The Eliasberg 1858-O $20.00

I'd like to share a photo and some information about a really interesting coin that I recently bought and sold. It's a lovely 1858-O double eagle, graded AU55 by PCGS. What makes this coin really special, in my opinion, is its fantastic pedigree. To the best of my knowledge it has the oldest continual pedigree of any 1858-O double eagle, and certainly the best. The 1858-O is the 8th rarest of 13 double eagles produced at the New Orleans mint. You'd think this meant it was a common coin, but this is far from the case. There are an estimated 200 or so known with most in the EF40 to AU50 range. This date becomes quite rare in the medium to higher AU grades and it is extremely rare in Uncirculated with just six or seven known to me.

The finest known 1858-O double eagle is a PCGS MS62 owned by a prominent Midwestern collector. It came from the Bass III sale (May 2000) where it sold for $50,600. Harry Bass obtained it from the Merkin 10/66 sale.

There were four Uncirculated 1858-O double eagles found in the S.S. Republic treasure and this swelled the number of Uncirculated examples. The best of these four was an MS63 (graded by NGC).

I love the freshness of this coin and I think a quick study of it will prove helpful to rare gold coin collectors. It has wonderful soft, frosty luster, and pleasing natural yellow-gold coloration on the obverse and the reverse. This coloration is exactly "right" for the issue and the few 1858-O double eagles that I have seen that haven't been dipped or processed displayed a similar hue.

This date is not generally seen with a sharp strike and this example is about as well detailed as any I can recall. Note the full radial lines in the obverse stars and the nearly complete detail on Liberty's hair. In both instances, this is very unusual.

The surfaces of this coin are clean for the grade. There are a few scattered scuffs in the fields, which is to be expected from an AU55. That said, I think this coin is as clean as other Type One double eagles that I have seen in AU58 holders.

This coin last appeared as Lot 1948 in Stack's November 2009 auction where it sold for $27,600. Before this it was in the October 1982 Eliasberg sale where it brought $2,640. It was obtained by Eliasberg in the famous Max Mehl June 1946 sale of the Atwater collector where it realized $105.

The Eliasberg 1858-O double eagle is now owned by a Southern collector who specializes in New Orleans gold coinage. He already owns a number of impressive New Orleans double eagles, but I'm willing to bet that this coin will become one of his favorites.

Are you interested in adding coins like the Eliasberg 1858-O double eagle to your collection? If so, please feel free to speak to me at 214-675-9897 and let me know how I can be of assistance to you and your collection.

Gem Charlotte Half Eagles: The Elite Eight

In my last blog, I wrote about a Gem 1855-C half eagle that I was fortunate to recently handle. A number of readers asked me about some of the other Gem half eagles from this mint and I thought it would be interesting to take a look at each of these. There are a total of eight Charlotte half eagles that have been graded MS65 or better by either PCGS or NGC (or by both services in some cases). Many are very famous coins within the Charlotte gold collecting community. A few are not quite as famous and are not given the full "props" that the others have received in the past. Let's take a quick peek at each of the eight Gem Charlotte half eagles.

1842-C Large Date Graded MS65 by NGC, ex Milas/Eliasberg. This coin has a pedigree dating back to 1920 when John Clapp Jr. purchased it from Elmer Sears. It was later in the Eliasberg collection and it brought $17,600 (a comparably high price) when it was sold at auction in 1982. The coin was later owned by Chicago dealer Ed Milas and was offered in the Stack's May 1995 sale of his superb collection of No Motto half eagles. It is now owned by a North Carolina collector and it has been off the market for close to a decade.

1846-C Graded NS65 by NGC, ex Elrod/Eliasberg. This is one of my all-time favorite Charlotte half eagles. It was purchased by John Clapp Sr. out of the David Wilson sale conducted by S.H. Chapman in March 1907. It was later owned by Louis Eliasberg and it brought a reasonable $13,200 in October 1982. The famous specialist Stanley Elrod then owned the coin and I bought it in the late 1980's/early 1990's when the Elrod collection was being dispersed. I then sold the coin to Paul Dingler and bought it back in 2005. It is now owned by a West Coast collector. Funny story: when I was selling this coin to Paul Dingler, I had a hard time convincing him that this coin was as great as I believed. It turned out that Paul was color-blind and the dark, crusty color that this coin exhibited (at the time) was hard for him to appreciate. He did take my word for it and this 1846-C half eagle became a centerpiece of his fantastic collection.

1847-C Graded MS65 by PCGS, ex: Pittman/Farouk. As far as I know, this is one of only two of the Elite Eight that is currently in a PCGS holder. It has a wonderful pedigree that goes back to the Col. Green collection and it was later in the King Farouk and John Pittman sales. I first saw the coin in the Akers 10/97 Pittman Part One auction where it brought $44,000. It was last sold as Heritage 4/02: 6986 where it brought $47,150. I do not know the current location of this impressive Gem.

1849-C Graded MS66 by NGC. This coin was discovered by Avena Numismatics back around 1997 and was first offered for sale as Bowers and Merena 8/98: 330 where it did not meet its reserve. It finally found a home after appearing in the Bowers and Merena 3/04 auction realizing $70,150. It is clearly the finest known 1849-C half eagle. I am not aware of the current location of this coin.

