS-63 examples rising from a Jan.1997 CDN bid of $28,000 to $94,500 presently. This is an increase of roughly 240%. It is a similar result for the MS-64 grade which has risen from a 1997 CDN bid of $32,000 to the current CDN bid of $130,000. This represents an increase of 306%. Gem MS-65’s have shown similar appreciation.

#1) 1927-D:

This is it, the king of series as well as being the rarest 20th century US gold coin struck. Although pages could be written about this date, I will try to give you an abridged version. Out of the original mintage of 180,000, only 10-12 coins survive, with the rest being melted by the US mint. Current population data by both grading services support this as there are only 7 coins graded by PCGS and 5 by NGC. When seen, the 1927-D is well struck with excellent luster. In fact, only 2 of the coins graded are below MS-65 quality.

Out of the 10-12 coins estimated to survive, 3 are in the Smithsonian. This leaves at best 9 coins that can obtained by registry collectors. Prices for the 1927-D Saint-Gaudens have skyrocketed in the last 10 years with nearly any example bringing over $1,000,000 dollars. In Jan. 1997 CDN bid for MS-65 grade was $375,000. Current CDN bid is now 1.5M. The finest example graded is the Morse coin (PCGS MS-67) which sold for 1.89M, back in November 2005.

Paul Zappasodi, President

Numismatic Assets Inc.

900 Walt Whitman Rd, Ste 307

Melville, NY 11747

(631) 425-6203 Fax (631) 425-6237

www.numismaticassets.com

Paul@numismaticassets.com