My Portland Newps!

[jtryka]

Well, they are very few new coins that I brought home from Portland, but I thought I'd share them anyway! This first one is the 1909/08 graded AU-55 by NGC, a really nice coin, lots of luster for the grade, and these get really expensive once you get to mint state, so this coin is a nice compromise. It's also an earlier die state, but the flatness is due to the dies rather than the strike. This is the only overdate in gold from 1907-33, and the dies were left over from the 1908 NM issue, so the obverse has the same flatness as seen in the 08 NM. Despite the flatness of the dies, this coin has a lot of detail, hence my belief that this is an earlier die state.

 

1909/08 Obverse

1909/08 Reverse

1909/08 closeup

 

This is the 1922-S that I bought, graded MS-62 by PCGS, a really nice coin for the grade, which has quite a price break one point higher. Outside of the common 23-D, the 22-S is the easiest of the branch mint Saints in the 1920s. Akers in his 20th Century gold book states that these coins are usually well struck, as this coin is, and he also noted that many have noticable copper spots, which fortunately are absent on this coin. He rates the MS-62 as R-4. Interestingly, like many other issues in this series, the 22-S was once considered a supreme rarity, more rare than the 20-S, 29, 30-S, 31 and 32, but then a hoard was found in Europe in the 1950s, followed by several other hoards in the 1960s and early 1970s, and finally a hoard of more than 200 coins in central America in the 1980s (this could be a useful lesson to collectors of other series which are subject to additional coins surfacing). Overall, this coin has beautiful luster, and a thick original skin, that has not been toyed with over the last 82 years.

 

1922-S Obverse

1922-S Reverse

 

Finally, here is a couple pictures of the pewter token hammer struck by the midievel re-enactment group at the show. Always an interesting display of pre-19th century minting technology!

 

Token obverse

Token reverse

[michael]

excellent photos really great! superb information

 

this beats most all of the posts on the pcgs boards for the last six months

 

i learned something interesting/valuable and professional

about a coin series that i know little ABOUT

 

 

michael

[TomB]

That's a cool report. The overdate is interesting in that it is so plainly visible, it reminds me of the 1817/3 CBH overdate. It was nice that you wrote about the general strike characteristics for this coin as I don't know anything about gold and I thought the coin was looking a bit mushy. The '22-S also seems to have a nice patina, as you mentioned. How large is the token? There is nothing next to it to give it some scale.

[jtryka]

How large is the token? There is nothing next to it to give it some scale.

 

I knew I forgot something! Thanks for asking Tom, the token is about the size of a nickel, with the thickness slightly thinner than a dime. The interesting thing is that they struck 4 different kinds, there was a copper one done in mass as a give away for the Willamette Valley coin club that I believe was done on a hydraulic press, then some done on a screw press, and the pewter and silver ones hand struck. I am not altogether certain of the differences, but the gentleman I spoke with mentioned the need for 4 different die sets. I believe there was something else either with the design, or the metal that required the use of a larger hammer at this show than at the PNNA last year.