Flying Eagle Cents 1856-1858 Coin

By the mid-1850s it was evident to Mint officials that the large copper cents struck since 1793 were too cumbersome and unpopular, as well as increasingly uneconomical to make. The idea of fiduciary change, based on the trustworthiness of the issuing firmness, not on the coin's intrinsic speed, launch to grab on as well. Sooner or later the "big coppers" would have deceased the way of the relic, but it was the large records of small Spanish colonial silver coins in use throughout the United States that lastly made it imperative the slighter cents had to be struck, and not necessarily of unsullied copper.

It Mint Director James R. Snowden's covet to see all unknown coins obsessed out of the channels of buying in the United States. The penny law accepted by Congress on February 21, 1857 gave him the means to do so. Besides abolishing the the cent, the law also specific that the new cents would weigh 72 grains and be poised of 88% copper and 12% nickel. Furthermore, they were redeemable for the old copper cents and half cents. Nevertheless the most important provision as far as Snowden was troubled was the one that allowed the Mint and the Treasury Department to exchange Spanish bend-reales, reales and medios at the toll of 25, 12-1/2, and 6-1/4 cents, respectively, for the new cents. All other government offices would only convince these three denominations at the rate of 20, 10, and 5 cents. With such an able profit motive, banks were very desirous of exchanging as many of the external silver coins as viable for the new "nicks," as the Flying Eagle cents were called.

When the Flying Eagle cents were first free on May 25, 1857, more than a thousand people wound around the mint edifice to convert their old Spanish coins and large coppers. Within the mint's square was erected a brief, wood structure with two banker windows. Above each porthole was a marker sense, respectively, "cents for cents" and "cents for silver." The Philadelphia Bulletin described the setting: "Every man and boy in the crowd had his state of coin with him. Some had their rouleaux of Spanish coin has done up in bits of newspaper or wrapped in handerchiefs, while others had carpet bags, baskets and other shipping contrivances, packed with coppers-'very inferior and inside,' like boarding house fare."

A minor sell for the small cents urban immediately, some people even paying a premium right on the reason of the mint house itself. Soon enough, although, the "nicks" became commonplace and. By 1859 when the Indian cent point was introduced, the Mint had struck an entire of 42,050,000 cents with the Flying Eagle plan, more than enough for somebody who wished to have numerous examples. Snowden was successful in lashing out the now-demonitized Spanish coins, and by 1859 it was estimated that some $2 million meaning of the foreign silver pieces had been recoined into U.S. subsidiary currency.

Designing by James B. Longacre, the Flying Eagle image was actually an adaptation of the purpose worn on mold silver dollars twenty existence before. The eagle cost had originally been drained by Titian Peale and sculpted by Christian Gobrecht. The setback headdress was also adapted from the copy Longacre had made for the 1854 one and three cash gold pieces.

As with several other Longacre designs, the relief was too high. The caused harms on effusive struck coins-they would not stack correctly-and on excluding than entirely formed pieces it created evils associated with die opposition, that is, each the eagle's move and tail did not beat up smarmy on the face or the garland was ill-clear on the transpose. On coins square 1857, weak reorder definition is especially prevalent.

Flying Eagle cents have proven enormously common over the decades, creation with the derive spring of 1856. It is unclear just how many 1856 cents were struck, but the best estimates drop in the extend of 800 to as many as 1,500 pieces. Both proofs and company strikes were made, as well as originals and restrikes. All are dear and have been extensively hoarded over the being, the most prominent stockpile of which came from the estate of Colonel John A. Beck, who at one time owned 531 pieces.

The 1856 Flying Eagle cent is one of the few American coins whose assess is better than its scarcity. Worth more than $2,000 in Good order, the 1856 cent has an amount and concern to collectors of U.S. currency that goes far afar the more narrow scope of "penny" collectors. Why? The only reasonable answer seems to be: because they forever have been valuable. Even in the recent 1850s, 1856 cents value a dollar or two depending on form.

Collectors of Flying Eagle cents have numerous habits to collect these coins. An absolute year and selection set is likely and consists of only five issues: 1856, 1857, 1858 Small Letters, 1858 Large Letters and 1858/7. These coins are regularly unruffled with the Indian Head cycle. Type collectors normally fuse to the 1857 or one of the two 1858 issues. More superior numismatists regularly assemble sets of the pattern money of this fabricate. Proofs are really underdone, excepting for the 1856, and doubtless less than a equal of 100 proofs subsist of the three issues from 1857 and 1858.

