By Tom DeLorey

The most interesting field in American numismatics is, in my humble opinion, the broad spectrum of proposed designs, experimental alloys and finished or unfinished die trial pieces collectively known as Patterns. Some of these pieces are much more beautiful than the predictably uninspired work the U.S. Mint is producing today, while others recollect bold new ideas of form and function that a timid Treasury was afraid to adopt for fear of change and the reaction to it.

Just yesterday I held a specimen of an 1877 pattern half dollar in silver, Judd-1528, with a crested helmet that rivals in beauty the Athenian “new style” tetradrachms of two millennia before, brought up to date with a defiant American eagle engraved upon the side of the helmet. The reverse of the piece bears a Heraldic Eagle design as traditional as that of the $2-1/2 gold piece of 1796 and as up to date as the American Eagle silver dollar currently being produced.

Some people consider the first U.S. pattern to be the 1776 Continental Dollar struck in silver and/or in brass, the pewter version being the regular issue for the denomination. Unfortunately, nobody knows for sure what metal the Continental Congress actually intended to be the ultimate composition of this first U.S. dollar coin, and so many pattern specialists refuse to recognize any version of it as an actual trial piece.

The 1783 Nova Constellatio patterns engraved by Benjamin Dudley for Gouverneur Morris, assistant to the Superintendent of Finance for the American Confederation Robert Morris, have an equally valid claim to the title of the first U.S. patterns. Though the silver 1000, 500 and 100 units pieces and the unique copper 5 units coin were never authorized by the Continental Congress, Dudley had been placed on the government payroll to prepare a Mint in Philadelphia and is believed to have been paid for preparing the pattern dies.

Theodore Roosevelt wrote of Morris in 1888: “Gouverneur Morris was the founder of our national coinage.” His undenominated Nova Constellatio coppers circulated widely in the newly independent nation, and are generally collected as early American coins. A complete set of the Nova Constellatio patterns is currently being offered for sale by Stack’s in the neighborhood of $3,000,000.

The first universally recognized U.S. patterns are the various 1792 cents, half dismes, dismes and quarter dollars struck after the U.S. Mint was authorized but before it actually opened in 1793. The cents are extremely interesting for an experiment whereby a small plug of silver was placed inside a ring of copper to create a piece which had the intrinsic value of one cent without the weight of a cent’s worth of copper. (more…)

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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Stack’s is holding their 74th Anniversary Sale this year in Baltimore, MD from November 9-11, 2009. One of the impressive highlights of the sale is an Ultra High Relief Pattern, One of just two known.

From the Stacks sale of the Morrison Family and Lawrence C. Licht collections, March 2005, Lot 1538, this coin was described as follows:

“Discovered in the early 1990s, this extraordinary Ultra High Relief Double Eagle was struck inside the 3-segment collar created by Charles E. Barber for his unique 1906 Pattern Double Eagle (Judd-1773) no residing at the Smithsonian. This collar bore the nation’s Latin motto in small sans-serif letters separated by 13 stars: E*P*L*U*R*I*B*U*S*U*N*U*M*. The normal edge device used on all succeeding Ultra High Relief Double Eagles was the Roman-style serif-lettered motto, *E*PLURIBUS*UNUM**********. Comparison with Ultra High Relief specimens in the National Numismatic Collection in the Smithsonian Institution, expedited by the late Elvira Clain-Stefanelli, revealed that 1906-style lettering was also used on the experimental extra-thick piéfort Double Eagles with the diameter of a Gold Eagle (Judd 1779 [now J-1917]), also housed in the national collection. This coin’s edge lettering is ‘inverted,’ upside down if examined while the coin is horizontal with the obverse up, more properly described as Alignment I. Alignment II with lettering right side up was the one actually adopted for the later strikes.”

There are only two known examples of J-1907. As detailed below, this piece is the discovery specimen for the J-1907 variety; it first came to light as a new type in 1992. Pollock in his United States Patterns and Related Issues provides the following historical note about the specimen: “Discovered by Paul Song of Sotheby’s while examining a ’small estate collection,’ and was authenticated by David Tripp and J.P. Martin.” A second example turned up in 1995, which is also described as having an “inverted” edge letters arrangement. (more…)