Week Twenty One

Coin of the Week: Edward VIII Coins
King Edward VIII (the 8th) of England had the shortest reign of and British monarch. He was king from January 20th, 1936 to December 11th, 1936. Not even one full year! But the coins of England always feature the current monarch. So first, there were his coronation medals:

And then there were the patterns. Edward insisted that his portrait face left, like his father, George V. This was a break in the pattern: ever new monarch’s portrait would face the opposite direction as the previous one. But Edward was adamant. So the dies were prepared… but the people were not…

…ready for him to suddenly leave! Edward had fallen in love with an American 2-time divorcee named Wallis Simpson. Knowing that the church of England would not allow the king to marry a woman with two living ex-husbands, he abdicated, or gave up, the throne. He had ruled for 326 days. He later became governor of the Bahamas. After that, he was accused of being pro-Nazi during WWII, and spent the remainder of his life in France.

Rooting Through the Lost Art: Pennsylvania Quarter

First; the original

And now the ideas:

Wonderful World: Cook Islands Chocolate Bar Coin
Earlier this year, the Cook Islands released a special $5 coin. It contains one ounce of pure silver, is a rectangle, and- wait for it- looks and smells just like a chocolate bar! Produced by an unidentified mint, this coin is prepared with a special perfume, and comes in a package that looks like a candy wrapper. Want one? The best deal that I could find was on Talisman Coins, for $109.95. Sweet!

Week Twenty

 

Coin News: Boys Town Commemorative on it’s way!

On September 15th, the Boys Town Commemorative Coin Act was passed by the House. This coin would celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of Boys Town (1917-2017), a nonprofit dedicated to keeping families together. The bill still has to pass the Senate and signed by the President, but it seems to have a better chance of making the cut now! No proposed images are available at the moment.

 

Coin of the Week/Rooting Through the Lost Art: Lady Liberty on Coins

All over the world, Lady Liberty was once used as the depiction of freedom and equality. Today, she is hardly ever seen on any coins. But in her heyday, she was on a lot of coins from around the world. Here are some of my personal favorites:

 

 

Sorry, this week’s post was short. I will be gathering my thoughts to make the next post better.

Week Nineteen

 

Coin of the Week: 1964 Peace Dollar

The Peace Dollar (1921-1935) was the silver dollar after the Morgan Dollar. Designed by Anthony de Francisci, it showed a depiction of Lady Liberty on the obverse, and an eagle on the reverse.

Silver prices were quickly rising, however, and many people feared that the silver dollar would soon become obsolete. So silver dollar production was stopped in 1935.

By 1964, president Lyndon B. Johnson felt that the economy was secure enough to start production again. 316,076 1964 Peace Dollars were struck at the Denver Mint, only to be melted down almost immediately, because of record high silver prices. No examples are known to exist today, but PCGS (Professional Coin Grading Service) is offering a $10,000 reward for the first genuine 1964 Peace Dollar submitted to them. Many restrikes exist.

Mystery: Several 1970 Peace Dollars were struck to test the base metal composition that would be used for the Ike Dollar. No known specimens (or even photographs) are known to exist.

 

Trial and Error: William Barber’s Seashore Pattern

Trial: This was a test piece for the newly authorized Trade Dollar and Double Dime.

Error: The designer broke the laws of physics to create it!

Wait, what?

You heard me.

Look close at the ship. The sails are pushing the ship forward, but the steam coming from the ship is blowing backwards! In a real life situation, the smoke would be going the same direction as the ship. That’s one for the blooper reel!

 

Cool Commemoratives: Texas Centennial Half Dollar

This coin is arguably one of the most beautiful commemoratives ever. It was made to celebrate the centennial of Texas breaking away from Mexico. The obverse features an eagle sitting on a branch in front of a lone star, the symbol of Texas, while the reverse shows Lady Victory over the Alamo, with portraits of Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin to her sides. The six flags that Texas has used over the years wave above her. This coin was produced from 1934 to 1938.

