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Coin News for March 29, 2010
Was A Gilbert Stuart Sketch the Model for Draped Bust Coinage?
The E-Sylum
Famous American artist Gilbert Stuart painted many of our founding fathers and their wives, and his works have been copied onto American currency, commemorative coins, presidential dollars, first spouse coins, and state quarters. I am trying to document these colorful connections for publication. Yet one of his finest impacts is possibly the most difficult to verify, since the artwork in question has not survived. Numismatic scholars have debated Stuart’s involvement in the introduction of the Draped Bust design that graced seven denominations of our early coins, starting with the 1795 silver dollar. I have found long descriptions of Anne Bingham’s life (including an 1787 portrait and 1785 sketch of her by Stuart), but only bits and pieces of her connection to our coinage.
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International Bank Note Society Forms a Russian-Language Chapter
Banknote News
The International Bank Note Society has announced the formation of a new Russian chapter. According to Dmitriy Litvak, president of the new chapter, “The main difference between the Russian (IBONS) chapter and the other IBNS chapters is that it is based on a linguistic (Russian) base rather than a geographical one. The Russian-speaking community of banknote collectors has at least 3,000 members around the world. This is why we face difficulty in having conferences and meetings as we are in 14 countries. To overcome this, a website forum at www.bonistika.net was created for the spread of collective knowledge.
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Odd Coins Soar on EBay
Coin Values
EBay continues to provide a vibrant market for rare coins. As reported in the April 5 Coin World, a 2004-D Wisconsin, Extra Leaf High quarter dollar graded Mint State 67 by Professional Coin Grading Service was sold on March 11 on eBay for $10,000. It was to some a very surprising price, but it is undoubtedly a condition rarity as it is one of just two graded MS-67 by PCGS. The market for these Wisconsin quarter dollar variations has shown strong legs in the past five years, although looking at auction records from 2006 to the present shows a decline in value for commonly collected grades of MS-64 though MS-66.
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A Rare Note Pinned to a Drifter’s Coat Stars at Lyn Knight Currency Sale
Numismaster
An 1891 $100 Treasury Note originally “found pinned to a drifter’s coat” was the star of Lyn Knight Currency Auctions sale, March 18-20, at the 16th Annual Chicago Paper Money Exposition. It sold for a hammer price of $110,000. The Fr. 378 $100 graded PMG VF-20 Restored is one of “only 12 specimens known” and one of four found on the drifter. “The open back 100 Treasury note is far rarer than the early Watermelon issue of 1880,” according to the cataloger.
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Coin and Collectible Show Reveals Local History
KIDK News
Coins, bills, and collectibles, all to buy, sell, and trade, but those aren’t the only things being exchanged. “It’s a part of Idaho history, it’s a piece of the past that very few people know anything about,” says antique shop co-owner, Richard Jimenez. Richard Jimenez is talking about not one, but 270 pieces of Idaho history. He collects local poker chips from the early 1900s. Most gambling was made illegal in Idaho in 1949. “A lot of the poker chips that are out there, when they closed down the gambling they got discarded and thrown out so the only chips that are available are from people who used to own the businesses or the people that gambled that hung on to a few after it stopped,” says Jimenez.
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About the Author
Tim Shuck is a life-long Midwestern resident, and started collecting coins after finding an Indian Head cent on the ground at his childhood farm home. Additional encouragement came from looking through a collection of well-worn late 19th and early 20th century coins kept by his grandfather in an old leather coin purse. Current collecting interests include U.S. types from the Civil War era through the early 1930's, and Colonial and Early American coins.
