Listed at $16,800 in the CDN CPG and $20,000 in the NGC price guide.
Overloaded with heavy equipment plus more than 240 passengers and crew, the S.S. Brother Jonathan sank on July 30, 1865 off the coast of California near Crescent City, when it hit an uncharted rock in a fierce gale and heavy seas. A single lifeboat saved 11 crew members, plus five women and three children in California’s greatest maritime disaster. Also lost was a treasure of freshly minted gold coin intended as payments to government troops and Indian tribes. Reportedly only 20% of the gold treasure was recovered in 1996 salvage operations, including 1,207 gold coins — primarily double eagles. More than 500 of those pieces were dated 1865-S, in conditions ranging from AU to MS66.
Offered at $16,400
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The Judd reference calls this William Barber obverse similar to the famous “Washlady” design, but to our eyes there are also similarities to the Coiled Hair Stella obverse. Liberty’s hair is tightly coiled about her head in a bun, with two flowing ribbons in back and a beaded headband inscribed LIBERTY. IN GOD WE TRUST and 13 stars appear around the rim, date below. The reverse shows a rather scrawny eagle inside a laurel wreath with evenly matched berry pairs. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is around the rim — the letters irregularly spaced — and ONE DOLLAR is below. The motto is in small letters above the eagle. Struck in silver with a reeded edge. We wrote of this design in the Lemus-Queller catalog, “In a classic case of closing the barn door after the horse has got out, the Mint in 1879 produced a plethora of silver dollar pattern designs aimed at supplanting the Morgan dollar design of the inexperienced assistant engraver, George T. Morgan — a design that, of course, was struck by the many millions beginning the prior year, in 1878. While the Morgan dollar design saw much criticism in its time, it is well-loved today. If this was meant as an improvement, it is not. … If this is truly a William Barber design as Judd maintains (others differ), it is worth noting that he would have been 71 or 72 when he executed this die. (William Barber died unexpectedly on Aug. 31, 1879, after catching a chill on vacation while being in the surf off of Atlantic City, New Jersey.)”This is the only NGC PR65 Cameo example to appear on their census report with none graded higher. Listed at $52,500 in the PCGS price guide.
Offered at $42,500
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The 1903 ranks among the plentiful 20th century Liberty quarter eagles that are popular with type collectors. Examples are readily available in grades through MS66 and are only moderately scarce in MS67. However, the present MS68 coin is a major condition rarity, being among the finest examples extant. The NGC population is just 8 with none graded higher.
Listed at $20,900 in the CDN CPG and $19,000 in the NGC price guide.
Offered at $14,200
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The Philadelphia Mint produced 154 proof Liberty quarter eagles in 1907, the final year of the Liberty design. The coins were delivered in quarterly batches of 60, 29, 23, and 42 pieces. A single pair of dies was used to strike the proofs, with a paper clip shaped artifact on the bust tip and four nearly horizontal die lines in the second clear space in the shield, making it easy to differentiate between proofs and prooflike business strikes. John Dannreuther estimates the surviving population at 100-120 examples in all grades. The NGC population is 9 with 9 graded higher.
Listed at $26,400 in the CDN CPG and $30,000 in the NGC price guide.
Offered at $23,450
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This date-mintmark combination is famous because of the unique three dollar gold piece. Although far from unique, specialists in this series recognize the 1870-S gold dollar as a challenging issue. Dave Bowers points out in A Guide Book of Gold Dollars that despite a reported mintage of 3,000 pieces, “it is likely that 2,000 lacked the S mintmark.” Indeed, the first sets of dies sent to the San Francisco Mint for 1870 production inadvertently lacked the mintmark. On May 14, the superintendent of the S-mint sent a telegram to Philadelphia explaining that 2,000 coins had been struck from those dies and asking whether or not they could be issued. It is not known for certain if those pieces were distributed. Assuming they were, that would leave a net mintage of only 1,000 1870-S gold dollars with the identifying mintmark. It may also explain why Augustus G. Heaton called this issue “excessively rare” in his 1893 treatise.
Tied with two others for the highest graded by NGC.
Listed at $38,000 intheNGC price guide.
Offered at $26,700 (ACH, Bank Wire, add 3.5% for Major CC & PayPal)
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The Trade dollar was not produced in business-strike format after 1878, but the Philadelphia Mint coined a limited number of proof coins every year to satisfy collector demand. This led to a short-lived speculation in Trade dollars that crested early in 1880, leading to a series-record proof mintage of 1,987 pieces that year. By 1881, the demand had dropped off considerably, and only 960 proof Trade dollars were struck. In addition to the smaller mintage, the 1881 issue was plagued by poor workmanship, and most examples seen show areas of flatness on Liberty’s head and the upper stars, due to improper spacing of the dies. One of the reverse dies was lapped, resulting in a loss of detail in the eagle’s feathers. Few examples show the desirable Cameo effect. This particular survivor is color-free, with clear, deeply reflective mirrors and loads of eye-appeal.
The NGC population is 11 with 3 graded higher.
