Coin Friday: “Big Money”

May 29
Posted by John Dale

(Is it Friday already? What? Who am I? What am I doing here?... yes, it’s been one of those kinds of weeks, with the holiday at the beginning bringing it commensurate respite from labor that always has to be made up on the back end. It doesn’t get any more back end than Friday, so John Dale – always the valiant blogger – has volunteered to anchor the weekend with another of his coin posts… If he keeps this up I’ll just have to reserve Monday and Friday as coin days for our young numismatist… Today he tackles a rather humorous subject in terms of coins, and yes coins can be humorous. Just read on and you’ll see… and have a good weekend. My thanks to John Dale. – Noah Fleisher)

For more than 60 years, the highest denomination of U.S. currency printed has been the $100 bill, and despite the presence of larger notes in other denominations (such as the $500 note), the Treasury department has no plans to print anything higher. Interestingly, the largest coin struck by the United States also bears the $100 denomination: the one-ounce platinum American Eagle, represented by this 2007-dated proof specimen in our upcoming July 8-12 Summer FUN auction.

This status is subject to a couple of caveats: The first is the possibility that 2008 was the last year for the denomination. While all fractional platinum American Eagles and the uncirculated-finish one-ounce piece were discontinued after 2008, the proof one-ounce platinum American Eagle was spared, and though a release date has not been announced, I’ll mark $100 down as a “dead” coinage denomination only if I see an official statement about its cancellation or if none are minted before January 1, 2010. Until then, it counts!

Another potential quibble is that the one-ounce platinum American Eagles were never intended for circulation, from which the idea springs up that their $100 denomination shouldn’t count. It’s true that the coins were not meant to be spent; to quote from American Eagle Platinum Bullion Coins, a U.S. Mint brochure printed in March 2004, “Their face values are largely symbolic, because platinum’s market price … has historically been higher.”

The same brochure, however, emphasizes that the platinum American Eagles are real coins with the full backing of the U.S. government, specifically their “weight, content, and purity.” The standard term is non-circulating legal tender, abbreviated NCLT, but the Treasury emphasizes the legal tender aspect. (It’s worth noting that the American Eagles, like other bullion pieces struck by governments worldwide, are official coins to give them protection under anti-counterfeiting laws, in addition to other applicable statutes.)

The one-ounce platinum American Eagle may be the largest coin the United States has ever struck, but it’s hardly the largest-denomination coin ever produced. In 2004, the Austrian Mint created 15 examples of its popular Vienna Philharmonic coin in an oversized format containing 1000 troy ounces of pure gold in a .9999 fineness alloy, with a face value of €100,000.

Three years later, the Royal Canadian Mint claimed the world record. It produced a mammoth Maple Leaf bullion coin that contains an astounding 3215 troy ounces or 100 kilograms of .99999 fineness gold. Its official denomination: C$1,000,000. The Royal Canadian Mint has filled multiple orders for the million-dollar coin, though the publicity the coin has garnered has doubtless outweighed any actual profit made; as written on the Web site, “Why did the Royal Canadian Mint make the world's purest and largest gold bullion coin? Because we can.”

Until Heritage’s World Coin department gets one of those million-dollar Canadian coins in a consignment, our bidders will have to content themselves with something…smaller. Might I suggest an ounce of platinum?

Click on the title of this post to leave a comment.

-John Dale Beety

The accessible side of Natural History Prints, or how to buy like you have a second house in The Hamptons

May 28
Posted by Joe

(I’m glad to welcome Joe Fay back to the Heritage Blog, our Rare Books Manager here at Heritage HQ. Joe wrote for us a few months back on a rare first edition of his favorite book, The Hobbit, that appeared in the last Rare Books auction. He’s volunteered a post for today regarding the upcoming mid-June rare books auction with an amazing selection of fine Natural History prints in it. I’ve seen these things up close and they are indeed impressive specimens of art and nature. Best of all, however, they represent a very affordable opportunity _ about $500 and up – to acquire something that, as Joe points out below, seem somehow to always end up on the walls of weekend cabins in the woods or beach houses belonging to people who rarely see them, even if they walk by them every day. The prices of many things here at Heritage are, rightly, not for beginners or the faint of heart. Not so this time, however. If you’ve ever wanted something beautiful, of value and at a great price, then this is a superb opportunity. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have my eye on one or two prints in the auction. – Noah Fleisher)

Every time I open Architectural Digest or Florida Design – any other interior design magazine you could name – a homeowner with much more money than myself is being featured after remodeling their country house or cabin. Invariably there hangs on the wall – some wall in this beautifully re-designed home I couldn’t afford to rent for a night – a single framed example or an artfully displayed assortment of exquisitely-colored natural history prints. Not the two butterfly prints my mom had hanging in the guest bathroom when I was a kid, but the real kind: folio-sized, hand-colored original plates featuring exotic birds, mammals, flowers, fruit, reptiles, amphibians, and more.