Grading Flying Eagles can be somewhat tricky due to the above-mentioned weakness of assail encountered on many examples. The points of the outline to show friction first are the eagle's breast and wingtips on the face and the bow on the undo. With mint assert coins that are dimly struck on the control or tail of the eagle or on the opposite circlet, it is imperative that mint gleam be present on all areas of the target.

Flying Eagle cents have been extensively counterfeited. Fakes have been made by changing digits in the date, deceitful dies have been shaped to smack phonies and ignite erosion dies have been used. When in mistrust or, when purchasing a high priced Flying Eagle cent, it is always best to have the coin's authenticity expertly verified.

It was Longacre's failure to score dies properly that led to the early demise of the string. A new construct was desirable where die opposition would not be a setback as it had been between the eagle on the frontage and the wreath on the reverse. It was this need that led Longacre to restore the small cent for 1859, replacing the rapid eagle construct with an Indian rule. The primary small cent design, however, gave collectors of 19th century U.S. coins a quick, yet challenging sequence that continues to stratagem numismatists more than a century later.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 19 millimeters. Weight: 4.67 grams Composition: .880 copper.120 nickel Edge: Plain

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bowers, Q. David, A Buyer's and Enthusiast's Guide to Fly Eagle and Indian Cents, Bowers & Merena Galleries, Wolfeboro, NH, 1996. Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Proof Coins 1722-1977, F.C.I. Press, Albertson, NY, 1977. Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U. S. And Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Carothers, Neil, Fractional Money, A History of the Small Coins and Fractional Paper Currency of the United States, John Wiley & Sons, London, 1930. Snow, Richard, Flying Eagle and Indian Cents, Eagle Eye Press, 1992. Steve, Larry R. & Flynn, Kevin J. Flying Eagle and Indian Cent Die Varieties, Nuvista Press, Jarrettsville, MD, 1995. Taxay, Don, The U.S. Mint and Coinage, Arco Publishing, New York, 1966.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.

Barber Dimes 1892-1916 Coin

As early as 1879, municipal dissatisfaction with the Seated Liberty proposal was heard in Washington and Philadelphia. It was felt by many that the realm's coin designs were back-tariff, but few could have predicted how mundane a change could actually be. New mint engravers submitted designs throughout the early 1880s, but the only outcome was the production of a new nickel in 1883 intended by Chief Engraver Charles Barber. In 1891, when there was much discussion of a communal competition for new designs for the dime, district money and half cash, Barber reported to Mint Director James Kimball that there was no one in the country who was clever of helping him in preparing primary designs.

This same egoism was also found in one of the principal sculptors of the day, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who confided to the Mint Director that there were only four men in the world competent to do such a redesigning: three were in France, and he was the fourth. Kimball insisted that very than unfilled abroad to find the best fabricate talent available, it would be viable to find able designers in America. To that end a panel of ten of the leading artists and sculptors of the day was commissioned to guess which would be the best designs for the new currency. Rather than make any decisions about a topic competition, the panel instead discarded the language of the competition as future by Mint officials on the basis that the preparation time for plaster models was too dumpy and the monetary compensation too trifling.

The Mint Director discarded the panel's suggestions and threw the competition open to the shared. The outcome of a shared competition were likewise discouraging. Of the more than 300 drawings submitted, only two were accorded a good remark by a four-associate panel appointed by Kimball (it should be imminent that one of the panel members was Charles Barber).

Kimball's successor to the mint directorship was Edward O. Leech. The latter was well awake of the evils Director Kimball had encountered annoying to get new coin designs. Leech avoided what he termed the "wretched letdown" of committees and public discussion all together by modestly directing the chief engraver to draw new designs which, of course, is what Barber hunted all along.

What Barber did was to temper the large journey worn on the Morgan dollar by adding a Liberty cap and cropping Liberty's wool shorter in back. He then sited his initial B on the truncation of the shaft. The converse uses almost the same wreath used on the Seated Liberty dime of 1860-91.

What Barber did accomplish with his new dime, while, was to draft and place into production a coin that would endure the salient requirements of complex, high-alacrity coin presses. As a Mint employee he was acutely sentient of the penury for coins to be planned so they would assault up with one drive from the coin plead. His mistrust to outsiders was, no doubt, due in part to distrust, but in all fairness he did understand the testing specifications necessary to achieve millions of coins for commercial purposes.

The first Barber dimes were struck on January 2, 1892. Over half a billion pieces were struck during the next twenty-five time. Some issues have mintages as small as 500,000 (such as 1895-O, 1901-S and 1913-S), while others were struck in quantities as large as 22 million (1907-P). At one time or another four mints struck these coins, and the mintmark of Denver (D), San Francisco (S) and New Orleans (O) can be found on the junior transpose below the loop in the bow (there being no mintmark for coins struck in Philadelphia).

