As part of an effort in 1999 to promote the new Sacagawea Dollars, General Mills scattered 5,500 specially-packaged 2000-dated Sacagawea Dollars among 10 million boxes of Cheerios cereal. Five years later, it was discovered that the so-called “Cheerios” Dollars were actually from a different reverse die type.

Some experts consider these pattern coins; others have called them “Reverse of 1999”. PCGS has labeled them “Cheerios FS-401”, referring to the source and the reference number from the Fivaz-Stanton “Cherrypicker” guide.

Because of the perceived rarity of the Reverse of 1999 and the assumption that all “Cheerios” Dollars bore the Reverse of 1999, the demand for these coins has increased and the coins themselves have become quite valuable.

However, PCGS experts recently opened a sealed “Cheerios” package only to find out that the Dollar contained in the package was of a normal, Reverse of 2000 die type.

The package appeared to be authentic and showed no evidence of tampering. A similar experience has been reported by another grading service. Thus, one may no longer assume that the Dollars in the Cheerios packages are of the rare, Reverse of 1999.

Because the “Cheerios” Dollars are packaged obverse up, the reverse cannot be seen. An obverse die marker has been identified on some “Cheerios” Dollars and may assist in identifying Reverse of 1999 Dollars in sealed packages. The die marker consists of die polish extending into the field from Sacagawea’s wrap immediately below and to the left of the mintmark. Whether this die marker is diagnostic of the Reverse of 1999 Sacagawea Dollars remains to be seen. (more…)

Republished with Permission from SmallDollars.com

A previously known, but unacknowledged, Cheerios Dollar without the “pattern” reverse was given more credibility when a second one was certified by NGC in April 2008. The first piece, in a PCI holder, was known as early as 2005. However, due to the problems that PCI was having, no one took it seriously at the time.

Fast forward to April 2008 when a collector, who wishes to remain anonymous, owned not one, but two Cheerios Dollars in their original Cheerios packaging.

The owner states, “I got one of the two coins out of a box of Cheerios and bought the other one at a flee market back in 2001-2002 and they have been sitting in my dresser drawer ever since until I found out what they might be worth.”

Deciding to capitalize on them, he send both to NGC for authentication and grading.

Upon their return he was surprised to find that one was not labeled as a “Pattern” as the other one was. Checking the reverse he found that it did in fact not exhibit the detailed tail feathers as the “pattern” piece did. Concerned if a “non-pattern” Cheerios Dollar was possible or was previously known to exist, the collector contacted this web site.

We in turn contacted accomplished numismatist Tom DeLorey, who was instrumental in the original discovery of the Cheerios “Pattern” Dollar. Being as surprised as we were, Mr. DeLorey contacted NGC to verify the piece.

In response NGC said, “The report that you received is entirely factual. NGC did receive a Cheerios dollar in original packaging and the coin was not the pattern reverse. This was confirmed by Rick Montgomery and Dave Camire. Dave Camire, in fact, opened the packaging.”

WOW!!! The Sacagawea Dollar series never ceases to amaze. Years after their release, new discoveries keep popping up. How could this one have happen?

Mr. DeLorey has come up with a possible scenario. Keep in mind that this scenario is pure speculation. We’ll probably never know for sure how a “non-pattern” coin was placed in a Cheerios package. (more…)

By Kerry Rodgers, World Coin News

Collectors of pattern coins and trials need to take a long hard look at Roxbury’s catalog for the firm’s May 22 Queensland auction. It includes an Australian classic, an example of the 1937 uniface, reverse and pattern for Australia’s penny showing a bounding kangaroo (SCWC Pn24).

This was the first time this Australian icon had appeared - by itself - on any Commonwealth coin. It would remain as the reverse design for the penny and halfpenny until 1964. At the Royal Mint a series of different patterns were struck of Kruger Gray’s incisive but simple design. All are excessively rare with very few in private hands. The Standard Catalog entry for this item does not differentiate between the four possible patterns.

The uniface version comes with the word MODEL across the coin’s obverse as shown here. However, it exists with both a hole drilled in the planchet or unholed. The 2007 edition of Renniks Australian Coin and Banknote Values give the mintage of the uniface “model’ as 8 and with a value as A$110,000. However, this catalog does not distinguish holed from unholed.

Read Full Numismaster Article Here 

A rare and important collection of English gold ‘pattern’ coins last seen on the market in 1904 is due to go under the hammer in Plymouth.

The 44 coins had been locked in a vault until recently when their Plymouth owner - a descendant of Evan Roberts who bought them 104 years ago - decided to sell them.

Auctioneer Paul Keen, of Plymouth Auction Rooms, said he expected the coins to sell for thousands of pounds.

“In 1904 a Mr Evan Roberts purchased various rare gold coins from the Sotheby’s major four-day auction of the collection of Mr J G Murdoch, at the time the coins were selling for between £4 and £9. They’re now worth thousands. Mr Roberts was an important collector of pocket watches at the time. In fact, his collection was given to the Victoria and Albert Museum, where curators produced a special book just for his collection.

A pattern is a coin designed and proposed for use as regular currency. Apart from genuine trial pieces there were various non-issue pattern coins produced privately which gave full rein to the engraver’s skills.

These coins were made in silver, copper, bronze and gold.

A total of 44 high-quality gold coins are on offer including a rare George III pattern twopence by William J Taylor. It was made in 1805, weighs 62 grams and its value is estimated at £3,000 to £5,000. (more…)