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Show Your Gold

Started by Eric Hazen,

81 posts in this topic

GoldFinger1969

GoldFinger1969

Posted
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My 'biggest' gold coin, the $50 Quintuple Eagle Commemorative Restrike of gold found from the SS Central America. This is a 2.5 ounce re-strike in the mold of the 1855 Liberty Double Eagle

 

d15f1a304135779.jpg fed4a0304135783.jpg

 

This is .887 fine gold. Note the date struck by the California Historical Society (are they affiliated with the U.S. Mint ? :grin: ): September 7th, 2001, 4 days before 9/11.

 

I got a relatively good deal on this coin, they were way overpriced when they first came out, with a 500% premium to gold.

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GoldFinger1969

GoldFinger1969

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Some of you guys taking pics of coins without any reflections, how are you doing it ?????

 

I keep getting my reflection on the coin and have to move away and then zoom in. And it still doesn't come out great. :cry:

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yonico

yonico

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Some of you guys taking pics of coins without any reflections, how are you doing it ?????

 

I keep getting my reflection on the coin and have to move away and then zoom in. And it still doesn't come out great. :cry:

 

Camera on tripod or copy stand, and when ready to shoot use the 2-second delay. shoot, move away, and the camera will take the pic after 2 seconds..

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GoldFinger1969

GoldFinger1969

Posted
Posted
Some of you guys taking pics of coins without any reflections, how are you doing it ????? I keep getting my reflection on the coin and have to move away and then zoom in. And it still doesn't come out great. :cry:
Camera on tripod or copy stand, and when ready to shoot use the 2-second delay. shoot, move away, and the camera will take the pic after 2 seconds..

 

OK, was using my 13 megapixel Galaxy S4, will try my Canon 5 megapixel with a tripod in the future. Thanks !!

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GoldFinger1969

GoldFinger1969

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While I really like the obverse of the Liberty Double Eagles and related coins, I can see why Teddy Roosevelt referred to the eagle on the reverse as a 'dying squab' or whatever. It does look like one of those long-necked chicken props that a comedian squeezes on stage. :grin:

 

I guess it was meant to project military strength and the shield and arrow-clutching is kind of nice but I think all-in-all St. Gaudens' eagle in flight on the later version of the Double Eagle is a vast improvement !

 

 

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BillJones

BillJones

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While I really like the obverse of the Liberty Double Eagles and related coins, I can see why Teddy Roosevelt referred to the eagle on the reverse as a 'dying squab' or whatever. It does look like one of those long-necked chicken props that a comedian squeezes on stage. :grin:

 

I guess it was meant to project military strength and the shield and arrow-clutching is kind of nice but I think all-in-all St. Gaudens' eagle in flight on the later version of the Double Eagle is a vast improvement !

 

 

Here are three reverses in question. I suppose you might compare the narrow necked bird that appeared on the Liberty double eagles with a chicken a geek would behead in a carnival, but I still think that it is an attractive design.

 

189620R.jpg189620O.jpg

 

St. Gaudens High Relief was very beautiful but totally impractical. The U.S. mint system simply could not mass produce these coins over the long term.

 

1907HighRelief20R.jpg1907HighRelief20O.jpg

 

The ultimate St. Gaudens / Barber design was such that it could be mass produced, but I'll let you judge if it really was better than the earlier coin.

 

1907SaintR_zpsf86a1431.jpg1907SaintO_zps868bff7b.jpg

 

If you want to point out a design which I find unattractive, I never thought that the Ms. Liberty on the $2.50, $5.00 and $10.00 gold coins was pretty. What's with having no cheek bones?

 

1886-S5O.jpg

 

And the eagle definitely showed a lack of imagination.

 

1886-S5R.jpg

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BillJones

BillJones

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One piece. These 1857-S double eagles rival the 1907 High Relief $20 gold for the most expensive, most common coin on the planet.

 

1857-S20Osm.jpg1857-S20Rsm.jpg

 

This coin is NGC graded. A large majority of the SS Central America coins are PCGS graded with the gold fold labels. When the final settle came on the SS Central America case something like 92% of the assets went to company that salvaged the gold and 8% went to others. It is my theory this is one of the coins that went to the others.

 

I have no interest in the stuff they made from melting down the gold bars and then making it into reproductions of privately issued California gold pieces. To me those pieces are about as sexy as kissing your sister.

 

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GoldFinger1969

GoldFinger1969

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One piece. These 1857-S double eagles rival the 1907 High Relief $20 gold for the most expensive, most common coin on the planet.

