Bowers & Merena U.S. Coin and Currency Sales Exceed $7 Million

Record-setting Sale of 1901-S Barber Quarter

Bowers and Merena Auctions, America’s leading rare coin and currency auction house, continues its long-standing and successful partnership with the Whitman Coin & Collectibles Baltimore Expo. As Official Auctioneer of the March 2010 expo, Bowers and Merena realized more than $8.5 million in U.S. and foreign, coin and currency sales. Prices realized for U.S. coins exceeded $5.5 million while U.S. currency accounted for a further $1.3 million of the total, for a combined U.S. prices realized of more than $7 million.

“We conducted a highly successful auction in Baltimore with strong bidder participation in all sessions,” concluded Bowers and Merena president Steve Deeds. “A trio of fresh, original rarities led the way by bringing particularly strong prices. Offered as lot 737, the finest PCGS-certified 1901-S Barber Quarter in MS-68 went to the winning bidder at a record-setting $327,750. Part of the same consignment, a very rare proof striking of the 1879-O Morgan Dollar (lot 3104, PCGS Proof-64, OGH–First Generation) sold for $184,000 and a beautiful, premium-quality 1915-S Pan-Pac $50 Round in PCGS MS-66 traded for $281,750. The Pan-Pac $50 is a pop 1/0 coin and was featured as lot 3473 in our catalog.”

Continued Deeds: “The Cuyahoga Collection of Charlotte and Dahlonega Mint Gold also performed very well in our March Baltimore Auction. Important rarities from this high-ranked NGC Registry Set include lot 3739, an 1839-C Liberty Half Eagle in NGC MS-63 that realized $126,500 and lot 3609, an 1849-C Liberty Quarter Eagle certified MS-65 by NGC that changed hands at $103,500.”

“Bowers and Merena’s sale of U.S. currency at the March 2010 Baltimore Expo was also impressive,” noted director of currency auctions Matthew Quinn. “Noteworthy prices were realized by lot 1379, a Fr. 282* 1923 $5 Silver Certificate Star Note graded Superb Gem Uncirculated 67 EPQ by PMG that went for $41,688 and lot 1982, a spectacular ‘$15’ double-denomination error on a Fr. 1960-D 1934D $5 Federal Reserve Note certified Very Choice New 64 PPQ by PCGS that traded hands for $21,850.”

Additional highlights from the Bowers and Merena March 2010 Baltimore Auction include:
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The highest-denomination Commemorative coins ever struck in the United States Mint, the 1915-S Fifty-Dollar gold pieces were produced for sale at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition held in San Francisco in 1915. Ostensibly held to celebrate the completion and opening of the Panama Canal, the Exposition also provided the city of San Francisco with an opportunity to showcase its revival after the devastating earthquake of 1906.

The Fifty-Dollar gold pieces were authorized by Congress with a specified mintage of 3,000 coins. This figure is further subdivided into 1,500 examples each for the octagonal and round types. Both exhibit essentially the same design, the obverse with a bust of the goddess Athena (Minerva in Roman mythology) wearing a crested helmet pushed back on top of her head. The goddess holds a shield upon which is inscribed the date 1915 in Roman numerals MCMXV. The field above the central device is inscribed with the motto IN GOD WE TRUST, the legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is above and the denomination FIFTY DOLLARS is below. The use of Athena is due to her status as the goddess of wisdom, skill, agriculture, horticulture, spinning and weaving–all of which are critical to the economy of California.

The reverse depicts Athena’s owl–symbol of wisdom–perched atop a branch of ponderosa pine. The Latin motto E PLURIBUS UNUM is present in the field behind the owl, the inscription PANAMA-PACIFIC EXPOSITION is above and the city SAN FRANCISCO is below. The octagonal pieces, but not the round coins, display an extra inner border with a dolphin device that signifies the continuous waterway created through the opening of the Panama Canal. The coin’s designer is Robert Aitken.

The price for Exposition attendees was $100 per Fifty-Dollar gold coin, a sum that also entitled the buyer to an example of the Panama-Pacific Half Dollar, Gold Dollar and Quarter Eagle at no extra charge. A complete five-piece set could be had for $200. These asking prices were apparently too high, however, and many examples of both the octagonal and round Fifties were eventually melted as unsold. The net mintage for the octagonal variant is just 645 coins, while that for the round type is a mere 483 pieces.

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The Second Finest of Only Four Specimens Known to Exist

Easily the rarest and also among the most popular Morgan Dollars with advanced collectors are the branch mint proofs–coins that are so rare, in fact, that many numismatists have never even seen one of these specimens, let alone been confronted with the opportunity to add one to their holdings.

Writing in the 1982 book The Morgan and Peace Dollar Textbook, Wayne Miller enumerates five classes of branch Mint proof Morgan Dollars. The claim that an individual issue has to branch mint status decreases as the class # increases; the Class V pieces, in fact, being described by Miller as, “coins rumored to be branch mint proofs which the author has seen and which are definitely not proofs.”

On the other end of the scale are the Class I branch mint proofs, which Wayne Miller describes as, “authorized, definite branch mint proofs. These are the…dates for which proofs were authorized and subsequently issued [emphasis author's].” Only four branch mint proof Morgan Dollars qualify as Class I: 1879-O; 1883-O; 1893-CC; and 1921-S.

The 1879-O is perhaps the best known Class I branch mint proof Morgan Dollar, and it is also among the most instantly recognizable of all branch mint proof coins regardless of type or issue. Considerable documentation exists for the creation of these coins, according to which a mere 12 specimens were struck on February 20, 1879 to commemorate the reopening of the New Orleans Mint (the facility had ceased production in 1861 at the onset of the Civil War). Of the original 12 coins struck, only four specimens are known to exist. (more…)