EDITORS NOTE: Below is the full text of a Press Release from Heritage Galleries promoting the upcoming  Boston ANA sale of the Edward Roehrs Collection of U.S. Regulated Gold.  However what struck us the most was “What a Cool Collecting Theme !“  We often get so wrapped up in High Grade US coins, and the plethora of Modern issues that we overlook the incredible variety of ways one can collect coins, if you have a bit of imagination and think more “outside the box”. Our hat is off to Mr. Roehrs for helping to expand our somewhat myopic view of the numismatic landscape.

[ CoinLink News ] We are proud to present the intriguing Edward Roehrs Collection of U.S. Regulated Gold, including 73 different examples, at the Official World Coin Auction of the Boston ANA World’s Fair of Money, August 8-16, 2010.

One of the most fascinating and important episodes in America’s coinage history occurred in the early national period. Ephraim Brasher’s “EB” counterstamp, so well known thanks to the famous Brasher doubloons, was part of a much wider process in Confederation-era New York. Various jewelers were authorized to weigh and correct coin weights to ensure that the important trade with West Indies used foreign gold coins at their full value.

Thus, we find the counterstamps of Regulators Ephraim Brasher, John Burger, Joseph Richardson, Robert Cruikshank, Myer Myers, and Daniel Van Voorhis, on host coins from several countries, especially punches applied to gold plugs inserted to raise weight/gold content, including Brazil, Portugal, and England. Plus, this collection will include newly discovered goldsmiths whose products will be offered publicly for the first time.

This ingenious solution, using well-known goldsmiths to mark or plug coins, became widespread throughout the West Indies and it has been within collections of that specialty that many of these important American artifacts have long hid from view. The usual rules of numismatic value do not apply to these “Regulated” coins. Their enhanced value is created by actions that would reduce the value of other coins, such as drilling, plugging, and counterstamping. Indeed, these dynamic processes enrich their history and value, then the history of any individual regulated coin is further amended by actions taking place after regulation.

Regulated gold coins were typically found only in the most advanced collections formed in the early 20th century (and often very few examples) such as Garrett, Eliasberg, Ten Eyck, Ford, Roper, Brand, Jackman, and Newcomer. The few surviving examples often come with impressive pedigrees.

This catalog, with new research on smiths, weight standards, and provenance, will become a textbook in a field that has suffered from a lack of information. Reserve your copy now, and plan to participate in one of the most important specialized offerings of early American coins ever held.
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A reproduction of the allegory that appeared on the original 1935 $500 bank note

[ CoinLink News ] At a time when so many new coin releases exhibit such uninspired design, we can across this incredible beauty being offered by the Canadian Mint in a Limited Mintage of 200 pieces.

Perhaps we have just “classical” taste for the rich allegorical figures of yesteryear which seems to impart an importance to the design, or it may be that the “clip art” mentality exhibited on most modern coins just leaves us cold. In any case, this 5 oz gold just struck a cord, and provides us with a reminder of what exceptional coinage could, and should look like.

The design is a reproduction of the allegory that appeared on the original 1935 $500 bank note; a seated woman holding a sickle surrounded by the fruits of harvest to symbolize fertility.

This is the fourth time that the Mint has produced a 5oz gold coin. Previous issues: 2007 – Queen’s 60th Wedding Anniversary, 2008 – 100th Anniversary of the Royal Canadian Mint and 2009 – 150th Ann. of beginning of Construction of Parliament Buildings.

Theme:
The Bank of Canada began operating 75 years ago in 1935 and was given responsibility to regulate the country’s money supply and to “promote the economic and financial welfare of Canada.” Accordingly, it was given the exclusive right to issue Canada’s bank notes. On March 11, 1935, the Bank of Canada issued its first series of bank notes.

The inaugural series of 1935 included denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 and $1,000. (A $25 note was issued later in 1935 to commemorate the silver jubilee of King George V).

The front of the notes featured a portrait of a member of the royal family or of a former Canadian prime minister while allegorical figures representing Canada’s growing agricultural, industrial and commercial prosperity appeared on the back. Each denomination was available in English or French, a practice that ended with the introduction of bilingual notes in 1937.

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Ira and Larry Goldberg will be holding three exceptional sales prior Long Beach. They include the sale of THE DAN HOLMES COLLECTION Part II, Middle Date U.S. Large Cents on Sunday May 30th, 2010, United States Coins and Currency on Monday May 31st, 2010 and then Ancient and World Coins & Currency on Tuesday & Wednesday June 1& 2, 2010.

Here we would like to highlight 4 of the World Coin Highlights, coincidentally all from the previous Goldberg’s Millennia Sale. They are as follows:

Lot 3411 Russia. Peter I, 1682-1725. Novodel Ruble struck in Gold, 1705 (Moscow).

Fr-76 (62); Sev-12; Bitkin-532; Diakov-page 87, part 1. 44.22 grams. Laureate, cuirassed youthful bust right. Reverse: Crowned, double-headed eagle with scepter and orb. Plain edge. Sharply struck with all details bold, Peter’s hair curls in higher than normal relief. The surfaces are fully prooflike on both sides, with the devices softly lustrous to frosty matte and the fields reflective with an almost watery texture. Undoubtedly a high gift of state, the coin has been carefully preserved, with minimal marks or hairlines. The reverse die shows faint radiating cracks. This is one of the most important of all Russian coins!

Struck in gold to the weight of 13 Ducats, 44.22 grams, and created from the dies of the novodel ruble of 1705 (Sev-185), this is the plate coin shown in Bitkin and Diakov which appeared in both the 1977 Soderman and the 1991 Goodman auctions and is the only specimen appearing at public auction in over 25 years. Severin mentions this particular specimen (his number 12) as well as another weighing 40.4 grams, making this one of only two known examples. He also mentions a gold 1707 rouble (no. 18) and a 1723 in 12-ducat weight, each presumably unique. NGC graded MS-63.

Among Peter’s numerous reforms, he caused his country’s coinage system to change from being the most old-fashioned in Europe to being the most up to date. His was the first coinage to employ the decimal system (dividing the Ruble into one hundred smaller units, of copper Kopecks). Part of his reform involved devaluation, which made, for the first time, the Russian Ruble equivalent in its buying power to the Polish, Saxony and Silesian thalers which had seen such free circulation within the country before. It is said that, when the first Ruble coins bearing Western-style Arabic dates were struck in 1707, it was Peter himself operating the coin press!
Estimated Value $275,000 – 325,000.

Ex Dr. Robert D. Hesselgesser Collection (5/30 – 6/1/05), lot 1751; Goodman Collection (Superior, Feb. 1991), lot 4; and Soderman Collection (Swiss Bank, Feb. 1977); Illustrated in Money of The World, coin 115. Ex Millennia, Lot 802 where it Realized $340,000 (more…)