In the June 16-17 Heritage Rare Books Auction #6025, we’re offer to the collecting (and decorating) public a vast single-owner collection of these very desirable and vibrantly-colored natural history prints and a smaller but no less important assortment of natural history rare books and sets, some of which include thousands of brilliantly-colored fine prints within their pages.

As mentioned above, these prints are often utilized as decorative pieces by interior designers, interior decorators, and anyone else who might fancy themselves as such. In other words, these prints have come to be regarded as works of art.

Prints like Lot 37374, a brilliantly hand-colored lithograph of Edward Lear's hyacinth macaw (yes, that Edward Lear, who was an illustrator of parrots before he wrote a word of nonsense poetry), might get framed and hung on the wall of a mountain cabin by a designer looking to match the wall art to a client's blue couch or to offset a white chaise lounge.

Lot 37313, the print featured on the cover of our catalog would also be suitable as an art display. This particular print is Daniel Giraud Elliot's Pavo Cristatus, an absolutely stunning hand-colored lithograph from Elliot's famous monograph on pheasants. It could complement earth tones, black, white, blue, aqua, or any number of other combinations of colors in furniture, carpet, upholstery, etc.

Besides their obvious and consistent use as decorative objects, natural history prints and books are also historically significant for their representations of very seldom seen aspects of the natural world, or certainly scenes not easily found by the human eye in nature.

An example of this is Lot 37279, which shows a scavenging bird at a closer viewpoint than most people have ever seen or will ever see a vulture (hopefully). The print is a wonderfully imposing hand-colored aquatint engraving by Havell from the first edition of Audubon's The Birds of America (London: 1827-1838).

Another print, Lot 37329 presents a fascinating and seldom witnessed scene in nature, showing an imposing mother Eagle Owl feeding a small brown bunny to her three babies. Both of these prints show close-up views of important members of the animal kingdom from an era way before the advent of zoom lenses, and for that matter, modern photography itself. This intimate view of nature continues to be a very valuable aspect of what makes these prints special.

We've had a special opportunity to live with these elegant prints for a few months now, and the time has come for us to release them back into the wild world of collectors, dealers, designers and so on; to let them spread their wings and fly away home, preferably your home; to plant themselves in a new garden, maybe on the wall inside your house next to your garden.

OK, I'll stop there, but you shouldn't, because if you've ever even thought of acquiring ornithological prints, or you don't know what "ornithological" means but you just want something beautiful to hang on the wall behind your new Stickley chairs, this is your chance because the entire collection of natural history fine prints and rare books is being sold without reserves. That's right. Your first bid might just be the winning bid. You never know.

You can certainly know that if you don't bid you have a 100% chance of not winning one of these gorgeous hand-colored works of art. We expect spirited bidding competition during the auction in June, and hope to see you there, your bidder card soaring like the Bird of Washington.

Click on the title of this post to leave a comment.

-Joe Fay

"My name is Anderson. They call me Bloody Bill."

May 27, 2009

Posted by Noah

"My name is Anderson. They call me Bloody Bill."

That quote is from Clint Eastwood's seminal mid-1970s movie The Outlaw Josey Wales, and there's a very exciting "Bloody" Bill Anderson related lot in the upcoming Civil War Auction.

A Presentation Sword given to Lt. Col. Porter S. Cox in 1864, in recognition of his role in the killing of infamous Civil War guerrilla fighter “Bloody” Bill Anderson – a member of Quantrill’s Raiders – will lead a June 25 auction of rare and important Civil War artifacts at Heritage Auction Galleries’ Uptown Dallas headquarters. The across-the-board depth of the auction leaves no doubt that Heritage has become the most important auctioneer of Civil War artifacts in the nation.

“This sword is doubtless one of the most tangible touchstones in existence to what is probably the most romanticized, fictionalized and cruelly violent chapter in American Civil War history,” said Dennis Lowe, Director of Civil War Auctions at Heritage, “the merciless ‘no quarter’ bloodletting of the Kansas-Missouri Border War and the guerrilla rampage of Quantrill’s Raiders and ‘Bloody’ Bill Anderson.”

The saber is inscribed on the reverse of the scabbard between the ring mounts, "Presented to/ Lt. Col. Porter S. Cox/ the Officer who whipped Thrailkill/ and killed Bill Anderson the Bandit/ by his friends in St. Joseph, Mo./Nov. 25th 1864.” The sword, up until recently, was owned by Cox’s descendants. It carries with it an estimate of $55,000-$65,000.

During the Civil War, William “Bloody Bill” Anderson tormented Union soldiers. He was a pro-Confederate bushwhacker – men who pillaged for profit, who fed and grew strong on the nourishment of revenge. Among these men, Anderson became one of the most despised of them all. Anderson and his men were known for their savagery against Union soldiers and civilian sympathizers alike. They usually shot prisoners and often mutilated and scalped their victims. It’s been reported that Anderson once said he had killed so many Federals that he “grew sick of killing them.”

Anderson’s spree came to an end in October 1864, when Union militia Lt. Col. Samuel P. Cox caught up with the Kentucky native in Missouri. Cox, assigned by Union commanders specifically to track down Anderson, sent a mounted detachment to lure Anderson and other guerrillas into an ambush. As the gang approached, the militiamen fired a volley and one of the Civil War’s most notorious bushwhackers fell dead.

