By Doug Winter – RareGoldCoins.com

Continuing my fascination with Proof-only issues, I’d like to discuss the rare Proof-only double eagles dated 1883, 1884 and 1887. These issues are not all that well-known outside of Type Three Liberty Head collectors and I think they merit more than a passing mention.

Beginning in 1881, production of double eagles at the Philadelphia mint became little more than an afterthought. And it would remain as such until 1888. In 1883, there were no business strikes produced. The Mint did strike 92 Proofs; ostensibly for the limited numbers of collectors who were interested in Proof double eagles at this point in time.

The Mint struck considerably more Proof 1883 double eagles than they were able to sell and it is believed that as many as half of the original mintage was melted later in the year. Of the four dozen or so that were distributed to collectors and dealers, around twenty at most are known today. This figure includes at least three that are impounded in museums and another two or three that are impaired.

The 1883 is the second rarest collectable Liberty Head double eagle, trailing only the 1884 (I consider the 1849 and the 1861 Paquet reverse non-obtainable and do not include them). Despite this coin’s indisputable rarity, it is only fairly recently that the 1883 became known as a major rarity. Prices for this issue had remained fairly stagnant for many years, hovering in the $75,000-100,000 range. This only changed in 2004 when Heritage sold an example for $172,500. Today, a Gem is worth at least $200,000-225,000.

There are a small number of Gems that have been graded by the services and at least one has been slabbed as PR66 by NGC. I know of six or seven Gems and the two nicest that I have personally seen are Heritage 1/06: 3580 (graded PR65 Ultra Cameo by NGC) and Heritage 1/04: 3224 (graded PR65 Deep Cameo by PCGS and possibly also ex Dallas Bank collection).

There are a few diagnostic criteria that make this an easy issue to authenticate. All show roughness on the back of the eagle’s neck and fragmentation of the fleur de lys beneath its beak. These die markers do not exist on any business strike reverses of this era.

The 1884 is the rarest of these three Proof-only issues. A total of 71 were struck and it is possible (although unconfirmed) that a few were melted as unsold, given the fact that so many Proofs dated 1883 suffered this fate. There are slightly fewer than twenty known. I wrote in 2000 that 15-17 exist and I think this number might be a tiny bit on the low side. A total of twelve have sold at auction since 2000 but this includes a number of coins that have sold more than once. (more…)

By Doug Winter – RareGoldCoins.com

The presence of a number of important Type Three Proof Liberty Head double eagles in the upcoming 2011 FUN auction got me to thinking about . What are these coins, why are they important and do they deserve the market premiums they enjoy?

A Proof-only coin is an issue that exists only in a Proof-only format where business strikes could have been produced as well. These coins exist in a variety of denominations but for this blog, we’ll focus on the ones in various United States gold series.

Some of the most famous Proof-only gold coins are the double eagles from 1883, 1884 and 1887. The mintage figures for these dates are 92, 71 and 121 respectively. I believe that there are around twenty 1883 double eagles known, maybe fifteen 1884’s and as many as thirty to thirty five 1887’s.

There are two ways to look at these coins. The commonly accepted way is to consider them solely as a date. In other words, even though there are many Proof double eagles that are rarer than these three, there are no other Type Threes that compare to the 1883 and 1884 in terms of the total number known. If a date collector wants to buy an 1883 for his set of Type Three double eagle he has to buy a Proof. This is different than a rare date like the 1881 or the 1882 that exists in dual formats; i.e., as business strikes and Proofs, and thus presents the collector with two options.

Collectors who are new to double eagles might balk at having to pay $150,000-200,000 for a nice 1883 double eagle when they can purchase a Proof of comparable rarity from this era for half as much–or less. Why, they wonder, does a Proof-only issue get such a high premium?

The mistake that they are making is to compare the 1883 to, say, an 1880. They need to look at the rarity of the 1883 on an absolute level. The 1883, from the standpoint of total number known, is even rarer than such celebrated issues as the 1854-O and the 1856-O; two issues that now sell for $300,000-500,000. If the Type Three series were to ever become as popular with date collectors as the Type One series currently is, the current prices for Proof-only issues such as the 1883, 1884 and 1887 could double or triple. (more…)

I don’t consider myself to be a real pro when it comes to rare coin promotion but even I know a no-brainer when I see it. 2011 marks the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War. As sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, you can bet that rare coin promotion gurus who are far more clever than I have been preparing for this event for some time.

So if you are Joe Coin Promoter and you are gearing up for the Civil War Sesquicentennial in 2011, what kind of gold coins can you get enough of to do a promotion? Let’s go denomination by denomination and figure this out.

I. Gold Dollars

Only two mints made gold dollars in 1861: Philadelphia and Dahlonega. The 1861-P is common and cheap; the 1861-D is rare and expensive. The 1861-D is unpromotable; it is too rare to accumulate in quantity and is already too expensive. A clever dealer could probably stealthily buy 40-50 1861-P gold dollars in lower Mint State grades over the course of a year and have enough coins to promote. He could probably find as many 1862-P gold dollars and maybe have as many as 100 coins in total. I would have to wonder, though, if the intended audience for this promotion would get excited about gold dollars as they are small, common and not really “sexy.” As a collector I’d probably avoid stockpiling any Civil War gold dollars to ride the coattails of a promotion.

II. Quarter Eagles

Two mints made quarter eagles in 1861: Philadelphia and San Francisco. The 1861-S is unheralded but scarce and I doubt if you could put together a group of more than three or four over the course of a year. The 1861-P is common in grades up to MS63 and it might be possible to accumulate enough to promote. I like the promotional possibilities of this issue and it might not be a bad idea for a collector to buy a few MS62 to MS63 pieces and see if prices increase in the next few years. None of the other Civil War Philadelphia issues can be found in enough quanity to promote. The San Francisco issues are all rare but it might be possible to put together a rag-tag group of circulated examples.

III. Three Dollar Gold Pieces

You couldn’t promote threes in Uncircirculated as all of the Civil War issues are rare enough and expensive enough to preclude this. But you might actually be able to acculate a few dozen nice circulated pieces. This promotion actually makes sense to me as the three dollar denomination is odd and interesting and it would appeal to non-collectors. It is also out of favor right now so the possibility of buying a fair quantity exists. The 1861-64 dates are all moderately scarce but available in the EF-AU range for less than $4,000 per coin. As a promotion bandwagon jumper, these three dollar gold pieces kind of make sense to me. (more…)