Certified Early Gold (1795-1834) and Why They Are Scarce, Part I

By Silvano DiGenova

Methodology of This Study
There are those of us who not only consider early gold as rare coins worthy of our investment dollars, but the ultimate embodiment of the first American mint masters and engravers art as well. The best examples of these coins are rare and desirable as both artifacts of our new nation and tangible evidence of the difficulty that the original founders faced when creating our new currency system. The mintages are small and the survival rates in all grades low. Early United States gold coins in any grade worthy of investment are going to be both rare, and thus hard to come by, and much in demand, and thus expensive to buy.

Collectors have known that pre-1834 gold is rare virtually since the coins were originally made, but just how rare, while not a surprise is statistically amazing. All the mintage figures in this article come from John Dannruther’s new unpublished manuscript, which is very helpful, and sometimes, often, differs from the mintage figures in the Yeoman’s Red Book. I recommend you buy a copy when it is published, as it will unquestionably be the “state of the art” on the subject for years to come.

The population report figures come from both Professional Coin Dealers Grading Services and Numismatic Guaranty Corporation population report figures combined, in some, if not all cases there will be some duplication and other statistical errors, perhaps to the extend of 20 percent in either direction. Grades of individual coins go up and down with the fashions in grading, complicating the issue even further. Additionally, the coins held in old collections, museums and at the National Collection in Washington are not certified, so they will further confuse the survival rates. Therefore, survival rates within are a compilation of the opinions of Silvano DiGenova, John Dannruther, David Akers, David Hall and Neil Berman, DiGenova being the original source and later used to verify his estimates.

Early Money before United States Gold Coins
The first attempts at producing currency inside North America were issued by the Continental Congress, the original 13 Colonies individually, and later the brand new United States of America. Because these were for the most part paper or copper money, what little acceptance they received was on the faith our early patriots and did not readily translate into serious use for international commerce. The paper money devalued into fiat currency as paper money almost always does, and the need for hard currency became apparent immediately during the American Revolution. Production was planned as soon as the new government was able, which was no small undertaking. This was authorized by the new U.S. Government by the Mint Act of 1792.

This new coinage appears to have begun on or about March, 1793 with the production of what we now call chain cents, the design of which the public was not pleased with. The first gold coins, the coins that we are particularly interested in, half eagles, were not manufactured until 1795. It is here, at their little sisters, the quarter eagles, that we start our story.

Early gold coins come in three denominations, those being quarter eagles, half eagles, and eagles, or 10-dollar pieces, as the gold coins were all divisions or multiplications of the eagle 10-dollar denomination. There were no denominations on the coins because it really did not matter to the merchants and governments of the time who used the coins in commerce, as the coins were only worth their weight and fineness in gold, and no more. They were emitted from the mint in the following order. First, the Half Eagles, 744 of them, were struck on July 31, 1795. Next, the Eagles, 1,097 units of the highest denomination coin, on Sept. 22, 1795. Last the lowest denomination gold coins, quarter eagles, and they were first delivered on Sept. 21, 1796 (Dannruther). A quick note on the mintage figures. All mintage figures at the early U.S. Mint are more or less educated guesses, as there was no law governing the use of dies like there is today. Dies were time consuming and expensive to make, and so the dies were used almost indiscriminately until they were no long serviceable, and sometimes even past then, as coins struck from cracked and rusted dies are not uncommon. The date on the gold coin is not necessarily the date that the coin was made at that first American mint, and in some cases has no relationship at all to the date of manufacture.

All the early gold coin types of all denominations are rare for several reasons. First, the very limited mintages made them hard to come by, even when they had just been freshly minted. Then they were removed from circulation for all of the usual reasons including loss and wear. The grand final, so to speak, was the change in the weight of all gold coins by Act of Congress on June 28, 1834 which restated the ratio of the value of gold to silver. With the increase in the relative gold value, the coins were worth more as metal than coins, and they were melted by the thousands. What is left today was saved as souvenirs by the new Americans, shopped overseas, saved as bank reserves both in the States and abroad, or in the hands of early collectors.

Descriptions to be continued in Part II

The one dollar educational note, 1896 series, face designed by Will H. Low, titled “History Instructing Youth, with the Constitution to the right and the Washington Monument in the background. On the back George and Martha Washington, George Washington, our first President (1789-1797), the only President to be unanimously elected as President who did not represent a political party. Our first President, born in 1732 into a Virginia planter family, learned the morals, manner, and knowledge requisite for an 18th century Virginia gentleman. He was interested in military arts and western expansion. He was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in 1754. He fought skirmishes of what became the French and Indian War. As an aide to Gen. Edward Braddock, he escaped injury although bullets ripped his coat and two horses were shot from under him. At the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, Washington managed his lands around Mount Vernon and served in the Virginia House of Burgesses. He married the widow, Martha Dandridge Custis.

