Extremely Rare, One of Only Three Known, The Farouk-Baldenhofer Specimen

1836 P$1 Name Below Base, Judd-63 Restrike, Pollock-63, R.8, PR62 NGC. Silver. Plain Edge. Die Alignment III (the center of Liberty’s head is opposite the right edge of the N in ONE). This extremely rare muling combines the Name Below Base, Starless Obverse dated 1836 with the Starless Reverse of 1838. Only three such pieces are known.

These rarities obviously have their story intertwined with that of the Name Below Base Judd-58 dollars. Much recent research has been conducted on those pieces, and it is now generally accepted that none were struck in 1836. No Die Alignment I pieces are known, and no records exist of these coins until the late 1850s. This would be the earliest date the Judd-63 dollars could have been struck, and it is generally believed that they were actually produced sometime between 1867 and 1878, a time period that would correspond with one of the tenures of Henry Linderman as Mint director.

An interesting recent discovery by John Dannreuther further underscores the late striking period for the Name Below Base dollars. These coins all show effacement of C. GOBRECHT F. from the base of the rock–a move that was clearly done so that it could be added again below the base.

The Judd-63 dollars were obviously produced for sale to collectors as there was no obvious need for a starless obverse and reverse combination. All known examples show the same diagnostics. The reverse shows die cracks through the tops of MERI, the base of LAR in DOLLAR, and the top of TE in UNITED. All examples also show a raised die spur on the right side of the D in UNITED. (more…)

The obverse features the familiar Liberty Seated design used for regular-issue coinage in 1865. The reverse design consists of the traditional perched eagle motif, with the addition of the scroll and motto IN GOD WE TRUST. The reverse design was not adopted for regular coinage of this denomination until 1866. Struck in aluminum with a reeded edge. Sold at the 2009 January Orlando, FL Heritage FUN Auction #1121 Lot: 1639 for $46,000

It is possible that Judd-431 was struck in 1865 as a die trial piece, but it seems unlikely. There is no discernible reason to test the transitional pattern dies in such an exotic and expensive metal in 1865. Walter Breen noted that the obverse die was different from any of the regular-issue No Motto proofs produced in that year. It is most likely that Judd-431 is a fantasy piece, created for sale to collectors at a later date.

Whatever its origin, the extreme rarity of this issue is not in doubt. Andrew Pollock, the latest Judd reference, and USPatterns.com all list this coin as unique. Robert Coulton Davis was aware of the issue and listed it as number 198 in his pioneering work on patterns in 1885. There was no example of Judd-431 in the R.C. Davis Collection (New York Coin and Stamp, 1/1890) at the time it was sold. Davis must have known about the coin from another source. The piece was also missing from the Parmelee Collection, Woodin’s consignment at the 1914 ANS Exhibition, the King Farouk Collection, and the Lohr Collection. (more…)

by Greg Reynolds for CoinLink

The FUN Convention is the leading event for rare U.S. coins, and Heritage devoted an entire evening to the auction of one collection of U.S. Patterns. On Wed., Jan. 7, 2009, at the Orlando Convention Center, the Queller collection of pattern, experimental, trial, and fantasy pieces was sold without reserves.

• Part 1 - An overview of the sale of the Queller collection and a definition of patterns in general, along with discussions of $50 gold denomination patterns and the famous Washlady patterns of 1879.
• Part 2 - Famous patterns and a few ‘not so famous’ silver dollar (or trade dollar) patterns.
• Part 3 – Discussions of 1792 cent patterns, relatively inexpensive items in the sale, patterns of gold denominations, and my favorite piece in the Queller pattern collection.

Collectors who are interested in history may be particularly attracted to the patterns of the 1790s. Even those collectors who cannot afford them may enjoy learning about them. Besides, studying the patterns of the 1790s contributes to an understanding of the denominations and designs of U.S. coins in the 1790s and the decades that followed, with some connections to the U.S. coinage of the present. Indeed, patterns of the 1790s relate to the beginning of the U.S. Mint and the concepts that link patterns to the philosophical underpinnings of the United States.

The Birch cents of 1792 are legendary patterns. Even the motto, “LIBERTY [is the] PARENT OF SCIENCE & INDUSTRY,” is fascinating and stems from the views of some of the founding fathers.

There are three varieties of Birch Cents, though, as far as I know, no one collects them by variety. Teichman suggests that “there are about a dozen known of all three varieties combined.” It would not surprise me if sixteen or seventeen exist. The Queller piece is NGC graded Fair-02. In my view, the obverse grades a high end AG-03,while the reverse does not quite grade Poor-01, maybe 0.4? Many experts would accept the overall Fair-02 grade for this Birch cent.

Saul Teichman figures that this Birch cent had a market value in the range of “$30,000 to $40,000.” My guess is that, if another considerably circulated Birch Cent had been available on the FUN Convention bourse floor, it would have traded for substantially less than $60,000. The $86,250 auction result for this piece is surprising.

Queller’s 1792 silver-center cent was much earlier in the famous collection of Joseph Mickley. The idea of a cent coin containing $0.0075 silver and $0.0025 copper is intriguing. This piece brought $253,000. It also features the motto mentioned above, “LIBERTY PARENT OF SCIENCE & INDUSTRY”! Moreover, Thomas Jefferson discusses these silver-center cent patterns in a letter to George Washington. Jefferson and Washington were involved in the process of selecting coin types. Please see my article about another 1792 One Cent pattern that was auctioned at the Jan. 2008 FUN Convention. (more…)