The ACCG has launched phase two of a coordinated plan to challenge import restrictions on ancient coins.

As a British Airways jetliner touched down in Baltimore on April 15th , many U.S. citizens were busy writing last minute checks to the IRS. In the face of mounting global crises, they could hardly have anticipated that some of their tax dollars would be used by the U.S. State Department (DOS) to wage an ideological war against coin collectors.

Part of the cargo of BA 229/16 that day was a small packet of 23 very common, inexpensive, Cypriot and Chinese coins being imported by a collector advocacy group, the Ancient Coin Collectors Guild (ACCG). The entry of these coins, forbidden by DOS under bilateral agreements with Cyprus and China, marked the launch of a test case to determine whether the State Department has banned their importation properly under a 1983 law dealing with the protection of cultural property.

As mandated, U.S. Customs detained these coins being imported from the United Kingdom. The ACCG now plans to use this detention as a vehicle to strike down the unprecedented regulations banning importation of whole classes of ancient coins, The collectors’ group claims that, among other abnormalities, the decision process for these agreements was orchestrated contrary to the spirit and intent of governing law. Moreover, they claim that the State Department misled Congress and the public about its decision not to follow the recommendations of its own Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC) — a group of experts charged with advising the president on how best to balance the goals of protecting cultural heritage against the needs of a legitimate trade in cultural artifacts. (more…)

By Doug Winter - RareGoldCoins.com

If I had to list my favorite United States gold coins, the 1845-O quarter eagle would be at the top of the list. This is an issue that I like for a variety of reasons. It’s rare, it’s enigmatic and it has an interesting numismatic background.

After striking a comparatively large number of quarter eagles in 1843, the New Orleans mint did not produce any in 1844. None were actually struck in the calendar year of 1845 either; all 4,000 dated 1845-O quarter eagles are known to have been delivered on January 22, 1846. This meant that there was no official record of the 1845-O quarter eagle in the Mint Director’s Annual Report. As a result, this issue was all but unknown to numismatists until the beginning of the 20th century.

The first public record of the 1845-O was in the December 1894 issue of The Numismatist and in 1909, the famous uber-collector Virgil Brand purchased an 1845-O quarter from J.C. Mitchelson for the then-astounding price of $150 (this very coin is traceable today and it is the finest known; see the Condition Census listing below for more information).

Of the 4,000 struck, it is believed that just 65-75 are known. Most are very well worn and the typical 1845-O grades in the VF to EF range. Properly graded About Uncirculated pieces are very rare with fewer than a dozen known to me. I am aware of just three known in Uncirculated. These are as follows: (more…)

The rarity of the 1802 half dime is well known to collectors of United States coins. Only 35 or so pieces are believed known in all grades. Most, of course, are in low grades and David Davis gives a roster of “The Fourteen Worst 1802 Half Dimes” on page 38 of the Logan-McCloskey half dime reference. There are a surprising number of high grade examples also known of this date, the finest of which is the AU50 Granberg coin that was last sold by Heritage in the 1998 FUN Auction.

David Davis’ article is well researched and well worth the time to read, especially if one is interested in bidding on this coin. He has surveyed auction catalogs and found 167 appearances at public auction over a 140-year period, for an average of 1.2 appearances per year. As he points out, the availability of this date has not been uniform. In fact, there were 17 years when only three or four pieces were offered. And there were two nine-year spans, 1894-1903 and 1926-1934, when none were available at auction.

This irregular availability is mirrored in Heritage’s offerings of this date. They have not handled a single coin between 1976 and 1998. That’s one example of this date for approximately every 100,000 auction lots to appear in Heritage auctions.

In Federal Half Dimes 1792-1837, Russ Logan and John McCloskey commented: “The 1802 half dime has not only been recognized as the key date in the early half dime series for well over a century, but it is often described as one of the classic rarities of U.S. numismatics.” It is also considered to be among the 100 greatest U.S. coins by Jeff Garrett and Ron Guth.

The rarity of the 1802 half dime was recognized almost as soon as coin collecting became popular in the late 1850s. The first coin offered at public auction was in the 1859 sale by Edward Cogan of the J.N.T. Levick Collection, but that piece did not sell. The first actual sale of an 1802 half dime was four years later in the Lilliendahl Collection. (more…)

By Doug Winter - www.raregoldcoins.com

In my opinion, Type One double eagles have become popular enough with collectors that it is time for some of the more interesting varieties in this series to come into their own.

I am beginning to notice that these varieties are growing in popularity and that prices are beginning to appreciate as well.

What are the most significant varieties in the series, how rare are they and what sort of price premium do they merit?

1852/1852 Double Date:

This variety is one of the most obvious double dates that I have seen on a United States gold coin. It can easily be detected with the naked eye due to the heaviness of the date. The original date was punched slightly too high and then corrected with a second full punch placed slightly below.

In the last three years I have looked at over one hundred 1852 double eagles and fewer than ten have been of this variety. Nearly all have been in lower grades (EF45 and below) and I do not believe that I have ever seen an 1852 double date double eagle in Uncirculated.

This variety is recognized by NGC but it is not currently recognized by PCGS. I think it should sell for a 25-50% premium over a normal date 1852 and the premium in AU55 and higher grades should be even more than this. (more…)