As Washington felt exploited by British merchants and regulations, he moderately and firmly voiced his resistance to the restrictions. In 1775 Washington, one of the Virginia delegates in the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, was elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. Having taken charge of the ill-trained troops, Washington embarked upon six long, grueling years of war, falling back slowly then striking unexpectedly. Finally in 1781 with the aid of the French allies, he forced the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.

At the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in May 1787, the new Constitution having been ratified, the electoral college unanimously elected Washington President.

The two-dollar note, the second note of the series, face depicting “Science Presenting Steam and Electricity to Commerce and Manufacturing”. The reverse shows images of Robert Fulton and Samuel Morse. Fulton (1765-1815) US engraver and inventor credited with the steamboat invention was exactly the man who put the design into practice. Fulton, son of Irish immigrants, constructed paddlewheels which he applied with success to a fishing boat. This was at the age of 13! Fulton was also a very fine artist, painting miniature portraits and landscapes, mechanical and architectural drawings and whatever came his way in artistic work.

After many inventions and patents for “Maritime Wartime Improvements and Means for Injuring and Destroying Ships and Vessels of War by igniting Gunpowder under Water“, he became recognized as a great innovator and received financial assistance which enabled his successful steamboat launch.

Samuel Morse (1791-1872), a graduate of Yale College class of 1810, was an artist and inventor who designed the first successful electromagnetic (magnetism by electricity). He was also an excellent artist and known for miniature portraits on ivory. He partially abandoned his artwork after losing the opportunity to paint the rotunda of the Capitol building, a commission he expected. His first message through his new found telegraph, or course, was “What hath God wrought” from the Supreme Court Room in the Capitol to the railway depot at Baltimore, Maryland in May 1844.

The five-dollar note, the third and last of the educational series, on the face showing an allegorical group showing “Electricity as the Dominant Force in the World”. The back with images of Ulysses S. Grant and Philip Sheridan, Union Army Generals. U. S. Grant, the eighteenth President, established Yellowstone, our first national park in 1872. Grant, born in 1822, was a graduate of West Point and fought in the Mexican War under Gen. Zachary Taylor. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was appointed by the Governor to command an unruly volunteer regiment. Grant got it into shape and by the autumn of 1861 had risen to the rank of brigadier general of volunteers. In 1862 he took Fort Henry and attacked Fort Donelson. When the Confederate commander asked for terms, Grant replied, “No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted.” The Confederates surrendered and President Lincoln promoted Grant to Major General of Volunteers. After his defeat of Vicksburg, thus weakening the Confederates immensely, he broke the Confederate hold on Chattanooga. Finally in April 1865, at Appomattox Court House, Lee surrendered.

Major General Philip Sheridan defeated the Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley. Sheridan, himself also a graduate of West Point in 1853, served multiple posts in the infantry. General Grant placed Sheridan in command of the Army of the Potomac’s mounted arm. Sheridan had mixed success but did manage to mortally wound the Confederate cavalryman at Yellow Tavern. His Irish temperament brought him into conflict with many Generals. However his final role at Appomattox eclipsed that of most of those Generals. He had a great show of forceful role model but his severity always worked against him. At any rate he was made a full General and died in 1888, having been commander-in-chief of the Reconstruction government of Texas and Louisiana since 1884.

That which I enjoy most in the above mentioned paper money notes is not only its rich historical epic but the great detail and artwork that went into the design of the bills which when compared with our current day currency, is sadly lost .

Civil rights leaders and events are the latest proposal for quarter dollar coin designs.

Rep. Watt D-NC introduced legislation to establish circulating quarter dollar coins with reverse designs that are emblematic of some forty prominent civil rights leaders and important events.

Selection of the leaders and events would be made by the Secretary of the Treasury in conjunction with the Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. Five coin designs would be issued each year, the first thirty-two designs being completed within two years after the legislation is enacted, with the remaining coins to be completed within two years after the first coin is issued.

Coins would be issued in Uncirculated and Proof qualities as well as a silver composition of 90 percent silver with 10 percent copper.

A silver bullion coin duplicating the quarter dollar designs would be struck in a diameter of 3 inches and weighing 5 ounces, containing .999 fine silver. The coin’s fineness and weight would be incused in its edge.

Img 3525 – Among the suggested themes for the proposed Civil Rights quarter dollars are the Little Rock Nine, commemorated here on a 2008 silver dollar.

A previously unrecorded 1943-S Lincoln cent erroneously struck on a bronze planchet has been acquired by Rare Coin Wholesalers of California. The coin has been certified as AU-53 by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC).