 

Beautiful coins...... (thumbs u

 

I have no interest in the stuff they made from melting down the gold bars and then making it into reproductions of privately issued California gold pieces. To me those pieces are about as sexy as kissing your sister.

 

I bought it basically at melt price. Pretty much a conversation piece, I could not afford the real SS Central America Double Eagles. Hopefully, down the line.

 

The Eagle on your 1st Double Eagle in your 3 reverses looks pretty good. I think the Eagle in flight on the reverse of the Saint Gaudens is the most impressive depiction. I see a minute difference in the 1907 and later reverses as if the Eagle's position has slightly changed, am I correct ? I'm still reading the books on the gold coins..... :grin:

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GoldFinger1969

GoldFinger1969

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Those of you posting these 1800's Double Eagles, were these 4 or 5-figure purchases cost-wise ?

 

I'm sure the 1907 HR Saint was a 5-figure unless Bill bought it along time ago.

 

BTW, if any of your coins are rated -- or if you can assign an approximate rating -- would also be interested to know that. (thumbs u

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BillJones

BillJones

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Those of you posting these 1800's Double Eagles, were these 4 or 5-figure purchases cost-wise ?

 

I'm sure the 1907 HR Saint was a 5-figure unless Bill bought it along time ago.

 

BTW, if any of your coins are rated -- or if you can assign an approximate rating -- would also be interested to know that. (thumbs u

 

I take it by "rated" you mean graded? If so here goes.

 

The 1896 $20 gold is a fairly common date that sells for close to type money. It is graded MS-63. I think that it is a high end example for the grade. I have because of the date which goes with William Jennings Bryan's first "silver crusade."

 

1907 High Relief is graded MS-65, and in the mid 5 figures.

 

The 1907 "Low Relief" is graded MS-65 and sells for around type coin money.

 

The 1857-S $20 is graded MS-65 and sells in the low 5 figures. The price on those has not changed that much in 15 years although many gold experts thought that the numbers would come down because of the large supply. For a higher in type collector an 1857-S from SS Central America is the cheapest way to go for high grade piece.

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GoldFinger1969

GoldFinger1969

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The 1857-S $20 is graded MS-65 and sells in the low 5 figures. The price on those has not changed that much in 15 years although many gold experts thought that the numbers would come down because of the large supply. For a higher in type collector an 1857-S from SS Central America is the cheapest way to go for high grade piece.

 

Great info, thanks Bill.

 

What has happened to the 1857's that the price hasn't changed for that long a period of time, even with gold being all over the place ? Did the find of the SS Central America's gold hoard affect the market for existing 1850's regular gold coins ?

 

Why are SS Central American coins cheaper than regular coins from the same year ? I would think the SS Central American coins would sell at a premium to the same/similarly-rated coin from the same year, no ?

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BillJones

BillJones

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Why are SS Central American coins cheaper than regular coins from the same year ? I would think the SS Central American coins would sell at a premium to the same/similarly-rated coin from the same year, no ?

 

The reason is that the 1857-S double ealge is so much more common in the higher grades than all of the other date and mint mark combinations combined.

 

Using data from the PCGS Population Reports, in the grades from MS-63 to MS-67 over 85% of the coins graded have been 1857-S double eagles. If you limit it to the grades MS-64 to 67 it is almost 92%, and if you include only MS-65 to 67, 96% of the coins are 1857-S double eagles. A few Mint State 1856-S double eagles came off the SS Central America. Most of the "other coins" those.

 

Therefore the vast majority of high grade Type I double eagles that are known were recovered from the SS Central America wreck.

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GoldFinger1969

GoldFinger1969

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Therefore the vast majority of high grade Type I double eagles that are known were recovered from the SS Central America wreck.

 

Do you remember what happened to the pricing for those coins when the SS Central America hoard was announced and/or when they were actually released in 2000 or 2001 ?

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BillJones

BillJones

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Therefore the vast majority of high grade Type I double eagles that are known were recovered from the SS Central America wreck.

 

Do you remember what happened to the pricing for those coins when the SS Central America hoard was announced and/or when they were actually released in 2000 or 2001 ?

 

No, but as a practical matter it didn't mean much because virtually no 1857-S double eagles existed in MS-65 or better prior to the recovery of the SS Central America coins. What I mean to say is that the market was small for those coins because so few were known that the market hardly existed.

 

The same thing applies today for the Type II double eagles (1866 - 1876). Almost no coins exist in MS-65 and higher because no Type II double eagles have been recovered from sunken wrecks.

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CSdot

CSdot

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Just took a great picture of a $20 Saint and a $20 gold certificate from my collection, but can't seem to find a way to upload it unless it is hosted on a website. Too bad.

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