Barber dimes are, for the most part, a completeable set of coins with no significant court or mintmark rarities, excluding for the legendary 1894-S. The low relief sketched confident that most coins would be sharply struck, excluding for a few issues from New Orleans (known for weak strikes over the decades). This necessary of any great effect rarities in the Barber chain stands in downright compare to the next sequence, Adolph Weinman's "Mercury" blueprint, where squishy stunning facts make that chain such a challenge.

There is one great shortage in the Barber dime string, one of the rarest coins in all U.S. numismatics-the 1894-S dime. Allegedly, 24 pieces were struck on orders from San Francisco Mint Superintendent J. Daggett. Only ten specimens can be accounted for today, which presents one of the great numismatic mysteries of the earlier hundred days: Where are the other fourteen 1894-S dimes that were reportedly struck? All the known 1894-S dimes proofs, and all were struck from the same set of dies. Much has been written on this fascinating shortage over the time, and there are many interesting stories and theories about these coins. Undoubtedly the best known untruth is that Superintendent Daggett gave three of the coins to his daughter Hallie and told her to keep them pending she was as old as he was, when they would be worth a lot of money. On her way home from the mint, she useless one of the dimes on a dish of ice cream. Today that coin is known as the "Ice Cream Specimen." The other two she kept and lastly sold in the 1950s.

Grading Barber dimes are a relatively unadorned handle. On high grade coins, signs of circulation will first seem on Liberty's cheek and in the fields. For a coin to be uncirculated, all the mint patina must be outfitted and steady over both sides.

Proofs were struck in each year excluding 1916, and the only overhang find in this series is the 1893/2 overdate. The 1894-S dime is the only number to have been counterfeited in any appreciable records. Dangerous forgeries have been made by shifting the mintmark on an 1894-O or adding one to a Philadelphia coin. Others were made in the mid-1970s in The Philippines.

The series is regularly cool by beginners in Good to Very Good grades, while more advanced collectors choose mint territory and testimony examples. Recently, however, collectors have showed a renewed profit in this and the other Barber series in XF and AU grades. Several issues of these intermediate grade coins are extremely challenging to locate. Curiously, some issues are more demanding to locate in snag-unbound XF or AU than in mint condition due to the signpost of original BU rolls.

Barber dimes are also very common with typeface collectors, especially in high grades. Because the series spans both the 19th and 20th centuries, anyone attempting to absolute a typeface set from the century will need an example.

While the Barber dime may require the artistic earn that designs before, and after displayed, this class, with its distinctive 19th century motif, has remained a favorite with collectors over the decades.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 17.9 millimeters Weight: 2.50 grams Composition: .900 silver.100 copper Edge: Reeded Net Weight: 0.0723 ounce wholesome silver

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Lawrence, David, The Complete Guide to Barber Dimes, DLRC Press,Virginia Beach, VA, 1991. Taxay, Don, The U.S. Mint and Coinage, Arco Publishing, New York, 1966.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.

Standing Liberty Quarter Dollars 1916-1930 Coin

The year was 1916. World I was wild in Europe, and the next climate in the United States was definitely guarded. Nine days before, President Theodore Roosevelt had started using classical propose motifs for our gold coins, and now, as the Coinage Act of 1890 had authorized, it time to change the trifling silver coins. U.S. Mint Chief Engraver Charles Barber's "uninspired" propose had patent the lodge, dime and half money for the preceding district century, and the civic was prime for something different. It was the wonderful opportunity to question a coin that, as a contemporary government describe put it, "was intended to exemplify in an assess the start pursuit of the country to it's own protection."

Thus, the Standing Liberty house was untaught. As was the lawsuit with the other new money, a competition was detained to cliquey the drawing. The comedian chosen was a prominent sculptor of the day, Hermon Atkins MacNeil, who was known for his works dealing with Indians and American memoirs, particularly on communal buildings and monuments.

MacNeil's facade projected skin a lasting, front spectacle of Liberty, a rendering reminiscent of obsolete Greek carving. Her left arm is upraised, bearing a buffer in a posture of protection. Being fraught from the protect by her right hand is the hangings, while the same hand offers up an emerald division. A sundry memo surely, but one that told our European neighbors we were ready for something, war or stillness. The inscription LIBERTY is at the top of the obverse, the time below, with the motto IN GOD WE TRUST closest the presume of Liberty.

The reversal of this typeface, as mandated by law, depicts an American eagle, here shown in rounded journey. The legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and motto E PLURIBUS UNUM are above, while the denomination QUARTER DOLLAR is below. The decisive effect seems to consider the induce of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who was the most famed sculptor of the time and, sometime former, a teacher for Mr. MacNeil.