The coin was found in circulation in 1944, by a then teenaged boy who had a penchant for collecting cents. This young man grew up to become a prominent Southern California architect who co-designed the Long Beach Arena in the late 1950s.

After the death of this original owner, the family was doing an inventory of his estate, and this bronze rarity showed its face. It was subsequently sold to the dealer for $72,000.00.

“The 1943 bronze Lincoln cent really transcends a wrong planchet error,” said the president of Numismatic Conservation Services and a mint error consultant to NGC.

I have acquired this complete set of monetary notes from Sri Lanka. They are beautiful crisp uncircuated notes dated 1979, seven years after the Ceylonese gained autonomy from the British Commonwealth and gained their own Parliament and heads of State. In 1972 when the island became completely self-governing, the name was changed to Sri Lanka. Shown is my set of Rupee bills.
1 Rupee = 100 cents.

A September 21 sale at International Galleries will feature a rare note, a Type II King George V 1,000 pound note. These notes were used in Australia in 1914, principally for inter-bank transfers. Two types of these notes have circulated, subsequently bearing two different signature combinations.

The Type II specimen being offered last surfaced back in 1994 following its purchase by Monetarium (Australia). Previously the Type I had sold for $1.1 million US; the Type II had sold back at that time for $225,000 US. It is the only Type II in private hands to ever have been known to exist.

Full details of this will be posted at www.iagauctions.com.

Resource: Bank Note Reporter, August 2008.

Gold and silver, platinum and kids. The 36th Annual Coin and Currency Convention in Baltimore, Maryland last weekend had quite a lot of all that, plus so much more. This is where you can both be a long time collector and still enjoy learning like a kid. That’s what I found out when I followed the kids to see Patti Jagger Finner at the Kid’s Korner.

Ms. Finner is the Vice President of the American Numismatic Association and for the past ten years she has hosted all children under the age of 14 at the Kid’s Korner. Here, while the grownups were scouting for bargains, the children received coin books courtesy of Whitman Publishing, grabbed a fistful of free collectible coins from all over the world thanks to the generosity of many coin dealers, and learned about how currency is made from engravers from the Bureau of Printing and Engraving (BEP). I enjoyed meeting Christopher Madden from the BEP who was instrumental in engraving portions of the new $5 bill and the reverse of the new $10 bill. He talked about his “spendable art” and even had the kids help engrave a banknote which they designed. As the kids say, that was cool!

But the real kid in me started popping out when I had a chance to talk with Worthologist Glen Burger, a specialist in error coins and currency. He showed me a 1985 B $10 bill from the New York Reserve that was mistakenly overprinted 3 additional times on the obverse. “It had been in circulation for many years, until someone noticed the error in one of their bills issued by an ATM and sold it to a collector.” Its value now is the equivalent of 450 regular $10 bills or $4500. The moral of the story — pay attention to your money folks. That funny looking bill you might get through an ATM just might be worth an ATM.

Joe Gallo, from A Variety of Errors, showed off a genuine 1996S Lincoln penny that was double struck with a value upwards of $45,000. For a penny! While it was never in circulation, it did have an official letter from the U.S. Secret Service authenticating it as genuine, not one of the many forgeries that have been created since then.

The new generation of collectors and dealers were simply everywhere. In the booth next to ours, we met a father son collector/dealer team. Both Don Rinkor (of Santa Rosa, California) and his 17-year-old son were selling Morgan dollars from various years. Don took an immediate interest in WorthPoint.com as an additional resource for his business. He particularly liked the ability to research past auction records.

The variety of collectors and dealers was astounding to me, a first time coin and currency attendee. Currency from all over the world, old and newly valuable, were on display along with ancient artifacts, reference books, all manner of historical medals, coin and currency graders, live auctions, gold and silver exchanges, and even early flags and political ribbons – my specialty. With 500 dealers there was an incredible amount to experience and see.

Dan Borsey and I were ‘struck’– pardon the expression – by the helpfulness of the staff, the easy sharing of knowledge by the dealers and collectors, and the numerous opportunities to learn more about the coin and currency collectible industry. We’ve learned that the ‘currency’ of collecting is the joy it brings you. We plan to ‘spend’ it forward and share it with others through WorthPoint.com and – wait, hold on. I see a nickel under the fridge. Is that a buffalo on the back? You don’t suppose….

Read WorthPoint’s Dan Borsey’s blog about the great folks he met at the Baltimore Coin and Currency Show

Dan Borsey talks with Mastro Auctions at the Baltimore Coin and Currency Convention

Steve Johnson, WorthPoint Vice President, also attended the Baltimore Coin and Currency Show