By Ron Drzewucki There’s been quite a surge of interest in the pre-Saint-Gaudens Liberty Head type of eagles and double eagles as of late, with several outstanding pieces (including one of the most complete collections of Liberty Head types in recent memory) hitting the auction block. Personally, I’m happy to see the hobby move in […]
The post The U.S. $2.50 Gold Quarter Eagle appeared first on CoinWeek: Rare Coin, Currency, and Bullion News for Collectors.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….. #1. David Rittenhouse (April 1792 – June 1795) The term “polymath” is usually employed to describe the United States Mint’s first director, David Rittenhouse. He was a mathematician, a philosopher, an astronomer, a surveyor, a master clock maker, and a patriot. At all but the […]
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Advanced technology led to the production of these scarce coins By Jeff Garrett for Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) …… One of the more interesting kinds of coin made by the United States Mint over the last 200-plus years are those that can be called “transitional issues.” These coins straddle both an old design and […]
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GreatCollections is offering discerning collectors the opportunity to bid on an 1835 Matron Head large cent graded MS65 RB by PCGS. Certified by CAC as a “Head of 1836” variety, not only is this coin extremely high grade for the type, but it plays testament to a controversial period in American numismatics. This coin is […]
The post Finest Known 1835 Matron Head Large Cent Offered by GreatCollections appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Bullion Shark LLC …… If you hear someone refer to “gold eagles”, you might think of the American Gold Eagle issued since 1986. But from the time that the first U.S. gold coins were issued in 1795, an eagle, or $10 gold coin, has been the base unit denomination for American gold coinage. Moreover, […]
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The suspension of silver dollar production was lifted in 1831 under United States Mint Director Samuel Moore, enabling the resumption of the mintage of a coin not made in this country since 1804. It wasn’t until 1835 however, under Mint Director Robert M. Patterson, that efforts to actually produce the coin moved forward. The dollar […]
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By Doug Winter – RareGoldCoins.com …… CoinWeek Content Partner Liberty Head half eagles were produced from 1839 until they were discontinued in 1908. This long-lived series is becoming popular with collectors who are attracted to these coins because of their history and rarity. This article is an attempt to make sense of the […]
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By Bullion Shark LLC …… Liberty Seated Dollars, designed by United States Mint Chief Engraver Christian Gobrecht, were issued from 1840 to 1873 and were the first silver dollars issued since 1804. They are not as well known or as widely collected as Morgan and Peace dollars mainly because it is a challenging series to […]
The post Seated Liberty Dollars Are Much Rarer Than Morgan and Peace Dollars appeared first on CoinWeek.
The smallest denomination ever struck by the U.S. Mint, the half cent is an extremely complex series. It features five major types and subtypes that all have a series of varieties, the last of which was the Braided Hair half cent (1840-57). As the new Chief Engraver, Christian Gobrecht was responsible for shifting the design […]
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By Tyler Rossi for CoinWeek ….. History is a continuum and time moves linearly. Generally, as time progresses, artistic and cultural trends evolve and build upon each other. One perfect example is the Hellenistic influence seen in Buddhist artwork from the Gandharan province in the first century BCE. The Bactrian and other Greek kings who […]
The post The Influence of Historic and Ancient Coin Designs appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Victor Bozarth for PCGS …… In the first installment of this three-part series on collecting the coinage of the Carson City (CC) Mint, I covered the three smaller silver denominations produced by that famous mint in Nevada, including dimes, quarters, and half dollars. Here in part two, I turn to the “cartwheels” – silver […]
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The California Gold Rush may have been set off by James Wilson Marshall’s January 24, 1848 discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill, but the commercial extraction of oro fino in California had already been underway for eight years by this time. This fact is important to understand because contrary to popular belief, the 1848 “CAL” […]
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By Dan Duncan – Pinnacle Rarities …… In discussions of our nation’s coinage, the use of a female allegory for Liberty dates back to the earliest days of our Independence, pre-dating the foundation of the United States Mint. In 1785, copper patterns were created using designs suggested by the early Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris. […]
The post Lady Liberty: The Allegory of a Nation appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Dan Duncan – Pinnacle-Rarities …… Description The 1861 half dollars from the New Orleans Mint have the distinction of being the only issue in U.S. numismatics struck under the authority of three different authorities. At the time, all working dies were prepared in Philadelphia and distributed to the branch mints as no tooling or […]
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By James McCartney – Senior Numismatist, Stack’s Bowers …… The 1849 quarter eagle is a rare and underrated Philadelphia Mint issue from the early days of Christian Gobrecht’s Coronet, or Liberty Head, design type. The mintage of 23,294 quarter eagles in 1849 was subject to considerable circulation and attrition upon release, leaving just about 115 […]
The post Top Pop 1849 Liberty Head $2.50 Featured in Stack’s Bowers March Las Vegas Auction appeared first on CoinWeek.