Week Eighteen

 

Coin of the Week: 20-Cent Piece

The extremely short-lived twenty-cent piece, or double dime as it is sometimes known, had an interesting story behind it.

The beginning player was senator John P. Jones of Nevada. Jones argued that the quarter was being devalued in the west. The reason? Enter player 2 in the game: Production numbers. There was an odd lack of small change coins in the west. Maybe they can credit Jesse James with this. And another thing: many saloons, called “Bit Houses” were popping up. Although a bit is technically 12 and 1/2 cents, in many of these Bit Houses, dimes were accepted as One Bit. Jones argued that in the few instances when a quarter was used as payment for a drink, the bartender would accept the quarter and give a dime in change, so the buyer would lose 5 cents on the deal. The double dime was supposed to cure this ill.

But after only 3 years of production, the mint was forced to reconsider. The double dime was almost exactly the same size as the quarter, and the design was very similar. So now people were spending the double dime thinking that it was a quarter, and receiving it in change thinking it was the same thing. So storekeepers lost five cents when their customers bought a 25-cent cigar, and the customers lost money when they received one in change because the storekeeper thought it was a quarter. It was a lose-lose situation, and so the double dime was discontinued.

 

Cool Commemoratives: Isabella Quarter

In Fourteen Hundred Ninety-Two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

But Columbus you know, well let me tell ya’, was solid broke ‘till he met Isabella!

Both she and he husband, Ferdinand, paid his way to the “New Land”, Yes they sure did give Columbus a hand, and he promised to bring them something grand.

So when Columbus spotted land, he placed Spain’s flag upon the sand, and claimed it for Isabella and Ferdinand.

He’d thought he reached the Orient’s shores, and set about looking for merchant’s stores.

Eventually he went back to Spain, unaware of this brand new gain…

So now you know, well isn’t that grand, of Columbus, Isabella, and Ferdinand.

 

Okay. So what does this have to do with coins?

Well, the 1892 Columbian Exposition was coming up, celebrating the 400th anniversary of the “discovery” of the Americas, and the Columbus half dollar was already out and about. But through the efforts of several Suffragettes, the story came forward: Columbus couldn’t have made it without Isabella and Ferdinand’s financing. So another commemorative coin was created, celebrating Isabella’s (but not Ferdinand’s) part in the historic voyage. This is the only commemorative quarter ever made.

 

Week Seventeen

 

Coin of the Week: 1792 Quarter Dollar

1792 was an important year for coin collectors and the United States: several pattern coins were struck by the U.S. Mint, setting the stage for circulating coinage the next year. My personal favorite 1792 pattern is the Quarter, designed by Joseph Wright. Wright was George Washington’s personal pick for the first Chief engraver of the U.S. Mint. The only complication? Wright died before the patterns were struck, and never heard the evaluation of his design. It features a young Lady Liberty on the obverse, while the reverse shows a fine eagle beginning to spread his wings, a perfect symbolism for the new United States.

 

 

 

Rooting Through the Lost Art: Delaware State Quarter

Please note: most pictures will be blurry for the State Quarters, because the designs can only be found blurry. Sorry!

Original:

Proposed:

 

 

Cool Commemoratives: 2014 Gold Kennedy Half Dollar

This coin is one of the most popular commemoratives ever. It was just released less than three weeks ago, and already people had to be restrained because of it. At the 2014 World’s Fair of Money, when it was released lines to buy the coin were insanely long, and at $1,300 each, the mint was making good money, until fights broke out in the lines, and sales were suspended. Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy Half Dollar, this coin, along with an uncirculated set, and in the fall, a silver 4 coin set, are popular mementos of the slain president.

Turnover sales of this coin is over 2 times the original price already.