1852-C Graded MS65 by NGC, ex: Silvertowne Hoard. In 1984 or 1985, a group of five remarkable 1852-C half eagles from a family in Southern Indiana was sold to Silvertowne Numismatics. One of the five (I'm not certain which) was later graded MS65 by NGC after having been graded MS64 by PCGS. Interestingly, the second part of this hoard came on the market in December 2007 when a Florida firm offered them for sale. The 1852-C half eagles from this hoard are notable for their superb original color, great luster and high overall level of eye appeal.

1855-C Graded MS65 by NGC, ex: Elrod. Having just written extensively about this coin, I'd prefer not to be reptetitive and suggest you read my blog dated April 8, 2009 for more information.

1857-C Graded MS65 by NGC, ex Elrod. This coin is from the famous Elrod collection and it was first sold at auction in February 1999 as part of the Heritage William Miller auction where it failed to meet its reserve. It reappeared as Heritage 1/03: 4797, in an NGC MS64 holder, where it sold for $33,350. I saw this coin within the last year in a dealer's inventory.

1859-C Graded MS66 by PCGS, ex Milas/Eliasberg. While not widely-known outside of the specialist community, this incredible coin gets my vote for the single finest Charlotte half eagle in existence. It was purchased by John Clapp, Sr. in 1910 from Elmer Sears and was later in the Eliasberg collection. It sold for just $8,800 in October 1982 and this cheap price can be attributed to the relative unsophistication of the branch mint market at that time. After appearing in a number of auctions in the mid-1980's it wound-up in Ed Milas' set of Gem No Motto half eagles where it sold for $104,500. I haven't seen this coin for many years but I remember it being superb and hope that it has retained its superb original color and luster.

It is remarkable to think that only eight Gem Charlotte half eagles exist, considering that close to 900,000 pieces were struck between 1838 and 1861. The collectors who own any of the Elite Eight have coins that, in my opinion, are truly worthy of the overused designation "world-class."

Exciting Coin Sets Yet To Be Assembled

In the twenty-five years that I’ve been a professional numismatist, I’ve had the opportunity to build some pretty interesting coin collections. I’ve put together two of the finest sets of New Orleans gold ever assembled, the unquestioned finest set of Carson City gold and numerous high grade Charlotte and Dahlonega sets, to name just a few. At this point in my professional career, what sets would really excite me to have the chance to assemble? First and foremost, I’d love to have a wealthy, patient connoisseur call me and decide that he wanted to put together a complete set of high grade United States gold. How much fun would it be to be able to buy all the really high grade and really rare issues that I’ve passed on in the last few years because I just didn’t have a home for them at the time?

(And how cool would it be to walk around a coin show with a checklist of all United States gold issues and have to look at it when I saw, say, a nice About Uncirculated 1858-S eagle and remind myself if the collection already had an example of this date or not…)

My dream collection would, in some ways, use the Eliasberg collection as a benchmark but it would have some obvious differences. When the Eliasberg collection was assembled, it was much easier to locate choice, original coins than it is today. Unfortunately, I would be unable to locate early gold that could rival the phenomenal unmolested pieces in the Eliasberg collection; many of which were purchased by the Clapp family as early as the 1890’s.

But I would also be able to buy many issues in much higher grade than what was present in the Eliasberg collection. As an example, many of the post-1880 issues in this collection were represented by very low grade pieces which would be considered unremarkable, at best, today. A number of these dates are now available in fairly high grade as a result of finds in Europe and other overseas sources. It would certainly be fun to tell this new collector that a coin that he just purchased in MS64 was represented by a dingy VF in the Eliasberg collection!

Another collection that I would love to work on would attempt to replicate the John Adams collection of 1794 Cents but in a less specialized fashion (for those of you unfamiliar with this collection, John Adams is a well-known Boston collector who formed a remarkable die variety set of 1794 Cents by Sheldon variety. His parameter for purchasing a coin was to find a piece with a great pedigree entailing as many famous collectors as possible. I have always thought that this was the most fascinating specialized collection ever formed).

The gist of the Adams collection was to “collect the collectors” who had become part of the folklore of the Large Cent culture. This has never really been done in the area of gold; partially because pedigree research on gold coinage is nowhere near as comprehensive as it is on early copper. But wouldn’t a collection that included examples from all of the great gold collections from the past be interesting?

Getting to assemble a major set of early gold coinage would be a lot of fun as well. I’m currently working on a few very impressive sets of early gold but I seldom—if ever—get the chance to buy the macho, six-figure pieces that sometimes come up for sale at shows and auctions. My personal dream assignment would be to assemble a world-class set of Fat Head half eagles (from 1813 to 1834) and to be able to purchase duplicate examples of the dates that the collector and I thought were “neat” or “undervalued.” And to maybe even expand this set to include the die varieties that exist for dates such as the 1818, 1820, 1823, etc. Now that would be fun!

But, really, I have no complaints about what I’m doing right now. I get the chance to work with interesting, nice people who trust my judgment when it comes to coins. Some of these people have become good friends of mine and I’ve now known many of them for over a decade (actually two decades in some cases).

That said, if Paul Allen or Bill Gates call me tomorrow and tell me they are ready to seriously start collecting United States gold coinage, I think I can get the proposal written pretty quickly…