By CoinWeek …. At GreatCollections on Sunday, December 6, bidding ends for this 1853 No Arrows Seated Liberty quarter, graded MS-66 by PCGS and approved by CAC. This piece was also part of the famed Eliasberg Collection. The honor of top pop 1853 No Arrows quarter at PCGS goes to a pair of quarters graded […]
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By CoinWeek …. Bidding ends Sunday, November 29 at GreatCollections.com for this toned 1871-CC Seated Liberty silver dollar, graded MS-61 by PCGS. A key date in the Seated Liberty dollar series, the 1871-CC has the lowest mintage of the four Carson City Mint issues, with only 1,376 struck. In spite of this, more 1871-CCs–many of […]
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A Window Into the Mind of Christian Gobrecht By Rexford Goldbaum ….. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in Penny Wise, the official publication of Early American Coppers. Click here for more information about this vital organization for copper collectors. In the absence of contemporary documentation denoting the details of issuance of early Proof […]
The post The Engraved Pattern “Mature Head” Cent Design Model appeared first on CoinWeek.
Description The New Orleans Mint was one of three branches of the United States Mint authorized to be opened by the Coinage Act of March 3, 1835. The same Act authorized the opening of an important assay office in New York City. The Louisiana facility was built on land donated to the federal government by […]
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United States Classic Gold Coins of 1834-1839 Buy the book before the coin. Sage advice if there is a book to buy. Every coin series in U.S. history has a book dedicated to it except one: Classic Gold. Minted from 1834 to 1839 and falling between the series of the old standard preceding it […]
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By CoinWeek …. Sunday evening on December 15, bidding ends on GreatCollections for this Proof 1903 Liberty Head Gold Half Eagle, graded PR-66 CAM in a gold shield holder by PCGS and approved by CAC. A rare coin due to its mintage of 154, as of this writing PCGS reports a grand total of […]
The post Cameo 1903 Liberty Gold Half Eagle Proof Major Highlight of Sunday’s GreatCollections Auction appeared first on CoinWeek.
Description: The Seated Liberty (or Liberty Seated) dime debuted in 1837 and underwent a number of design modifications over the course of its 54-year run. In 1837, United States Mint engraver (and soon to be Chief Engraver) Christian Gobrecht’s design debuted with a fairly clean, yet simple obverse that featured a seated Liberty accompanied only […]
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By Lianna Spurrier for CoinWeek ….. Quite a few denominations have been introduced and retired throughout our history, and while the half dime lives on in spirit through the nickel, the original small silver pieces are virtually unknown outside of the numismatic community. They tend to receive less attention than their larger counterparts, so let’s […]
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Chief Engraver William Kneass suffered a stroke before he could finalize the design for the Seated Liberty motif, which replaced the Capped Bust design on U.S. silver coinage in the late 1830s. The talented Christian Gobrecht took over the project and completed the design, based on earlier contributions from Kneass, Thomas Sully, and Titian Peale. […]
The post Heritage Auctions – Seldom Seen Selections: Gem Proof 1837 No Stars Dime appeared first on CoinWeek.
Description: U.S. Circulating Coin Production in 1887 – Putting the 1887 Half in Context In 1887, the Philadelphia Mint handled U.S. coin production for all of the minor denominations, the silver dollar, and gold denominations up to $10, with the exception of the half eagle, which was only struck for circulation at the San Francisco […]
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Coin Rarities & Related Topics: News and Analysis regarding scarce coins, markets, and coin collecting #396 A Weekly Column by Greg Reynolds ….. Liberty Seated dimes were minted from 1837 to 1891. The legend ‘United States of America’ was moved from the reverse to the obverse in 1860. Although truly scarce, Liberty Seated dimes with the […]
The post Classic U.S. Coins for Less Than $500 Each, Part 32: Liberty Seated Dimes 1838-60 appeared first on CoinWeek.
