RWB

The U.S. government does not get involved in hoards, buried treasure or other finds. That is a property matter for local and state law. Shipwrecks get really complicated, though. Most other countries have laws covering "finds." Usually the finder and an antiquities agency divide the value; but, property and land laws are different in the US than in other countries.

This is explained in Renaissance of American Coinage 1905-1908. Please check there before conflating internet gobble.

DE were the most convenient non-bullion coin, followed by Eagles. Lower denominations were seldom exported. Each U.S. bag contained the same weight of gold, so that did not matter. But smaller denominations were subject to greater abrasive loss in bags (larger surface area), and increased "evaporation" during handling in counting rooms. Half Eagles and other small denominations were less reliably available in large quantities necessary for international trade. The intermittent coinage of Saint-Gaudens Eagles is an indicator of very limited international trade demand. Lastly, 20th century gold coinage was dominated by the need to convert bullion into coin to cover paper currency backing. $20s produced more dollars-per-strike than any other denomination.

All the Extremely High Relief patterns were made the same way; and in conformity with usual pattern piece methods, all would be called "Proofs." Likewise, all High Relief MCMVII pieces were made the same way; and in conformity with usual circulation coin methods, all would be called "Uncirculated" or "Circulated" depending on their surfaces.

Not eligible for what? Very minor mechanical doubling and erosion.

...on the second image pair --- but you were referring to the first pair, which are PCGS.

Please -- do not confuse industrial demand with speculative demand.

The credit line says it's a PCGS photo - so no slab got in the way.

Excellent, and very nice of Jim Noble to help. One might say that was a "noble" thing to do! BTW - you can copy your computer's scree by pressing Alt-Sys/Req, then save to an image program. This will copy everything in the screen, even protected photos and text.

The weight did not matter for the patterns. The circulation MCMVII had so little copper removed that they remained within tolerance. However, the fin, was a problem. There is a Dec 1907 letter from the director about this and the high rejection rate by inspectors/Adjusters. This led to revisions in planchet upsetting that eliminated most of the fin. All the details are in Renaissance of American Coinage 1905-1908.

The new photos indicate mechanical doubling. Nothing else unusual.

Struck from old abraded dies, esp the reverse. From the photos, Unc 64.

The purpose of annealing is to reduce hardening of metal attributed to manipulation: i.e. "work hardening." MCMVII $20 were annealed after the first and second blows from hydraulic medal press. MCMVII EHR pattern $20 were annealed after each blow from a hydraulic medal press. It took 7 blows to bring up the full design, so there were 6 annealing cycles. After each heating the coin was dipped in weak acid to remove any oxidized copper. This resulted in the patterns having significant copper depletion on the surfaces - in some instances the surfaces are 99% gold. MCMVII pieces were intended for circulation and the two annealing cycles had only minor change in the gold surface. Planchets purchased from contractors are delivered ready to use. Planchets cut and upset at the US Mints are annealed before stamping.

C'mon.....roll out those 7th grade protractors....

Yet in 1887 the approach was different. This evidently referred to printed documents and reports, although materials stored in the PO vault (along with silver bullion dollars) were largely internal letters, etc.

Have fun with this one.....

Here's a more difficult "Guess the Grade." Have fun!

Old-timer was testing it for gold and bit off a chunk.....?

Can the OP take better photos of obverse and reverse? Uniform lighting, better (lower) contrast, etc.

You might check out the book From Mine to Mint - it emphasizes minting technology and operations from about 1836-1935.

My "Page 30" transcript is 14 pages in either MSWord or PDF (post editing)....That retains all comments, charts, and spacing. Personally, I find all the symbols and things introduced on-line annoying and prefer not to have them in my copy. Here's "Page 30" of the thread, first edited page: But - the best part is being able to have a copy of the thread started by Goldfinger1969 - which has turned out to be a valuable information source (and tutorial) for me and I hope others.

Neat! Really nice when an author learns someone found his work useful in an unexpected way.

Interesting that the OP ATS, or others, made no attempt to correct the original misinformation. This is just one reason why internet coin misinformation is so screwed up.

Editing out the graphics and empty spaces is very painful in a PDF. However, in MSWord it is easy and quick. After editing, I can make a PDF that is much easier to read and more compact.

OK, Citizen Robespierre, as you wish.....BTW -- can you direct me to Place de la Concorde? There's a barber shop there and I need a close shave. Minimum Unc 65 but possibly Unc 66