By Heritage Auctions
Market demand remained strong for significant American numismatic rarities in the June 2008 Summer FUN Signature® Auction presented by Heritage Auction Galleries in West Palm Beach, June 26-27. Total prices realized for the American coins exceeded $12 million, and the total will rise further when the concluding session and post auction buys are finalized.
“The strong market is continuing to bring great rarities — and great prices realized — onto the Heritage auction block,” commented Heritage President Greg Rohan. “We note that Lot 1960, an 1880 $4 Flowing Hair (Judd-1657, Pollock-1857) and certified PR64 by PCGS, realized: $431,250. This auction contained a wide range of rarities at many price levels, to which more than 5000 bidders responded enthusiastically.”
Highlights from Heritage’s Summer FUN Signature Auction:
Lot 1960: 1880 $4 Flowing Hair, Judd-1657, Pollock-1857, R.6, PR64 PCGS.
The 1880 Flowing Hair “stella” is one of the most famous rarities in American numismatics. Technically a pattern issue, and never authorized for regular coinage, the stella has survived and prospered as a collectible issue, and is regularly listed in A Guide Book of United States Coins alongside regular U.S. gold coin types. From the Fern E. Wagner Trust. Price realized: $431,250
Lot 2106: 1803 BD-6 Large Stars Reverse Eagle, MS62 NGC. Breen-6845, B. 1-F, Taraszka-32, R.7.
Of 33 known die varieties in the 1795 to 1804 eagle series, Harry Bass was able to obtain 32 during his many years of collecting; the only die marriage that he never owned was the 1803 BD-6 (Breen 1-F) that is offered in this lot. Price realized: $172,500
Lot 1975: 1832 Half Eagle, 13 Stars, BD-1, High R.5, MS63
The 1832 half eagle is known in only two die pairings, BD-1 and BD-2, easily distinguished by the presence of either 13 or 12 obverse stars, respectively; the 13 Stars BD-1 has a straight-base 2, and only three examples of this variety have been certified finer. From The Charleston Collection.
Price realized: $132,250
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Annie Oakley Gunshot Napoleon Coin
By Mike Unser
PBS’ History Detectives is dedicated to exploring historical mysteries that will, on Monday, investigate whether a 1853 French Napoleon coin was split by sharpshooter Annie Oakley.
Annie Oakley was a superstar attraction in Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show who became famous by performing daring shooting feats.
Annie’s marksmanship skills dazzled audiences by edge-splitting playing cards, snuffing out candles, and, of course, shooting coins.
Legendary Native American and Sioux warrior Sitting Bull, also in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in the 1880’s, called Annie "Little Sure Shot."
And here’s where we return to Monday’s first History Detectives episode of season 6. Host Elyse Luray will take viewers through an investigative journey to try and uncover whether an inherited Napoleon coin full of family lore was indeed shot by Oakley.
Imagine the value of the Napoleon coin should evidence support the lore.
A video sneak peak of Season 6 highlights a portion of the show, where Luray "conducts ballistics tests, scours the Buffalo Bill Historical Center archives and recreates one of Oakley’s sure shots."
A contributor from Bath, Maine has an 1853 French Napoleon coin with a bent, split edge and a great bit of family lore: it’s said that the coin was shot by Annie Oakley and that Annie herself gave the coin to two of the contributor’s great-grand uncles.
It doesn’t look like any of the souvenir coins the Wild West icon typically handed out to her many fans. Can we prove that the sharp-shooting star of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show shot up the coin for the two brothers – and turn family lore into bona fide bragging rights?
To find out, History Detectives conducts ballistics tests, scours the Buffalo Bill Historical Center archives and recreates one of Oakley’s sure shots.
PBS’ History Detectives is dedicated to exploring historical mysteries that will, on Monday, investigate whether a 1853 French Napoleon coin was split by sharpshooter Annie Oakley.
Annie Oakley was a superstar attraction in Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show who became famous by performing daring shooting feats.
Annie’s marksmanship skills dazzled audiences by edge-splitting playing cards, snuffing out candles, and, of course, shooting coins.
Legendary Native American and Sioux warrior Sitting Bull, also in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in the 1880’s, called Annie "Little Sure Shot."