The first coins came off the presses December 16, 1916, and the string nonstop through 1930, during which time over 226 million coins were struck at three different mints: Philadelphia (no mintmark), San Francisco (S), and Denver (D). The mintmark can be found just to the left of the meeting, while the designer's early M is to the right. No coins were struck in 1922, and no proofs were authorized, still several satin-finish proofs of 1916 and 1917 are reported to subsist.

There are two foremost subtypes of the Standing Liberty section, Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 was issued for only two being, 1916-1917, as there was some trouble over Liberty's bared breast. In 1917, the fabricate was adapted, and the offending item was from then on covered with group post. Type 2, issued from 1917 through 1930, was substantially reworked, but the most evident changes were the repositioning of the stars on the setback along with the sequence dispatch on Miss Liberty mentioned past. Other, excluding evident changes included a smoothing of the fields and a pronounced curvature to the dies. Both Type 1 and Type 2 quarters were twisted by all three mints during 1917.

The obverse also underwent a minor change start with the penny of 1925, which some consider a subtype. The time was one of the elevated skin on previous coins so that it wore off too speedily. Circulating quarters of the 1917-24 stage are consequently scarce with legible dates. To remedy this maintain, the year section was recessed for all extend penny.

As one of our most lovely coin designs, the Standing Liberty billet is very current with collectors nowadays. The cycle is cool in its entirety by year and mint or as part of a 20th Century category set. Unlike many other string, it is still promising to perfect a done set in uncirculated prepare-a worthy treasure that very few people will have the pleasure of owning.

One of the key dates for the cycle is the problem square 1916. With a mintage of only 52,000 pieces, it has always been hunted by collectors. However, it does survive in superior figures than one would demand. As with any new goal, both collectors and the universal free saved plentiful examples. Original rolls, though pricey, were still presented as dead as the 1950s.

The rarest Standing Liberty housed is a Type 2 concern, the famous 1918/7-S overdate. Creating when two differently dated hubs were worn to prepare a solitary obverse die, the slip was not discovered by numismatists pending several days later, long after most of the coins had entered circulation. This coined is bloody in all grades, but especially so in the superior ranges of mint state. The mintage guessed for this interesting variety is nameless, but obviously miniscule. For days, one saw many otherwise full sets that lacked only the overdate. It's factually one of the most wanted aerial coins of the 20th Century.

Other excluding atypical but still challenging dates in high grade are 1920-S, 1926-S and the toughest court to find with an insincere struck precede on the Liberty presume, 1927-S. No coins in this string can actually be called common in gem proviso, but 1917 Type 1 and 1930 quarters grow in detailed-move gem uncirculated rider most frequently. Many other issues are periodically vacant in gem proviso, but not very regularly with a detailed move.

When grading this design, the points to inspect deftly on the obverse are Liberty's right knee and the pivot of the shield. On the transpose, the eagle's breast and left wing will first show erode. Coins graded "stuffed cranium" are much scarcer than those without this attribute copious struck, but this classification has more to do with the eminence of the effect than with grade. To modify for this designation, the coin must exhibit the following three skin: three leaves in Liberty's beard must be quite visible, the hairline along Liberty's crest must be complete and the ear indentation must be evident. Collectors will pay substantially more for these fully struck specimens.

Only in production for fifteen living, the Standing Liberty house was to endure an early demise. 1932 obvious the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth, and a new billet dough featuring his picture was introduced as a circulating commemorative. Though no longer made in silver for circulation, the Washington sector is still being minted today.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 24.3 millimeters Weight: 6.25 grams Composition: .900 silver.100 copper Edge: Reeded Net Weight: .18084 degree unmixed silver

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bowers, Q. David, United States Dimes, Quarters and Half Dollars, Bowers and Merena Galleries, Wolfeboro, NH, 1986. Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I./Doubleday, New York, 1988. Cline, J.H., Standing Liberty Quarters, 3rd Edition, J.H. Cline, Palm Harbor, FL, 1997. Vermeule, Cornelius, Numismatic Art in America, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1971.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.

Barber Half Dollars 1892-1915 Coin

Telephone examined began between New York and Chicago. Also in Chicago, 30-year-old soap salesclerk William Wrigley ongoing selling chewing gum instead. The Coca-Cola Company was orderly in Atlanta, and the first pneumatic exhaust was sham.

The year was 1892, and new beginnings seemed to be the order of the day. That was the folder in United States penny, as well. Three new silver coins entered circulation that year. Sometimes identified as the Liberty Head half cash, area and dime, they're more regularly referred to by the name of their designer: U.S. Mint chief sculptor-engraver Charles E. Barber.