Week Sixteen

 

Coin of the Week: 1861 O Half Dollar

This is a true coin of mystery. The New Orleans mint began striking Half Dollars early on in 1861, but the mint employees faced a problem: Confederate forces needed a mint, and they were closing in on New Orleans. The Confederates quickly captured the mint, and official Confederate money would be struck later that year. But in the meantime, the Confederates still needed money to spend. Conveniently, the dies from the Union were still there, and still functional. So here are the mintage figures: 330,000 1861-O Halves were struck by the Union, 1,240,000 were struck for the state of Louisiana when it seceded from the Union, and 962,633 were struck by the provisional Confederate government. A total of 2,532,633 1861-O Half Dollars were struck. These coins have no known distinguishing marks, so if you have one, it could have been issued by any of these three governments. Adds a bit of spice to the whole thing!

 

 

Rooting Through the Lost Art: 2010 Lincoln Pennies

Here is the original design:

And here are the proposed designs:

 

So what would be different if you could make the call?

 

 

Cool Commemoratives: Korean War Silver Dollar

This is in my opinion the saddest excuse for a Commemorative in modern times. The coin, which does have an O.K. design, was made to celebrate the 38th anniversary of the Korean War. The 38th. Really? Most people (including me) see this commemorative as the perfect example of a pointless commemorative coin that was nothing more than fodder for a fundraiser (although the fundraiser was for a good cause, to create a memorial for Korean War veterans, but could it have waited a few years?) What do you think? Awesome commemorative, or funding fodder?

 

 

Trial and Error/Coins and the Law: 1974 Aluminum Cent

As copper prices rise, the penny becomes more and more expensive to make, even though it contains only 0.08% of the metal. Many people in recent years have proposed the discontinuation of the penny. But in 1974, and alternative was considered: make the pennies out of aluminum. This metal is inexpensive, light, and has an appealing color. So over a million test coins were created by the mint for senators to examine. When Congress decided against using aluminum, the mint attempted to recall all test pennies. It only found a few. Examples are rare, but at least one is in the Smithsonian, and a few have been graded by third parties. Although the government claims that they are illegal to own, since they were distributed freely, this has yet to be legally determined.

Week Fifteen

 

Coin of the Week: Augustus Saint-Gaudens Commemorative Coin (Tuvalu)

Sculptor/Coin Designer/Artist Augustus Saint-Gaudens has been mentioned in my blog a couple times before. But I never created a coin to celebrate him, and the island nation of Tuvalu has beat me to it. Nuts!

This coin features the standard portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse, while the reverse shows a picture of Saint-Gaudens, and a small cameo of his most famous design, the 1907 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle. This coin is making it’s first sales a the ANA’s World’s Fair of Money, and is the first in a series called the Designers of America’s Coins that will be continued into future years celebrating awesome U.S. Coin Designers. Made with one oz. of .999 silver, this coin is sure to be a sellout, and a popular commemorative in the years to come.

 

Rooting Through the Lost Art: The Washington Quarter

This is perhaps the least organized section in my entire blog. I get to show you the designs that were proposed for the Washington Quarter, and you get to decide which designs are your personal picks. If you were the big shot, would the design have been different? First, the decided design:

 

And now, the runners-up…

 

 

 

 

 

 

So what would you have picked?

 

Note: The Second Runner-Up Design was used on a coin celebrating the death bicentennial of George Washington, pictured below.

 

 

 

Making a Mint: Carson City

The Carson City, Nevada Mint has a rich history that starts with the discovery of tons of silver called the Comstock Lode. The silver overload was helpful when it came to striking coins, and so a branch mint was opened there. Coins struck at Carson City bear a “CC” mintmark, but are actually quite uncommon. The bulk of coinage production still came from the mints at Philadelphia and San Francisco. Almost every denomination of coin from the dime to the double eagle was produced at Carson City, but when the silver and gold rushes ended, so did most of production. Almost no CC silver dollars are priced below $100, and a good quantity of all rare U.S. coins are from Carson City. The mint formally stopped production in 1893, was used as an assay office until 1933, and today it is the house of the Nevada State Museum. Commemorative medallions are still struck there with the CC mintmark with one of the original presses.

Carson City Mint