KK's Trivia (Easy)

[Klectorkid]

Name 2 silver dollars that had fecit or the fecit abreeviation (sp?) engaved on them. The prize is sending me one of your nicest coins.

 

[Edited to add abrev.]

[jtryka]

I will guess the peace and morgan dollars since I don't really want to win your prize!

[Klectorkid]

Okay Okay u get a PM from me saying Good Job u dont have to give me your coins.... if you dont want to.

[Tradedollarnut]

Here's one of the two:

 

Eliasberg 1836 Gobrecht Dollar

[Klectorkid]

Yep you have one right... no one seems to know or care about this one. So i will give a hint It was minted before 1800.

[jeh46544]

Is the other the Flowing Hair Dollar?

[Klectorkid]

Nope

[EVillageProwler]

This is pretty easy for early dollar folks...

 

The first is the Gob, as TDN said. Before that, however, is the 1776 Continental dollar. There is a variety with EG FECIT on it. (EG = Elisha Gallaudet) I think that variety also has the word "CURRENCY" spelled correctly.

 

EVP

 

[Klectorkid]

Very good! Yes It is pretty easy if u love early stuff.

[Klectorkid]

The only reason I knew them was because I am reading about Gobrecht dollars and did a litle article on continetal dollars for a YN newsletter.

 

Here is my articles!

 

Continental Currency by Adam N*****

Continental Currency issues, such as Continental Dollars, were some of The United States’ very first coins.

The images on Continental coins are based on the designs found on fractional currency, which were designed by Benjamin Franklin. The fronts (obverses) picture a sundial, which means that time passes quickly. The word “FUGIO” which is Latin for “I fly” (“I” meaning time,) and MIND YOUR BUSINESS, a blunt but true phrase, are also included on the front. The backs (reverses) picture a chain that has thirteen links, symbolizing the first 13 colonies. AMERICAN CONGRESS surrounds the motto WE ARE ONE.

Some of the remaining dollars have the words “EG FECIT” on the obverse also. “EG FECIT” is Latin for “EG made this.” Numismatists generally agree that Elisha Gallaudet, an experienced bank note engraver from New Jersey is who “EG” is referring to. He was very good at engraving the images because he had engraved the same symbols for the 1/6th dollar note plates.

These magnificent coins were minted mostly in New York. To date, no one knows who authorized their minting. The Continental Congress did talk about minting a coin that would be used throughout the entire United Colonies. They even sent out a group to find the worth of all the foreign coins that were circulating in The Colonies at the time. But they claim they never followed through, or at least not until after the continental coins were minted.

The continental dollar was struck in 3 metals: pewter- common, brass- very rare, and silver- the rarest. There are 7 known die combinations. There were four obverses and two reverse dies. Two of the obverse dies spelled "currency" wrong - one spelled it C-U-R-E-N-C-Y and the other spelled it C-U-R-R-E-N-C-E-Y.

But, what is unclear is why they struck these in pewter. They struck them in silver and brass for dollars and pennies, but why pewter? It might have been because of the lack of copper (copper was being used for cannon parts.) It seems like a reasonable theory, because at this time, any metal was better than paper bank notes. Bank notes were nothing more than a bank's promise, which was not always honored. Many times people would lose much of their estate from bankrupt banks.

Many counterfeits and re-strikes exist. Most of the re-strikes were minted in 1876, the Centennial of the revolution. A man named Dr. Dickeson made die copies of these for the 1876 Centennial and a dealer made re-strikes of the 1876 version before WWI. All of these restrikes are made of pewter. Most counterfeits are low-grade cast copies that are usually fairly sloppy and with some knowledge can be easily spotted.

Although these are very cool and historical coins, they have very low collector interest, mostly because they are very expensive, with many selling for over $10,000 dollars each. The other reason for low interest is, even if you do have the money, finding problem free pieces can be very difficult. When buying these coins, I recommend doing some research before hand and/or buying only coins that have been authenticated.