Ad from National Geographic magazine *spam*

[WoodenJefferson]

 

Advertisement from the January 2010 National Geographic magazine. Once again, the hype does not fit the situation.

 

info from CoinLinks article.

 

1892 Issue:The first half dollar was struck at the Philadelphia Mint in November 1892. A total of 950,000 coins were minted there, with an unknown number reserved for assay. It is believed that none were melted. They were distributed by the World’s Columbian Exposition and Chicago banks, which sold them for $1 each.

 

1893 Issue: The Philadelphia Mint began production of 1893-dated Columbian Commemorative Halves on January 3 of that year. A grand total of 4,052,105 pieces were produced (including 2,105 coins for assay purposes), but sales were nowhere near the levels hoped for by government officials. The Mint destroyed all of the unsold coins. That amounted to 2,501,700 coins which were melted.

 

We note that some of the examples that managed to avoid melting were placed into circulation. Even so, the 1893 Columbian is not a rare coin in the lower and middle Mint State grades. It is only above the Gem level that this issue assumes an aura of unquestionable rarity.

[shirohniichan]

WOW!!! LQQK!!!

 

I wonder if the 1892 I got in AU58 from a bid board came from this fabulous hoard?

[Bugmann1974]

Wow, seems like a hoard of low grade cleaned coins to me

 

I find mine much more attractive, and it cost about $10 less and I didn't have to pay shipping!

 

[WoodenJefferson]

WOW!!! LQQK!!!

 

I wonder if the 1892 I got in AU58 from a bid board came from this fabulous hoard?

 

I think somewhere in all that hyped verbiage they claimed they were ALL the 1893 commemorative dates, so your coin could not have come from the kitchen table hoard.

[Conder101]

I've seen that hoard discovered several times over the years. In fact it was discovered several times in 1992 alone for the coins centennial.

 

Are you sure the mint melted a lot of these? I thought most of the unsold pieces were dumped into circulation. After all the exposition people had already paid the mint face value for them. They would not have gotten any more sending them back to the mint than they would have just depositing them at the bank.

 

And of course these things are common enough that anyone who wants to run such a hyped promontion won't have any trouble accumulating a thousand plus coins to create a "hoard" they can "discover"

[WoodenJefferson]

Mintage for the 1893 Half Dollar numbered 4,052,105; however 2,501,700 were returned to the mint for melting.

 

I do not know where this information was obtained, plausible yes, fact unknown.