RWB

The following request was made after an inspection of the Boise, Idaho Assay Office by Asst Treasury Secretary Vanderlip. December 30,1899. To the Honorable The Secretary of the Treasury. Sir:— I have the honor to call your attention to the insecurity of the Safe and Vault in use at the Assay Office at Boise, Idaho. The safe is an old-fashioned one and is neither burglar nor fire-proof, while the entrance to the Vault is closed by a wooden door only. There is at all times a quantity of bullion on hand at that Assay Office and proper facilities should be furnished by the government to insure its safety as well as that of the office records. There is only one watchman employed at this office and the safety of the bullion at night is, in great measure dependent upon the vigilance of this one man, which is an injustice to the Assayer in Charge. In view of the facts above stated, it is urgently requested that you will procure from Congress, as early as practicable, an appropriation of two thousand dollars ($2,000.00), for the construction of steel doors with combination locks to the Vault of the United States Assay Office at Boise, and also for the purchase of a burglar and fire-proof Safe for the use of said institution. Respectfully, [Signature] George E. Roberts, Director of the Mint. [RG104 E-235 Vol 304 Sec Treas]

Looks scratched and buffed to me.

There is no more. You've been given facts. The truth...that's all there is.

Merely a coincidence involving part of the serial number and a very, very minor historical event. Unless there is a connection ('nexus') between items, they are irrelevant.

Very long odds....

$1.00

Even with the damage it's likely worth about $120 to a collector.

Carson the letters "c. c." "Obverse" in 1899 context.

Many collectors buy a "better date" coin in a lower grade because it's affordable and "fills that empty hole." Later, as finances permit, they purchase the same piece but in a higher grade. This can be for financial or aesthetic reasons, or both. So....what happens when you want to upgrade a really nice EF-45 to AU or MS-62, and find that all the coins in AU & MS-62 slabs are not as nice as your existing EF? Do you buy an inferior coin just for the printed label? Do you send in your EF in hopes of a "higher" grade? Do you crack out your EF coin, alter the label, and glue the parts back together? Do you do nothing and switch to collecting desert beetles? Or....?

It is extremely difficult to remove coins from a plastic embedment - which is what you likely have - without damaging them and eliminating (no pun intended) whatever collector value they might have once had. It might bring more than silver melt value at a phony "Country Estate" auction. (PS: "Buffalo" and "Indian head" nickels are the same thing.)

I think that's a quote [ " ] with a period under it.

Let's make it real simple. Under the Act of June 23, 1834, one Troy pound of gold would produce coins with a face value of $248.27586+. This was accomplished by reducing the weight of gold in a dollar unit.

These are called "jugate busts" as the people at Stack's-Bowers should know.

Nope. He merely picked up some coins in person at the mint...minimal handling. SF Mint officers "gave" Zerbe nothing. All the rest is hype.

The line on the posted 1942 raw dime is a scratch, not a planchet crack.

Back when gold and silver circulated there were routine questions about their values. These were especially common during the 1890s. The letter transcribed below is posted because it includes both gold and silver coinage values beginning in 1792. Treasury Department, Bureau of the Mint, Washington, D.C., August 16,1899 Hon. D. K. Watson, Mountain Lake Hotel, Mountain Lake, Virginia. Sir: In reply to your letter of the 14th instant, you are respectfully informed that the coining value of one pound of gold under different acts of Congress wherein any change in weight or fineness was made in gold coins of the United States is as follows: COINING VALUE ONE POUND TROY OF PURE GOLD. Act of April 2,1792........................... $ 232.7272+ " June 23, 1834........................... 248.27586+ " January 18, 1837........................ 248.06202+ Under all coinage acts from 1792 up to the present time the coining value in silver dollars of a pound of pure silver has remained $15.5151+. The act of 1853 reduced the weight of silver contents of fractional silver coins, and under that act the coining value in such coin of one pound of pure silver would be $16.656+. The weight of silver contents of subsidiary coin was slightly increased by the Act of 1873 and would make the coining value of a pound of pure silver in such coin $16.5889+. Respectfully yours, [Signature] George E. Roberts, Director of the Mint.

All of the above is nonsense. Zerbe was already on the SF Mint's "shxt list" for screwing up the PPIE commemorative coins sales. There were no "special dies" or anything else, and no one knows how many PL 1921 dollars he got to take to a coin club meeting. The so-called "Chapman proofs" were made in May 1921 at Philadelphia, and although not true proof coins, the curator of the Mint Cabinet affirmed their superior quality. These would actually qualify as "Specimen Coins" through the combination of appearance and documentation.

Burp.

The clause insured that a non-legal tender argument could not be made. It also confirmed that merely because a coin or paper currency was not current, it never lost its legal tender status.

I like the 1866 IGWT and 1866-S halves.

So-called "Zerbe" 1921 dollars are just PLs he happened to pick up at the SF Mint. Nothing special. The stories are just lies invented to boost interest and prices.

Do you refer to this section? SEC. 102. All coins and currencies of the United States (including Federal Reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal Reserve banks and national banking associations), regardless of when coined or issued, shall be legal tender for all debts, public and private, public charges, taxes, duties, and dues. That allows all obsolete coins and currency to be included in counterfeiting statutes.

"A N A C S" or try "Anna -KES"

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