And here’s where we return to Monday’s first History Detectives episode of season 6. Host Elyse Luray will take viewers through an investigative journey to try and uncover whether an inherited Napoleon coin full of family lore was indeed shot by Oakley.
Imagine the value of the Napoleon coin should evidence support the lore.
A video sneak peak of Season 6 highlights a portion of the show, where Luray "conducts ballistics tests, scours the Buffalo Bill Historical Center archives and recreates one of Oakley’s sure shots."
A contributor from Bath, Maine has an 1853 French Napoleon coin with a bent, split edge and a great bit of family lore: it’s said that the coin was shot by Annie Oakley and that Annie herself gave the coin to two of the contributor’s great-grand uncles.
It doesn’t look like any of the souvenir coins the Wild West icon typically handed out to her many fans. Can we prove that the sharp-shooting star of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show shot up the coin for the two brothers – and turn family lore into bona fide bragging rights?
To find out, History Detectives conducts ballistics tests, scours the Buffalo Bill Historical Center archives and recreates one of Oakley’s sure shots.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Sacagawea Makeover
By David L. Ganz
Weighing in on the new reverse design for the Sacagawea dollar mandated by Congress, the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee viewed more than a dozen designs June 18 before selecting a female Indian planting maize (corn) in a field. The design is intended for use on the 2009 dollar coin, which is the first that will host a Native American theme.
Each year thereafter a different Native American design will appear.
The design on the obverse is not necessarily the old Sacagawea design. It is to be chosen by the Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson, after consultation with the Commission of Fine Arts and review by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.
There are two requirements: it must
" contain the so-called "Sacagawea design" and " the inscription "Liberty."Despite recent difficulties with edge-lettering, the law requires that the inscription of the year of minting and issuance of the coin and the inscriptions "E Pluribus Unum" and "In God We Trust" are required to be edge-incused into the coin. The CCAC formally recommended the date movement, too.
There is a specific requirement that the edge-incusing of the inscriptions be done in a manner that preserves the distinctive edge of the coin so that the denomination of the coin is readily discernible, including by individuals who are blind or visually impaired.
There is an additional consultation requirement: designs selected for the reverse shall be chosen by the Treasury Secretary after consultation with the Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate, the Congressional Native American Caucus of the House of Representatives, the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Congress of American Indians. They must further be reviewed by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.
Congress suggested some design themes to offer its guidance on how the coins should be designed which appears at odds with the end result honoring agriculture. Specific examples appear in the law.
They "may depict individuals and events such as the creation of Cherokee written language, the Iroquois Confederacy, Wampanoag Chief Massasoit, the 'Pueblo Revolt,' Olympian Jim Thorpe, Ely S. Parker, a general on the staff of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, and later head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, code talkers who served the U.S. Armed Forces during World War I and World War II."
Nothing that could be considered a "two headed" coin would be permitted.
The law requires that each design for the reverse of the $1 coins issued during each year shall be emblematic of a single important Native American. Each $1 coin minted "shall be available throughout the entire one-year period," the new law says.
They also shall be issued, to the maximum extent practicable, in the chronological order in which the Native Americans lived or the events occurred, until the termination of the coin program. Numismatic coins are specifically denominated: "the Secretary may mint and issue such number of $1 coins of each design selected in uncirculated and proof qualities as the Secretary determines to be appropriate."
As to how many: the number of $1 coins minted and issued in a year with the Sacagawea design on the obverse shall be not less than 20 percent of the total number of $1 coins minted and issued in such year. Thus, dollar coin demand will be shared between the Presidential dollar program and the Sacagawea design.
Recognizing that there are "barriers to circulation," the bill directs the Secretary of the Treasury to "carry out an aggressive, cost-effective, continuing campaign to encourage commercial enterprises to accept and dispense $1 coins that have as designs on the obverse the so-called 'Sacagawea design,'" and calls for an annual report on the success of the efforts to be submitted to Congress.
CCAC's second choice was a design featuring three female Indians surrounded by squash, corn and beans. It represented the traditional Three Sisters system of planting the crops. To the Iroquois people, corn, beans, and squash are the Three Sisters - the physical and spiritual sustainers of life. The three vegetables comprised their main food supply. Iroquois women mixed their crops, using a system called "interplanting."
