Heritage Auctions will be selling one of the two known Bickford $10 Gold Patterns at it FUN Sale this week. Below is the Catelog description of the coin and some history surrounding it.

The Bickford pattern ten dollar gold piece, known to pattern collectors as Judd-1373, is one of the most celebrated issues in the U.S. pattern series. Only two examples are known, placing the issue at the pinnacle of rarity. Both known examples have been meticulously preserved, and their size, attractive design, and majestic gold composition combine to make them breathtakingly beautiful numismatic patterns. The rich and mysterious history shared by these pieces adds to their irresistible appeal.

The Design

On the obverse, a fresh-faced, youthful Liberty faces left, with her hair tied back and wearing a diadem, ornamented with six stars, reading LIBERTY. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA rings the rim; the date 1874 is below. Liberty has an olive wreath tied around her neck. On the reverse a rope design forms six separate cartouches around the rim. In the center is the Latin word UBIQUE “everywhere,” with 16.72 GRAMS 900 FINE in three lines. In the cartouches are the coin’s exchange values in various international currencies: DOLLARS 10; STERLING 2.1.1; MARKEN 41.99; KRONEN 37.31; GULDEN 20.73; FRANCS 51.81. Struck in gold, with a reeded edge. The diameter is the same as a twenty dollar, but the planchet is thinner.

Bickford’s Proposal

Dana Bickford’s proposal for an international coinage captured the public’s attention in the mid-1870s. The following article explaining the situation was originally published in The Coin and Stamp Journal in Kansas City, Missouri (February 1876 issue). It has been reprinted in several sources since that time:

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The following is from the 2009 FUN Heritage Auction Catalog and is perhaps the most informative summary of the history of the Olsen Specimen 1913 Nickel and the Modern Provenance Period.

1913 5C Liberty PR64 NGC. – The Olsen Specimen

Recently dubbed “The Mona Lisa of Rare Coins,” the Olsen specimen is the second finest of just five known examples and is currently graded PR64 NGC. It was the first 1913 Liberty Head nickel offered for sale in a public auction, and the only specimen that professional numismatist B. Max Mehl ever handled, despite his extensive advertising campaign that promoted the famously rare coin.

It also holds the record as the first coin to break the $100,000 price barrier in 1972, while another 1913 nickel, the Eliasberg specimen, became the first coin to break the $1,000,000 price barrier some 24 years later.

It is certainly possible that a 1913 Liberty nickel, perhaps the Olsen specimen, will someday become the first coin to break the $10,000,000 price barrier.

Jeff Garrett and Ron Guth, authors of The 100 Greatest U.S. Coins, noted in the 2009 third edition that the Olsen specimen “has been viewed … by more people than any other.” In A Guide Book of Shield and Liberty Head Nickels, Q. David Bowers describes the Olsen specimen as the most famous of all 1913 Liberty Head nickels. “This particular coin is probably the most highly publicized of the five specimens,” writes Bowers.

John Dannreuther considers it to be the second of five 1913 Liberty nickels struck. His detailed analysis, discussed later, indicates that the Smithsonian specimen was the first coin struck, followed by the Olsen specimen, and then the other three. Of those three coins (another specimen is in the ANA) in private hands today, the Olsen specimen was struck before the other two. A professional numismatist from Memphis, Tennessee, Dannreuther is well respected among his peers for his critical eye and careful reasoning. He was one of six numismatists chosen for the authentication team when the Walton specimen of the 1913 nickel reappeared in 2003, after a 40-year absence. (more…)

Edited by Heritage Chief Cataloger Mark VanWinkle, with essays by Michael L. Carboneau, James C. Gray, John Dannreuther and Saul Teichman and illustrated by the collection of Julius Korein, M.D

Few varieties of U.S. coinage have been the subject of as much speculation, controversy and admiration as Gobrecht dollars.

Now Heritage Auction Galleries and Ivy Press have released the 136-page book Gobrecht Dollars, the most thorough review to date of the existing scholarship on these much sought-after U.S. coins.

“This reference book, the result of five-and-a-half-years of work, is intended for the general numismatist that is looking for a deeper understanding of these fascinating coins,” said Mark Van Winkle, editor of the tome and Chief Cataloger at Heritage Auctions. “It gathers together the diverse threads of the Gobrecht story without delving into the more speculative areas of die markers and their possible consequence for establishing emission sequences.”

The overriding question of emission sequences is an area that is, and has been, under investigation for some time and, it is reasoned, will eventually lead to a generally accepted striking order.

“Without a doubt this book is important to a wide range of numismatists, as this information has never been presented together so thoroughly,” said Van Winkle. “It is not, however, the last word on this fascinating series.”

The book brings together all the best known writings on Gobrecht dollars from the past 20 years and is based upon a series of three articles written by Jim Gray and Mike Carboneau in 1991, 2000, and 2001 and expounded upon by those two writers, along with scholarship by Van Winkle, John Dannreuther and Saul Teichman. The book brings together the most up-to-date findings about Gobrecht dollars based on the coins themselves as primary sources, rather than secondary sources (some of which date to 1860).

“Dannreuther makes a special contribution,” said Van Winkle, “with his articles dealing with the die clash line on the reverse of some 1836 dollars, previously thought to be a die scratch, as well as his discovery of the effacement of Gobrecht’s name from the post-1836 dies.” (more…)