Last week, Stack’s celebrated its 74th anniversary with a tremendous three-day auction sale of U.S. coins, tokens, and paper money. Significant realizations abounded in every category and the sale realized a total of nearly $5 million!

The auction included selections from the Alan Bleviss Collection, the Jerry Byrne, Sr. Collection, the David Hickson Collection, the Chester L. Krause Collection, the Maryland Historical Society, the Mayflower Collection, the Minot Collection, the Robert A. Vlack Collection and much more.

Session One began with U.S. tokens and, after a nice selection of high quality Hard Times Tokens, presented Part II of the Alan Bleviss Collection of Civil War Tokens. This amazing collection is one of the most extensive holdings ever assembled, and the offering here provided more than 500 tokens from over 20 states. Highlights included the rare P.L. Geissler token from Evansville, Indiana that was overstruck on a McClellan presidential token, an R-9 example in MS-62 (NGC) that sold for $11,500.

The rare Logansport, Indiana token of H.C. Eversole, also an R-9 example in MS-62 (NGC), brought $4,600, and the gem Plainfield, Indiana M. Osborn token, an R-8 in Zinc graded MS-65 by NGC, garnered $5,462.50. U.S. Medals boasted the rare 1799 George Washington Funeral Medal, a gold uniface oval medal in AU condition that sold for $17,250.

U.S. coins offered a modestly sized section of Colonial and Early American Coins that featured several fantastic pieces. One of these items was the rare 1790 Standish Barry threepence. Graded VF-30 by PCGS, this item was formerly part of the collection of the Maryland Historical Society, and sold for a hearty $43,125. Another impressive piece was the remarkable 1797 Theatre at New York token, one of just 15 collectable pieces available today. This extraordinary item was graded Proof-64 RB (PCGS) and sold for $28,750. (more…)

(1855-57) Kellogg & Humbert 43-Ounce Gold Ingot. Recovered From the S.S. Central America. 97 mm x 42 mm x 17 mm. CAGB-534. From the obverse or top and reading downward in vertical orientation, NO (number abbreviation in typical style) 701 followed by the rectangular, bordered incuse imprint of KELLOGG / & / HUMBERT / ASSAYERS. Below are 43.39 OZ / .911 FINE / $817.12. After a medallic turn, the serial number 701 is repeated on the back.

Q. David Bowers, in Appendix IV of the enormous A California Gold Rush History, enumerates all of the ingots recovered from the S.S. Central America, both by assayer and serial number as marked on the ingots, and by assayer and weight. The assayers represented include:

–Blake & Co. Opened in 1855, based in Sacramento, California. Only 34 ingots from this company were recovered. The company’s ingots have beveled edges and may have seen limited circulation in California.

–Harris, Marchand & Co. Operated two offices, one in Sacramento (founded 1855) and a second in Marysville, California (opened in 1856). All of their bars have a circular coin-shaped counterstamp on the front. One unique bar is known from the Marysville office. Total bars recovered: 37.

–Henry Hentsch. Hentsch, a native of Switzerland with many business connections, opened his assay office in February 1856 next door to his bank. The Guide Book speculates that many of his ingots were likely exported to Europe. Ingots recovered: 33.

–Justh & Hunter. Opened San Francisco assay office in 1855 and Marysville office in 1856, remaining in business through 1858. Ingots recovered: 86 (60 in the 4,000 series ascribed to San Francisco; 26 in the 9,000 series attributed to Marysville).

–Kellogg & Humbert The most well-known names in the coinage of California gold coins–and ingots, after the S.S. Central America recovery. That they escaped the scandals exposed by James King of William for underweight coinage gave their products currency and credibility, and as expected, their ingots constituted the majority found aboard the ship. Ingots recovered: 346, ranging in gross weight from less than 6 ounces to 934 ounces. (more…)

Royal Canadian Mint puts a shine on Montreal Canadiens Centennial Plaza opening
CNW Group
Today the Royal Canadian Mint joined the Montreal Canadiens hockey club at the unveiling of the Centennial Plaza at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Four special gold coins to be permanently displayed at the foot of monuments honouring team legends Howie Morenz, Maurice Richard, Jean Béliveau and Guy Lafleur were also unveiled.
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China to issue commemorative coins for 30th anniversary of reform
Xinhua
The People’s Bank of China, the central bank, said on Thursday it would issue a set of gold and silver coins on Dec. 10 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up drive. The set includes two varieties of gold coins — one weighing a quarter ounce while the other weighing five ounces — and one type of one-ounce silver coin, it said.
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PCGS Launches ‘CoinFactsWiki.com’
PCGS
Professional Coin Grading Service introduces CoinFacts Wiki, a public encyclopedia of U.S. and World coins located at www.CoinFactsWiki.com. The “wiki” concept allows users to create and edit virtually all pages on the website, subject to oversight by system administrators. This capability allows large volumes of up-to-date information and images to be added to the website in a short period of time, creating a massive database of information that is useful to buyers, sellers, researchers and anyone else interested in numismatics.
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Van Buren Edge Errors Reported
By Ken Potter, Numismatic News
Collectors looking for Martin Van Buren dollar error coins have been rewarded. I have a report of a 2008-P Van Buren dollar with a shifted edge inscription and other Van Buren error dollars. This continues a series of errors that began with the Washington coins. In the July 29 issue of Numismatic News I reported on a shifted edge inscription error found on a George Washington Presidential dollar. I reported upon the error type again in the Aug. 26 issue for the John Adams and James Monroe dollars and then again in the Sept. 23 issue for the Andrew Jackson dollar.
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U.S. Mint Director Rumors
Susan Headley About.com
The rumors have been flying fast and furious ever since Election Day: Who will be the next Director of the United States Mint? The U.S. Mint Director’s job is a political appointment, and most such positions traditionally change hands when a new president is elected. There has been some confusion among the members of the coin collecting community about whether the current U.S. Mint Director, Ed Moy, would have to automatically tender his resignation effective Jan. 20, 2009 (Inauguration Day).
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2008-W Platinum Eagles Gone, Order Cancellations Mount
Mint News Blog
Today, the last of the 2008-W Uncirculated Platinum Eagle offerings available from the US Mint went dark. The last to go was the one ounce coin priced at $1,069.95. Yesterday, I mentioned that this coin was listed as back ordered and might soon officially sell out. However, even if you did place an order before your the coins went off sale, you still might be out of luck.
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