The fractional silver coins were long overdue for a facelift. All had conceded the Seated Liberty likeness for more than half a century, and while it's constant that life was more leisurely back then, the stride of change in this task was downright cool. The Mint had little incentive to change the designs of these coins. Only one of the three, the Seated Liberty dime, had been made in the before decade in something approaching average records. New half dollars and quarters were barely struck at all during the 1880s, because the central government had more than enough older coins (some dating back to the late 1840s) stashed away in its vaults to convince communal necessary.

The Mint was not oblivious to the need for new designs. In his yearly describe for 1887, Mint Director James P. Kimball pointedly referred to the "prevalent require for an improvement of the penny in reverence to the bestow designs." Not awaiting 1890 did the inventories of older halves and quarters finally decline to the meaning where habitual production seemed probable to resume, making the time more propitious for giving the silver coins a classify-new look.

In 1890, Kimball protected legal underpinning for the thought of ordinary object change. He prevailed winning Congress to elapse legislation specifying that from that meaning familiar, coin designs could be misused administratively after being in use for a minimum of 25 years. The half cash, lodge and dime were eligible at once, although, in item of detail, the Mint could have untouched them, any time it sought under the banner procedures it had followed in previous living.

The notion intrigued kimball of asset a partial competition to attain new designs for the silver currency. At his urging, in 1890 the Treasury invited ten outstanding artists to acquiesce proposed designs for the half money, sector and dime. Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the citizens's pre-imminent sculptor, headed the roll of invitees.

There's little suspect that the contest would have borne impressive fruit, but before it could instigate the artists got together and drafted a set of provisos lacking which, they insisted, they wouldn't compete. Among other effects, they demanded that each entrant get $100 for each sketch that he submitted and $500 for each complete kind. The Treasury crooked them down and instead conducted a contest open to one and all. This twisted some 300 entries, but nothing deemed usable on the change.

Chief Engraver Barber proved to be the winner in the end. Frustrated by the penniless municipal entries, the Mint crooked to Barber in 1891 to invent the coins, an assignment he had popular all along. Barber came up with akin face artwork for all three coins. It features a right-facing regulate of Liberty with her wool assured up in a cap, a laurel circlet resting along her hairline and a headdress demeanor the incused inscription LIBERTY over her crest. The designer's opening (B) is at the foot of the isthmus. On the half cash and quarter, the motto IN GOD WE TRUST appears above this sketch, the court below and thirteen stars alongside.

The two larger coins also allocate an usual swap propose. It depicts a heraldic eagle with a defend on its breast, an emerald outlet clutched in its right talons and a bundle of arrows in its left talons. Inscriptions on this aspect embrace UNITED STATES OF AMERICA along the top border, the report of price along the floor and E PLURIBUS UNUM on a ribbon detained tightly in the eagle's beak. Thirteen stars are arrayed in the subject above the eagle.

All three Barber silver coins debuted in 1892, and all three had steady, unspectacular careers in the realm's coinage marshal. In the task of the Barber half money, annual production never exceeded six million pieces at any given mint; the highpoint came in 1899, when the major mint in Philadelphia made just a shade over 5.5 million. On the other hand, yearly yield never dropped below 100,000 coins at any one mint. The low point occurred in 1914, when just 124,610 half dollars were struck at Philadelphia. Besides the main mint, Barber halves also were created at the separate mints in New Orleans (O mintmark), San Francisco (S) and Denver (D), with the mintmark located below the eagle's tail. Scarce issues embrace 1892-O, 1892-S, 1893-S, 1896-S, 1901-S, 1904-S and the last three pieces from Philadelphia-1913, 1914 and 1915. However, there are no extremist rarities.

Proofs were bent every year, with mintages ranging from a high of 1,245 in the first year of flow to a low of 380 in 1914, the moment-to-last year of the string. In 1916, the Barber a new half dough replaced coin, the Walking Liberty typeface, and no resistant halves were issued.

Barber half dollars were struck for a compute of 24 existence and in 73 different year-and-mint combinations. Collectors do assemble court-and-mint sets, especially in circulated grades, but in mint chaos this coin is far more regularly calm by letters. Important records subsist in mint state levels up to MS-65, but above that the population is frail. When grading this sketch, the points on the obverse that will first show apparel are the cheek and the curls below LIBERTY; on the back, confirm the eagle's rule and the tips of the tail and wings.

The full yield of Barber half dollars for all 24 time was only about 136 million coins. That's minus than half the number of Kennedy halves struck at the Philadelphia Mint in 1964 lonely, but then Barber halves were better money. Back in 1900, a half dough would have bought a man's shirt or two pairs of suspenders. Money indeed went farther in the "good old days!"