"What ended up carrying the day for our selection was how clearly it represented the theme of Native Americans and agriculture," CCAC chairman Mitch Sanders said. "We liked its aesthetic appeal and the fact that a Native American woman is shown being strongly involved in agriculture."
The ongoing Sacagawea program is expected to last until at least until 2016. Next stop is a mandatory review by the Commission of Fine Arts. Then Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will make a design choice for next year's dollar coinage.
Weighing in on the new reverse design for the Sacagawea dollar mandated by Congress, the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee viewed more than a dozen designs June 18 before selecting a female Indian planting maize (corn) in a field. The design is intended for use on the 2009 dollar coin, which is the first that will host a Native American theme.
Each year thereafter a different Native American design will appear.
The design on the obverse is not necessarily the old Sacagawea design. It is to be chosen by the Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson, after consultation with the Commission of Fine Arts and review by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.
There are two requirements: it must
" contain the so-called "Sacagawea design" and " the inscription "Liberty."Despite recent difficulties with edge-lettering, the law requires that the inscription of the year of minting and issuance of the coin and the inscriptions "E Pluribus Unum" and "In God We Trust" are required to be edge-incused into the coin. The CCAC formally recommended the date movement, too.
There is a specific requirement that the edge-incusing of the inscriptions be done in a manner that preserves the distinctive edge of the coin so that the denomination of the coin is readily discernible, including by individuals who are blind or visually impaired.
There is an additional consultation requirement: designs selected for the reverse shall be chosen by the Treasury Secretary after consultation with the Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate, the Congressional Native American Caucus of the House of Representatives, the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Congress of American Indians. They must further be reviewed by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.
Congress suggested some design themes to offer its guidance on how the coins should be designed which appears at odds with the end result honoring agriculture. Specific examples appear in the law.
They "may depict individuals and events such as the creation of Cherokee written language, the Iroquois Confederacy, Wampanoag Chief Massasoit, the 'Pueblo Revolt,' Olympian Jim Thorpe, Ely S. Parker, a general on the staff of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, and later head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, code talkers who served the U.S. Armed Forces during World War I and World War II."
Nothing that could be considered a "two headed" coin would be permitted.
The law requires that each design for the reverse of the $1 coins issued during each year shall be emblematic of a single important Native American. Each $1 coin minted "shall be available throughout the entire one-year period," the new law says.
They also shall be issued, to the maximum extent practicable, in the chronological order in which the Native Americans lived or the events occurred, until the termination of the coin program. Numismatic coins are specifically denominated: "the Secretary may mint and issue such number of $1 coins of each design selected in uncirculated and proof qualities as the Secretary determines to be appropriate."
As to how many: the number of $1 coins minted and issued in a year with the Sacagawea design on the obverse shall be not less than 20 percent of the total number of $1 coins minted and issued in such year. Thus, dollar coin demand will be shared between the Presidential dollar program and the Sacagawea design.
Recognizing that there are "barriers to circulation," the bill directs the Secretary of the Treasury to "carry out an aggressive, cost-effective, continuing campaign to encourage commercial enterprises to accept and dispense $1 coins that have as designs on the obverse the so-called 'Sacagawea design,'" and calls for an annual report on the success of the efforts to be submitted to Congress.
CCAC's second choice was a design featuring three female Indians surrounded by squash, corn and beans. It represented the traditional Three Sisters system of planting the crops. To the Iroquois people, corn, beans, and squash are the Three Sisters - the physical and spiritual sustainers of life. The three vegetables comprised their main food supply. Iroquois women mixed their crops, using a system called "interplanting."
"What ended up carrying the day for our selection was how clearly it represented the theme of Native Americans and agriculture," CCAC chairman Mitch Sanders said. "We liked its aesthetic appeal and the fact that a Native American woman is shown being strongly involved in agriculture."
The ongoing Sacagawea program is expected to last until at least until 2016. Next stop is a mandatory review by the Commission of Fine Arts. Then Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will make a design choice for next year's dollar coinage.
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