1
303
bid online at
(800) 978-COIN (2646)
|
Session Four - Tuesday, June 3, 2014 6:00 PM
$20 Li be r t y /Wi t h Mo t t o
1964
1866-S. With Motto
.
PCGS graded EF-45.
CAC Approved
.
Lightly toned. Moderately well defined, with normal surface
abrasions from time spent in circulation.
The year 1866 was a year of transition in silver and gold coins.
Patriotic fervor arising out of the trauma of Civil War gave birth
to demands for a religious motto to be included on United
States coinage. In 1861, 1862, and 1863, two variations of this
motto were used on Pattern coins. The first, GOD OUR TRUST,
was rejected; the more poetic IN GOD WE TRUST sounded bet-
ter and was included on the new Two-cent Pieces of 1864 and
Shield Nickels of 1866. The Act of March 3, 1865 included a
clause mandating this motto. However, it took Philadelphia Mint
some months to add it to the production dies. (Philadelphia
makes dies for all branch mints). For this reason, a few No
Motto Twenty Dollar Gold pieces were made at San Francisco
before the new With Motto reverse dies arrived. The present
piece is second Type, With Motto. (
PCGS # 8950
)
Estimated Value ..............................................$2,300 - 2,400
1965
1873. Closed 3
.
PCGS graded EF-45
. Housed in an Old
Green Holder. Lovely golden toning. The Closed 3 date style is
used on the early dies made prior to Chief Coiner A.L.
Snowden's complaint on January 18th regarding the similarities
of the look of the date to 1878.
The Coinage Act of 1873 changed the United States policy with
respect to silver. Before the Act, the United States had backed
its currency with both gold and silver, and it minted both types
of coins. The Act moved the United States to the gold standard,
which meant it would no longer buy silver or mint silver coins
from the public on demand, but instead only from approved
(that is, politically connected) Western mine owners. No modifi-
cations were made to the gold coins, however. (
PCGS # 8966
)
Estimated Value ..............................................$1,800 - 1,900
1966
1873. Open 3
.
PCGS graded MS-62+.
CAC Approved
. A
nice frosty lustrous and untoned coin. The luster on this date is
particularly attractive. Year of the infamous Credit Mobilier scan-
dal. During the 19th century, the federal government in Wash-
ington, D.C. as it is today, was generally happy to do favors for
Wall Street financiers. Railroad tycoons, who often used their
company stock certificates as vehicles of extravagant specula-
tion, enjoyed subsidies, tax exemptions, loans, and a whole
smorgasbord of financial fringe benefits supplied by pliable con-
gressmen and senators (not to mention armadas of state and
local officials).
The Crédit Mobilier was a joint-stock company organized in
1863 and reorganized in 1867 to build the Union Pacific Rail-
road. It was involved in such a scandal in 1872 in which high
government officials were accused of accepting bribes, that the
firm finally blew up in the credit collapse and ensuing Panic of
1873. (The Enron or Bear Stearns of its day.). (
PCGS # 8967
)
Estimated Value ..............................................$4,000 - 4,400
1967
1873. Open 3, Double Die Obverse. FS-101
.
NGC graded
MS-61.
CAC Approved
. Lightly toned and frosty. Most dates
in this Type 2 period show up oftenest in Very Fine with S mint-
marks. Philadelphia issues 1866-72 are mostly scarce, except
for the 1867 Uncs. from a hoard (possibly 2,000, found in
Europe about 1966, distributed in the USA beginning about
1973). The other most often seen P-mint dates are 1873-76.
For political reasons, official orders limited the Carson City
strikes 1870-73. Authorities and bankers preferred to ship bul-
lion to San Francisco, alleging lower cost.
Pop 3; 3 finer in 62.
Estimated Value ..............................................$3,000 - 3,100
1968
1873. Open 3
.
NGC graded MS-61
. Frosty and lustrous.
Attractive pinking gold mint bloom. (
PCGS # 8967
)
Estimated Value ..............................................$1,900 - 2,000