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 30.6 millimeters Weight: 12.50 grams Composition: .900 silver.100 copper Edge: Reeded Net Weight: .36169 degree natural silver

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S.and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Lawrence, David, The Complete Guide to Barber Halves, DLRC Press,Virginia Beach, VA, 1993. Taxay, Don, The U.S. Mint and Coinage, Arco Publishing Co.,New York, 1966. Vermeule, Cornelius, Numismatic Art in America, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1971. Yeoman, R.S., A Guide Book of United States Coins, 47th Edition, Western Publishing Co., Racine, WI, 1993.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.

Seated Liberty/No Motto Silver Dollars 1840-1873

The year was 1840. Martin Van Buren was completing a Presidential word ruined by terrible financial depression. This era, called the Hard Times, resulted from time of reckless Western land speculation and the evolution of unregulated banks issuing a flood of unsecured paper money. The prolonged depression ravished America's agriculture and trade and saw hundreds of thousands starving and unemployed.

Inheriting from President Andrew Jackson was the Van Buren Administration's loyalty in "hard money"- silver and gold-as the only unfailing warehouse of assess in compare to shaky thanks and worthless paper money. Expressing this hard money outlook, the Mint strove from 1836 to start a new circulating silver cash. No cash coin had appeared for circulation since 1804, when the last of the 1803-square Draped Bust dollars were released.

Mint Director Robert Maskell Patterson viewed the new money as the pinnacle of America's silver penny. After all, it was a fortunate worker who made even four dollars for a workweek of 76 to 80 hours of unremitting slog in this harsh era. A silver bucked was indeed a keep of wealth to millions of impoverished running-classify Americans.

An admirer of the seated Britannia on British copper penny, Patterson supposed that a seated female character would be just as "emblematic of liberty" as the heads and busts adorning the residents's money. He engaged the great study musician Thomas Sully to make sketching for his seated Liberty. Sully floating her on a sway in Grecian robes, left arm supporting a Union guard with a scroll adorned LIBERTY. Her right arm was raised and detained a staff topped with a small Liberty Cap. The Mint's assistant engraver, Christian Gobrecht, adapted the Sully sketches to bas-relief art fitting for money. The effect was the Seated Liberty create worn at one time or another on half dimes, dimes, 20-cent pieces, quarters, half dollars and dollars from 1836 through 1891.

As reworked by Gobrecht and Robert Ball Hughes, Liberty emerged with a rounded president and her dangling right arm appearing immensely long, her left patently shorter. Pattern obverses of 1836 and 1839 showed no frontage stars but placed the musician's signature in the turf or on the base. Gobrecht's novel reverses of 1836-1839 open a magnificent snatched eagle in a shining or patent sky. Unfortunately, the "No Motto" silver money of 1840-1865 deleted the innovative flying eagle, substituting the unimaginative but relaxed "sandwich lodge" bird with dropped wings and a safeguard on its breast. Liberty had no artist's signature and sat coyly in a crowd of 13 stars with the court placed below. The coins of 1840-65 do not have the motto IN GOD WE TRUST on the converse.

Mintages were commonly small by recent standards, adding only 2,895,673 coins for the cycle. The Philadelphia Minted (no mintmark) struck all dates from 1840 to 1865 inclusive; New Orleans (O), struck dollars square 1846, 1850, 1859 and 1860; the San Francisco Mint (S), struck this category money only in 1859. Mintmarks are located under the lime sphere, between the eagle's feet on the rearrange.

Tiny figures of proofs were struck of most early Philadelphia dates, but they are of great shortage. Numbers struck are not known with certainty and are gone from general handbook books. Proofs were first made for public selling in 1858 when perhaps 80 pieces were struck; later resistant mintages never exceeded 1,000 excluding for 1860, when 1,330 pieces were coined. Proof restrikes were made of the 1851 and 1852 coins. The last No Motto meeting was 1865, with 46,500 company strikes and 500 proofs made. Two 1866-dated No Motto coins are known, but these "fantasy pieces" were made somewhat later for auction to wealthy collectors. In recent years, the reality of a sole resilient 1851-O specimen has come to light, however researchers postulate that this was accidentally made by the Philadelphia "Midnight Minters," (possibly engraver George Eckfeldt and his son, Mint night watchman Theodore). In their swiftness clandestinely to sell the popular 1851 arise, they overstruck a vacant New Orleans Mint cash, the crushed 'O' mintmark still being quietly visible.