Offered at $19,620 (ACH, Bank Wire, add 3.5% for Major CC & PayPal)
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Silver dollar production declined drastically at all U.S. mints in the mid-1890s. Following the Panic of 1893 and the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act there was no commercial demand for the coins and no official mandate to produce them. Accordingly, the New Orleans Mint struck a small mintage of just 450,000 Morgan dollars that year. Unfortunately, the issue was not well-produced and many examples seen have weak strike characteristics and subdued mint luster. Most of the mintage circulated widely near the time of issue and the 1895-O was not well-represented in the Treasury releases of the 1960s. As a result, the 1895-O can be located in circulated grades without much difficulty today, but it is the third rarest Morgan dollar in Mint State grades behind the elusive 1892-S and the famous key 1893-S. The one offered here is lightly toned, lustrous and closer in appearance to our non-slab images than our slab-shot.
The NGC population is 60 with 54 graded higher.
Listed at $20,000 in the NGC price guide.
Offered at $16,985 (ACH, Bank Wire, add 3.5% for Major CC & PayPal)
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A relatively modest business-strike mintage of 168,838 Saint-Gaudens double eagles was accomplished at the Philadelphia Mint in 1913. The coins were produced in nine deliveries, spaced throughout the year. Most of the coins were sent to European and Latin American destinations, and Roger W. Burdette estimates about 5,000 examples have been repatriated from overseas sources in recent times. Most examples seen are in lower Mint State grades, with the expected number of bagmarks from rough storage and transport. The 1913 Saint-Gaudens double eagle is a rare issue at the MS65 grade level, and finer coins are virtually unobtainable.
The NGC population is 22 with 2 graded higher.
Offered at $25,850 (Bank Wire, ACH, Delivered)
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The 1911-S Indian ten-dollar gold piece was once considered one of the rarest dates of the series in Mint State. The date boasts a low mintage of just 51,000 pieces, and the great majority of the coins were released into circulation at the time of issue. Before the discovery of a hoard of 50 pieces in Europe in the 1970s, Mint State specimens of this date were virtually unheard-of. The date began appearing in auction catalogs in the 1940s, but even great collectors like F.C.C. Boyd and King Farouk were content with specimens that graded only VF during that era. Louis Eliasberg, the “King of Coins,” settled for an XF40 example in his extraordinary collection. The situation changed radically in 1979 when Marc Emory, acting for New England Rare Coin Galleries, brokered a deal for a group of Gem Uncirculated 1911-S eagles through his contacts in Spain. The story of this remarkable find was told for the first time in the Ivy Press publication The Coinage of Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The hoard was originally the property of the American governor of the Philippines in 1911, who gave a group of 50 ten-dollar gold coins from the San Francisco Mint to a Spanish citizen who was residing in the Philippines at the time. The coins were preserved by that gentleman, who later returned to Spain, and the hoard became part of his estate when he died. The coins were retained by his family for many years until his grandson decided to sell them through a prominent coin collector from Barcelona. Marc Emory met with the collector and finalized a deal through a Swiss bank for 30 of the coins. The remainder of the hoard eventually became available, and NERCA became the conduit for their entry into the U.S. coin market. Nearly all Gem level 1911-S eagles in collector’s hands today are from this fantastic hoard.
In hand, this Gem is lighter in hue and more lustrous than seen in our images. The NGC population is only 10 with 2 graded higher.
Offered at $25,850 (Bank Wire, ACH, Delivered)
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The New Orleans Mint was the only Southern branch to resume coinage operations following the Civil War. Interestingly, its survival as a minting facility can be attributed in part to the same legislation that brought about the coinage of millions of unneeded standard silver dollars. The Bland-Allison Act of February 1878, called for the Treasury Department to purchase monthly 2 to 4 million dollars worth of silver bullion, and to have it coined into new silver dollars which would largely be stored in government vaults. The sudden demand in coinage operations mandated by the law virtually necessitated the reopening of the branch mint in New Orleans, which resumed coinage operations in 1879.
However, the New Orleans Mint’s days were nonetheless numbered. In 1904, coinage of Morgan silver dollars was discontinued and construction was begun on a modern, high-capacity branch mint in Denver, Colorado. Silver and gold coin production at the Louisiana branch dwindled after 1906, when the Denver Mint opened, and by 1909, the need for continued operations at the Southern facility was virtually dissolved. On April 1, of that year, coinage was suspended, and in 1911, the dismantling of the outdated machinery was begun.
Coinage in the first three months of 1909, prior to operations suspension, consisted primarily of dimes, with more than 2.2 million pieces struck; quarter production amounted to only 712,000 coins, and halves to just 945,400 pieces. The only gold coinage at New Orleans in 1909, consisted of a paltry 34,200 half eagles. Interestingly, this was the first issue of this denomination struck there since 1894.
In addition to its popularity as the only O-mint issue of Pratt’s Indian Head type, the 1909-O half eagle is also a significant key date within the series. The 1929 is rarer in the absolute sense, but in Mint State, the 1909-O is the less often seen coin.
Offered at $16,700 delivered
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