Coin Rarities & Related Topics: News and Analysis regarding scarce coins, markets, and coin collecting #386 A Weekly Column by Greg Reynolds ….. Overall, there are nine design types of half dimes, five of which are in the series of Liberty Seated half dimes. It is somewhat easy to collect these ‘by date’ (including U.S. Mint […]
The post Classic U.S. Coins for Less Than $500 Each, Part 31: Liberty Seated Half Dimes appeared first on CoinWeek.
Coin Rarities & Related Topics: News and Analysis regarding scarce coins, markets, and coin collecting #357 A Weekly CoinWeek Column by Greg Reynolds ….. Just seven coins are needed for a regular type set of gold eagles (U.S. $10 Gold eagle coins). The purpose here is to discuss building such a set without spending a fortune, […]
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By Jim Bisognani – Numismatic Guaranty Corporation ….. 2016—Golden centennial tributes commemorate inspired individuality A touch of early fall weather with temperatures at night dropping to the rather chilly mid-30s made it abundantly clear that the next season is at hand. With cooler temps enhancing the colorful foliage, which for the most part is still […]
The post Classic US Coins: 1916—The Year of Reform and Great Numismatic Treasures appeared first on CoinWeek.
Analysis regarding scarce coins, markets, and coin collecting #351 A Weekly CoinWeek Column by Greg Reynolds ….. This is the third in a series on collecting U.S. patterns without spending as much as $5,000 USD on any one piece. Although patterns are not coins, some did circulate as coins and patterns are often collected along with […]
The post U.S. Coin Patterns for Less than $5,000 Each, Pt. 3: Three Cent Pieces appeared first on CoinWeek.
By James McCartney, Numismatist & Cataloger – Stack’s Bowers ….. The No Stars Liberty Seated dimes of 1837 and 1838 are often considered Gobrecht’s little masterpieces. Uncluttered by stars on either side, Liberty sits majestically at center, placed upon a perfectly sized canvas that allows appreciation of the obverse motif without being distracted by the […]
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A Weekly CoinWeek Column by Greg Reynolds ….. Analysis regarding scarce coins, markets, and coin collecting #347 U.S. half cents were first struck in 1793, and Braided Hair half cents were introduced in 1840. It is generally believed, though, that all half cents dating from 1840 to 1848 are Proofs. Indeed, standard references imply that no […]
The post Classic U.S. Coins for Less Than $500 Each, Pt. 22: Braided Hair Half Cents appeared first on CoinWeek.
Coin Rarities & Related Topics: News and Analysis regarding scarce coins, coin markets, and the coin collecting community #343 A Weekly CoinWeek Column by Greg Reynolds …… For less than $500 per coin, an extensive and impressive collection of early U.S. copper coins could be assembled ‘by date.’ Although Matron Head large cents could be […]
The post Classic U.S. Coins for Less Than $500 Each, Pt. 21: Matron Head Large Cents appeared first on CoinWeek.
LOT 3047 – 1823 Capped Bust Half Dollar Broken 3 Mint State-65+ (PCGS) Coin Rarities & Related Topics: News and Analysis regarding scarce coins, coin markets, and the coin collecting community #317 A Weekly CoinWeek Column by Greg Reynolds …… On Tuesday, February 9, Stack’s Bowers, in cooperation with Sotheby’s, will conduct the third in […]
The post The Marvelous Pogue Family Coin Collection, Part 13: Probable Finest Known ‘Broken 3’ 1823 Capped Bust Half Dollar appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Joshua McMorrow-Hernandez for CoinWeek…. If you haven’t had the opportunity to check out the New Orleans Mint in person, I recommend you stop by the next time you’re in The Big Easy. I was just passing through Louisiana on a business trip and had only a few hours to spend in the Crescent City, […]
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Numismatic Guaranty Corporation® (NGC®) has authenticated a previously unreported brass hub reduction produced at the United States Mint from an eagle designed by famed US Mint Engraver Christian Gobrecht. A hub reduction represents a transitional piece between the sculpted model and the hub used to create coining dies. This square piece came to NGC in […]
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