Seated dollars never circulated to any great point in the East, although facts were in daily use west of the Mississippi. The Civil War advanced restricted their circulation as the numbers of subject strikes and proofs struck contracted sharply. Bullion buyers snapped up most new silver coins for export as firmly as they were made. These coins were shipped overseas for melting, and the only U.S. Mint result most citizens saw were the new figurine cents. Coin collectors derided the Mint as "Uncle Sam's copperhead factory."

These large silver coins had some odd striking characteristics. The actual view of Liberty's lead may basis feeble detail even on perfect specimens. The fluff on the eagle's leg and the claws may also show mark of weak beat. Wear first appears on Liberty's thigh, right breast and the top of her precede. The tops of the eagle's wings chart. Because of their size and mass, uncirculated coins stored in Mint bags will show scattered link symbols. Proofs regularly are hairlined from the careless conduct of early non-numismatic owners or will show evidence of cleaning by old-time collectors.

Seating Liberty dollars have gained popularity with the utter antenna kinship since the 1970's, when the great U.S. Treasury reserve of silver dollars was liquidated, though few of them early type were found. To collectors more easy with Morgan and Peace dollars issued in the tens of millions, these formerly coins may appear scarce and vague, and indeed they are. Only a small marginal of all Seated Liberty dollars struck remain in existence today. Researcher Weimar W. White estimated that just a division continue-even in low grades.

Assembling an extensive date and mint set in reduce circulated grades is within reason, given patience and perseverance. A total set in mint kingdom will be costly, especially for examples of the 1850-O, 1851, 1852 and 1859-S. A complete run of proofs is a theoretically viable goal but one which will be unrealistic for any but the best-financed antenna.

The Seated Liberty series endless from 1866 to 1873 with the transpose motto IN GOD WE TRUST. The coinage acted of Feb. 12, 1873 ended the silver buck and abolished the official tender condition of all silver dollars struck from 1794 to 1873. This is the law later savagely denounced by the vocal partisans of released and unlimited coinage of silver as the "Crime of '73." Legal tender category was restored to the colors silver dollar under the Bland-Allison Act of 1878, which prompted the coining of millions of Morgan Dollars.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 38.1 millimeters Weight: 26.73 grams Composition: .900 silver.100 copper Edge: Reeded Net Weight: .77344 oz untainted silver

BIBLIOGRAPHY Alexander, David T. DeLorey, Thomas K. And Reed, P. Bradley, Coin World Comprehensive Catalog & Encyclopedia of United States Coins, New York, World Almanac-Pharos Books, 1990. Bowers, Q. David, Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars of the United States, Bowers & Merena Galleries, Wolfeboro, NH, 1993. Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Vermeule, Cornelius, Numismatic Art in America, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1971. White, Weimar W. The Liberty Seated Dollar 1840-1873, New York, Sanford J. Durst, 1985.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.

Indian Head n Buffalo Nickels 1913-1938

It was a tricky time for Charles Barber, chief engraver of the United States Mint. Although Theodore Roosevelt was no longer in staff, his entreat to have more classical designs on our coins, as expressed to Augustus Saint-Gaudens over feast in 1905, was very much bustling.

Barber's uninspired Liberty Headed nickel had been in production since 1883. Under the Coinage Act of 1890, a change in the, its construct was allowable after 25 time. Secretary of the Treasury Franklin MacVeagh, originally a Roosevelt appointee, wasn't about to outdo up the opportunity. Reminding by his son in May, 1911 that a new nickel would be "A permanent memento of the most attractive mixture," MacVeagh, pointedly bypassing the competent but middling Barber, happening the manage for a new invent.

The Buffalo nickel became an actuality minus than two existence later. On March 4, 1913, coins from the first bag to go into circulation were unfilled to outgoing President Taft and 33 Indian chiefs at the groundbreaking ceremonies for the National Memorial to the North American Indian at Fort Wadsworth, New York.

James Earle Fraser, a past junior to Saint-Gaudens and a plentiful dancer best known for his monumental "End of the Trail" Indian figurine, twisted a rightly sole object for the new coin. Up pending that time, excluding for Bela Lyon Pratt's matter and the eagle of 1908, the "Indians" portrayed on U.S. coins were primarily Caucasian with an Indian headress, epitomized by Saint Gauden's Greek Nike control on the 1907 Indian eagle. Fraser's proposal accurately portrays a gentleman Native American, and the face image was a composite of three chiefs who had posed for him living previous. Keeping with the distinctly American theme, he depicted an American bison on the reorder. The inscriptions UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and E PLURIBUS UNUM are sneakily placed over the threaten, with the denomination FIVE CENTS below. The legend LIBERTY and the meeting are likewise well executed on the coin's face.

