RWB

This letter orders destruction of all 1908 pattern half eagles of both designs. It's curious that Dir Leach did not have one or two pieces saved for the Mint's Cabinet of Coins. No Saint-Gaudens half eagles survive and only 1 Indian half eagle pattern survives. This was the coin given to President Roosevelt who then presented it to William BIgelow. In turn, Bigelow donated the coin to the Boston Museum, who sold it - unattributed - as an ordinary coin when they deaccessioned their numismatic collection. The coin likely sits in some anonymous collection awaiting a keen-eyed numismatic discovery. (A description is in my book Renaissance of American Coinage 1905-1908, and the master hub is at the Philadelphia Mint.

Is anyone aware of aware of defective or odd 1907-O or 1908-O half dollars? Some newly located mint documents indicate that a complete delivery was ordered destroyed due to poor quality, but that the coins went out anyway.

This letter, written long before William Bigelow became involved in half eagle coin design, suggests that no Saint-Gaudens half eagles were struck for circulation because of Congress' debate about requiring "In God We Trust" on the new coin designs.

Don't know what it "would be," but it is Very Good grade with a lot of bumps and dings - A TPG would likely call it "details," or possibly "Fred," "Maury," or "Ermaline."

Finding an original that nice might be difficult.

The content is informative but the description is confusing. There are 4 horizontal sections and 4 vertically stacked sections. Further, the illustration is of poor quality and barely helps one separate one thing from another. (Details -- A plinth is not part of the steps. Jefferson's design has a portico not a stylobate.)

When a die is pressed into metal, moist cardboard, etc. it is called an "impression." Same as "strike" in coin usage.

Also....remember to put your hands in the gloves first.... I made the mistake of not doing that and some of my 1860s proofs got scratched -- but just the gold ones....

Costco could likely leverage currency valuations between US and Canadian, and also get a lower price because the "Canadian Mint" is a company, not a real government facility like the US Mint.

This was a common item from the US Mint's medal list in the 19th century. Personally, I feel it's not worth half the quoted auction sale prices except in original condition. In the base metal fob, it's an antique store novelty.

The report, although lacking detail, is factual. It also explains why Costco is doing this -- it's for the "treasure hunt" mentality of buy it now 'cause it might not be here tomorrow.

CNN article: https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/07/business/costco-silver-gold/index.html

Uhhh, I don't know. I just have wooden floors, so no gold to stand on.

Archive correspondence I saw long ago indicates the Mint Bureau made several souvenir medals and coin packages for ANA use 40-50 years ago. I recall reading a note that said sales were poor and recommending ending the program. But I did not pay much attention to it back then.

Collecting for a month and "knows all." Hmmm a superior Wally Breen ? Let's review the facts as simply as possible: 1. The standard cent composition for 1943 was low-carbon steel coated with zinc (to delay rusting). None were copper plated at the US Mint. 2. All normal 1943 cents are attracted to a common magnet. 3. A very small quantity of bronze alloy planchets used in 1942 were apparently stuck in some of the large bins used to move planchets from the upsetting machines to coin presses. Some of these mixed with the zinc coated steel planchets and were struck with the date 1943. This happened at all three mints, but those from the Philadelphia Mint are the most numerous. 4. When a cent dated 1943 or 1944 is attracted to a common magnet it means the coin is made of steel - regardless of the color or appearance. 5. Thousands of genuine 1943 cents have been copper plated by private parties either for amusement or in an attempt to defraud people into thinking they have a rare 1943 bronze alloy cent. 6. That VasquezJ, or anyone else has a copper plated 1943 steel cent is unremarkable. Such coins did not leave a U.S. Mint with a copper coating, and are simply altered 1943 zinc-coated steel cents. These pieces are of no interest to coin collectors and have a value of exactly one cent. Those who wish to learn more about the WW-II coinage experiments in various metals, plastics and even glass, can read my book: United States Pattern and Experimental Pieces of WW-II – 2013. Coinage experiments for the cent and nickel before and during World War II. Completely erases all previously published information on these fascinating pieces. Released February 1, 2013. NLG Best Specialty Book, 2014. Full color printed edition of 190 pages.

The only technical differences between the MCMVII UHR patterns and the regular issue MCMVII HR are: Different relief to face dies. EHR had 7 blows with annealing in between. HR had 3 blows with annealing in between. For both, annealing ended with a quick dip in dilute nitric acid to remove any "fire scale" (copper oxide) cause by heating. For both, this acid dip removed some of the surface copper. MCMVII HR did not lose enough copper to change their color much. MCMVII EHR patterns, however, were dipped 6 times - enough to remove nearly all surface copper. This produced a noticeably pure gold yellow, rather than the more orange color of 0.900 alloy. Physical tests were performed by the Smithsonian on their EHR pattern pieces. Curvature of either of these dies was too severe to allow any polishing except localized die repair, so surface texture changes relate more to planchet surfaces, and gradual adaptation of the dies to the mean planchet texture during use -- a completely normal physical process.

No. There are no proofs except as I stated. That is what the evidence says and any other conclusion is a lie. (Unless ALL are called "proofs.")

There's no debate. The facts are clear and the TPG who originally made the error has merely compounded that as a way of not paying it's guarantee to people who bought as "proof" when there were none. The first dies and collar used for the initial 500 pieces remained in use during the full duration of circulation coinage. One new pair and collar were added in November so production could be increased. Also, coins w/o a fin were made from the same dies/collars - it was merely a mechanical change in planchet upsetting.

There are no proofs, except for the patterns.

I found this and other letters almost 20 years ago. That's where the book's info came from. It's only now that we've been able to digitize the complete volumes.

Those who would like to leaf through some of the correspondence regarding the Saint-Gaudens coin designs can now access the files on NNP. Go to this URL: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/archivedetail/512703. Select the years 1907 or 1908, and then look for the volumes shown on the list below. Be warned that these volumes are from 500 to 2,000 pages long, and letters are in chronological order; however, there is no index to any of them. (One day these will be fully searchable, but for now the task is to digitize everything we can.) E-235-Vol-365 1907 ST E-235-Vol-366 1907 P E-235-Vol-367 1907 Misc E-235-Vol-368 1908 P E-235-Vol-369 1908 ST E-235-Vol-370 1908 Misc Here's a sample letter tucked away in E-235 Vol 366"

$1,600 in defective (finned) DE were melted and recoined a few days after this letter. Dir Leach then worked directly with the Philadelphia Mint Coiner and Engraver to adjust planchet upsetting. This resulted in almost complete elimination of the problem. Engraver Barber was worried that the coins looked so good that the President might order them made with MCMVIII date the next year. A fin contained sufficient metal to render the coins underweight with only minimal handling or circulation. It is also ugly. All MCMVII circulation coins were made in the same way with the same dies and collars. Since all were intended for circulation, they are thus all normal circulation coins -- no "proofs" were ever made. The pattern pieces with higher relief could be considered "proofs" because they received more blows from the medal press and have surfaces that are enriched in gold...almost 100%. The full story is in Renaissance of American Coinage 1905-1908 and a condensed version in the Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle book.

How about a "steer?" Can a steer be a "gelding"? Huhhhh? Huhhhh? Is that were the design was changed by a "crack"?

These districts largely followed the old sub-Treasury pattern. A. Piatt Andrew (later mint director and asst sec treasury) was secretary to the commission and was instrumental in devising the organization.