GoldFinger1969

Excellent bullet-points, Roger.....my understanding from my economic treatises from 40 years ago was that farmers, small businessmen, frontiersmen -- they all held gold in various forms as a form of savings. Distrust of banks was very high away from the East Coast and big cities. Survival rates of Liberty DE's would imply greater circulation among the masses, no ?

Not sure what you mean by "widely" but IMO if mintages were hundreds of thousands -- or millions -- and you had a few thousand (tens of thousands ?) held by the public (and maybe some banks), that's "widely held" relative to a few hundred with the Saints' final years.

Does anybody recall if the early years of the Liberty DE's (1850-1900 or so) saw the coins be fairly widely held compared to Saints in their final years when you could measure houshold U.S. demand in dozens or hundreds ? Might have gotten a post or two on that from Roger or others pages back in this thread, can't recall.

Back to the OP..... I would have thought that DE's and other gold coins were used more often as a form of "safe savings" and store of value during the pre-Fed (1913) years....when nobody trusted or wanted greenbacks or paper money (even if it was easier to use).....for folks living remotely away from major cities and/or the East Coast (from 1850 onward).....and when Panics and bank runs/failures were more common place. Imagine putting your life savings into a bank and not knowing if it was strongly capitalized or not.....maybe a fraud....or even a legit bank susceptible to a bank run.....Knickerbocker Trust in 1907...etc. It was one thing to live in Manhattan or Brooklyn in the 1870's or 1890's with a bank's headquarters a few blocks away....imagine being on a farm in Kentucky or Ohio and it was 80 miles to the satellite or corporate office. I have to go back and check Roger's works on Saints and check data sources for Liberty DE's.... have to believe usage/holdings for Liberty DE's and early-years of Saints was a big multiple of the demand for Saints in the 1920's and 1930's.

Bingo.....I couldn't put down Roger's book on Saints. Took a long time to get through it, but it was never tedious.

That's the famous letter that got it all started. I believe somewhere else or verbally TR had said he didn't like the Eagle on the reverse of the Liberty Double Eagle because it looked like a "grilled squab."

Didn't want to keep posting on the Silver Dollar book thread so I created this new thread so that I and others can discuss this great book and Roger can chime in from time-to-time. I can't say enough about the book -- fantastic. Best book on coins I've ever read. Questions for Roger: On Page 132, you have a quote stating regret that no 1908-D's were "set aside" for the Treasury Secretary (and maybe other Mint/Treasury higher-ups). I presume getting a few was one of the perks of working for the Mint/Treasury. (1) Did they have to pay for the coin(s) ? If so, could they use paper currency or did they have to use gold coins ? (2) Could the higher-ups get these coins as soon as they came off the press, or did they have to wait for an Official Release date, an Assayer to finish testing, the coins to go to the Cashier or Customer Service Window, etc. ? (3) I take it these coins given to the Treasury Secretary or the Mint higher-ups would NOT have been registered on those Daily Cashier statements ?