Fraser's outline was medallic and striking, and for secretary favored that purpose MacVeagh. Its charisma seemed completely to dodge Barber, who complained that the intention basics were too large and didn't tolerate for the polite post of inscriptions. Barber didn't get very far with this, as the goal remained unchanged over his objections.

Reservations also came from the vending machinery interest, whose campaign were planned primarily for accepting cents and nickels. Particularly persistent was the Hobbs Manufacturing Company, which marketed an android for detecting counterfeit coins. Mr. Hobbs was certain that Fraser's draft would not work in his mechanism, and he asked that significant changes be made to the models. After much bickering over this, Secretary MacVeagh instructed the Mint to proceed with the inventive fabricate and let the vending engine companies adapt their mechanisms to the coin.

Over 1.2 billion Buffalo Nickels were minted from 1913 through 1938 at three mints; Philadelphia (no mintmark), San Francisco (S), and Denver (D). The mintmark can be found on the reversal under the denomination, while the designer's early "F" is below the year.

There were two varieties made. Type 1 nickels, minted only during the first few months of 1913, had the denomination FIVE CENTS on a raised stack. As early as April, brisk erosion in this area became evident on the coins in circulation, so Barber finally got his chance to transform Fraser's intend. He cut away the mountain, creating an exergue into which the denomination was set. This solved the change abrasion conundrum, but then he reserved leaving. He smoothed out much of the designate and granularity in both the Indian's portrait and the bison's withhold. The ensuing Type 2, however, lacked much of the artistic contact of the initial.

Barber again made small modifications in 1916, and some specialists think this a third subtype, but most enter collectors only consider the Type 1 and 2 coins as actual varieties. It is foreign that during all his modifications, Barber never addressed the snag of the meeting bearing down too hastily.

No Buffalo nickels were made in 1922, 1932 and 1933. Some 5,967 dull proofs were made from 1913 through 1916, and 10,189 brilliant proofs in 1936 and 1937. Strike was an inherent trouble with this coin from the start, and many deceptively well struck business strikes have been incorrect for the matte proofs and associate versa. Many mintmarked coins, especially from 1918 through 1934, are almost unavailable well struck.

When grading these coins of this print, you must take the external into account, as many plump shine pieces will not show rounded relief specify on the high points of the horn or the fringe on the tail. Generally, the date and LIBERTY will be faint on feebly struck pieces. The points on the coin that clothes most willingly are the high instant of the Indian's cheekbone and the fleece near the part. On the reverse, the bison's hip, the fringe on its tail and the horn are the first areas to show scuffing.

Collectors of this string have a fascinating array of "tough" dates and rarities to pursue. The most intricate coin to gain is the very atypical 1918/7-D overdate. Another overdate exists for both the Philadelphia and San Francisco Mints-the subtle 1914/3. Scarce to singular dates in high grade include all the San Francisco coins from 1913 through 1928, with 1918, 1920 and 1924 through 1927 being the rarest. Denver coins are generally weaker strikes than San Francisco pieces. The gift the aerial with challenges like the 1918 through 1920 issues and the 1925 and 1926 coins, along with the prominent 1937-D 3-legged Buffalo. This awfully current variety (caused by excessive die-polishing to eradicate clash-marks) was not discovered awaiting most of the coins had reached circulation, making well-struck gem specimens very uncommon today. Particularly in the holder of the "3-legger" or the overdates, authentication by experts is advised, as many counterfeits survive.

Recent time had witnessed renewed collector interest in the Buffalo series, no mistrust stimulated by the wealth of new inquiries untaken by nickel specialists. An ever-budding number of numismatists are assembling finish sets of Buffaloes by date and mintmark. Demand is also clear from kind collectors, all whom seek this goal for their 20th Century-or more comprehensive-lettering sets. Although well struck, inexpensive nature examples such as 1938-D are available, many collectors wish to pursue one of the scarcer dates.

By the end of 1937 planning for the Buffalo nickel's successor was well under way, as the figure's mandatory 25 years would end the following year. It was to be replaced by the third coin to stand a likeness of one of our presidents, Thomas Jefferson. The Jefferson nickel continues in production to this day.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 21.2 millimeters Weight: 5 grams Composition: .750 copper.250 nickel Edge: Plain

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I.Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Cohen, Annette R. and Druley, Ray M. The Buffalo Nickel, Potomac Enterprises, Arlington, VA, 1979. Lange, David W. The Complete Guide to Buffalo Nickels, DLRC Press, Virginia Beach, VA, 1992. Vermeule, Cornelius, Numismatic Art in America, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1971. Wescott, Michael, with Keck, Kendall, The United States Nickel Five-Cent Piece, Bowers and Merena Galleries, Wolfeboro, NH, 1991.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.