1804 $1 all over the news

Posted By Noah

The AP in Cincinnati picked up the story about the Carter Adams Class III 1804 $1. It's all over the place right now. Most notably, at least on the front page of my browser at 4 p.m. Central time, the front page of Yahoo.

It's a beauty of the coin and its getting the "mysterious coin" treatment, which is pretty cool considering the shady, intriguing past of this thing. It's all good going into Central States Auction.

Bidding on the coin is already at $1.7M, and the thing is on the block until tomorrow night. Let's hope for $2M, or $2.5.

Here's another link, in case you missed it above.

Also, if you, uh... Tweet, tha is, use Twitter, you'll be able to follow the auction action live in Cincinnati with Heritage's resident rock star Jim Halperin.

Okay, so Jim isn't quite a rock star, but he's the closest thing to one we have here at Heritage, and he's one scary smart man. It should be fun following what he has to say. Twitter is all about the mundanity of things, about voyeurism of a sort, which makes sense in the micro-focused atmosphere of today.

Below is the brief press release we sent out. You can pick up Jim's Twitter page from it:

Heritage’s Jim Halperin joins Twitter

Tweeting live now from CSNS in Cincinnati at www.Twitter.com/JimHalperin

Dallas, TX – Heritage Auction Galleries Co-Founder Jim Halperin has started his own Twitter page, and will be Tweeting live from the Central States Numismatic Society coin auctions from April 29-May 3.

Jim will relay live updates from the bourse floor, as well as from the auction gallery, at Heritage’s CSNS Auctions in Cincinnati, OH, now through May 3.

Jim will also be Tweeting live from Heritage’s Platinum Night Auction at CSNS, Thursday, April 30. This will include up-to-the-minute updates on important developments in the auction, interesting side topics and – most importantly – an instant update on the auction of the Carter-Adams Class III 1804 $1 specimen, which already shows bidding approaching $2 million.

Watch (or sign-up for free to follow) at www.Twitter.com/JimHalperin. For any numismatists that are just getting into the world of social media, Twitter is a good place to start, and following Jim’s Tweets will give the inside information that will take several more hours, if not days, to reach the general public.

-Noah Fleisher

Coin Monday: Another Central States Auction, Another 1804 Dollar, or The Thrill Lives On…

April 20, 2009
Posted by John Dale

Though it’s been a year since Heritage set a company record with its auction of the Mickley-Hawn-Queller 1804 dollar, the experience of holding it (and helping to catalog it!) is still fresh in my mind. Another year, another April, and another Central States Numismatic Society auction have brought many changes, but as it turns out, history has an echo…

I asked the chief cataloger, Mark Van Winkle, for some information about the cataloging schedule. After he gave me the breakdown, I noticed that he’d left out a name.

“What about him?” I asked.

“Oh,” Chief said, “he’ll be busy cataloging the 1804 dollar.”

Wait, what?

I tracked down the 1804 dollar. I wasn’t in a time loop – this was a different 1804 dollar, a Class III and not a Class I, the Carter-Adams specimen and not the Mickley-Hawn-Queller – but the similarities were a touch eerie.

Being in the presence of an 1804 dollar once again was a thrill. This one inspired some different thoughts, many of them centering on local history. Since Heritage has its headquarters in Dallas, I’ve learned plenty of Texas lore by osmosis, particularly stories involving numismatics. Two of the most prominent coin titans from bygone days are B. Max Mehl, coin dealer and promoter, and Amon G. Carter, Sr., who was by turns businessman, philanthropist, and collector.

As it happens, this 1804 dollar passed directly from the first man to the second. It was offered in B. Max Mehl’s Golden Jubilee Sale of May 1950, with the senior Carter (his son Amon G. Carter, Jr., who inherited the piece, was also a well-known businessman-philanthropist-collector) the winning bidder for $3,250. B. Max Mehl kept his offices in Fort Worth, and Amon G. Carter, Sr. was practically synonymous with the city; many have credited his efforts with cementing the “cowboy mystique” of Texas and Fort Worth in particular. As a result, the 1804 dollar did not have far to travel. Mehl and the Carters aren’t its only Texas connections, either; L.R. French, Jr. of Midland County also owned the coin for several years in the 1980s.

The Carter-Adams 1804 dollar has strong ties to Ohio, as well, that will soon become stronger. Its other “name” owner – businessman Phillip Flannagan – hails from the Buckeye State. He once sold it to pay for construction of a school and youth camp near his home. The other Ohio connection is Cincinnati, where this year’s Central States Numismatic Society convention and associated auction will take place.

If you’re planning on coming to the convention, don’t forget to stop by our table and say howdy or hello!