Shortly afterward, Cox received this presentation sword for the killing of Anderson and fellow bandit John Thrailkill.

The story continued on Dec. 7, 1869, when Jesse James walked into the Davies County Bank in Gallatin, MO – where Cox had been awarded the rank of Colonel for killing Anderson – and summarily shot dead the cashier, declaring to the citizens on his escape that he had avenged the death of his "brother" “Bloody” Bill Anderson by killing Cox. The cashier was Capt. John W. Sheets, not Cox, as Jesse believed.

Cox went on to a successful business career, dying in 1913.

Famously, in modern times, when The Outlaw Josey Wales, as portrayed by Clint Eastwood in the 1976 film, seeks revenge for the murder of his family by Kansas raiders, he casts his lot with the man who identifies himself by saying, "My name is Anderson. They call me Bloody Bill." With this line the legend was re-born for an entire generation of Americans. Anderson is the subject of numerous books and a character based on him appears in the 1976 Clint Eastwood movie The Outlaw Josey Wales.

Click on the title of this post to leave a comment.

-Noah Fleisher

If you had any doubt about The Flash’s superiority, you now stand corrected: Showcase #4 brings almost $180K and Chicorel brings $600K+

May 26, 2009
Posted by Noah

I know I had waxed an awful lot on last week’s Comic Auction, especially about the Showcase #4 – featuring the single greatest super hero in the history of the known universe, and even those we don’t know about, the one and only Silver Age Flash, Barry Allen – and about the astounding Chicorel Collection, but as the results for the auction, across the board, shows, these were and are indeed amazingly good comic books. In fact, the Showcase #4 that I coveted so dearly is now the single most-expensive Silver Age book in history as a determined and erudite collector paid almost $180,000 for it, including the BP. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: That’s one big matzo ball.

As impressed as I was by the price for Showcase #4 – and as proud as I am to point to my lifelong love of The Flash – the true heart and soul of the auction was The Chicorel Collection, which realized more than $600,000 all told. It was an astounding thing to watch made even better by the presence of Ralph Chicorel and two of his sons who were in Dallas for the event. I sat behind them, and chatted with them throughout the first 70-odd lots of the auction and was impressed with the level-headedness of Ralph and his sons, both of whom clearly love their old man and were thrilled to be part of the event with him.

Ralph, for his part, was quite relaxed and sanguine. Here he was, almost 70 years after buying these comics off the stand and putting them away watching a frenzied buying public pay tens of thousands of dollars for his collection. He seemed well at ease with the proceedings and quite happy with the results. I know it was 70 years in the making, but as the first part of the auction concluded and I had to leave to go finish my daily work, I couldn’t help but clap Ralph on the shoulder and say:

“Not bad for an afternoon’s work, huh?”

Not bad at all, and it really couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of folks. For my part, this is one of the best things about being the Media and PR Liaison at this company. I get to witness these great auctions and spend the time with the consignor – in this case a man who has lived an excellent life so far, has a loving family and is able to watch the fruits of his labor come to auction and quantify them with great prices. It’s the cherry on top for Ralph, who was a successful businessman and a way more successful family man. Yes, the money is a sizable amount for the collection, but the obvious love and respect of his children – and their excitement at the event – made it way better. I’ve seen many times when hardcore collectors sell their stuff for big money but the family doesn’t care much, because they know nothing about the collection, or don’t care, or maybe have no close relatives to revel in the respective glory of the accomplishments.

There were plenty of records set in this auction, including the most ever for an Underground comic – Zap #1 at more than $13,000 – and for Modern Age – Wolvie #1 in 10.0 Gem went for more than $15,000, which is gratifying to see given how good a comic book it is – but before you decide yourself to dig out your 1980s comics and inundate Heritage with your own comics, the ones you are absolutely sure have to be 10.0s themselves, remember the Wolvie #1 is the exception to the rule, not the norm. Do us all a favor and dig out the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s comics and inundate us with those. The chances are way better that they actually would have some value, and way better that Heritage would be willing to take a look. Store your ‘80s and 1990s comics away for another 60 years – like Ralph Chicorel did with his – then maybe we can talk.

Click on the title of this post to leave a comment.

-Noah Fleisher

Coin Friday and Monday: That coin

May 22, 2009
Posted by John Dale

(Because Monday is a holiday, and most of us are going to be remembering our fallen soldiers and celebrating the start of summer, John Dale and I huddled and decided to move Coin Monday to today and let the Coin Monday faithful have a full long weekend to savor the work. That, and I am always happy to turn an extra day over to John Dale; I learn as much from his posts about coins as in any part of my job, and more than once I’ve related facts that I’ve picked up in these posts to friends and family. No kidding. The most useful is to never – ever! – call a cent a penny. I repeat, NEVER call a cent a penny. You don’t want to see what happens to a numismatist when you commit this egregious sin. My thanks to John Dale, and my wishes to you for a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend. – Noah Fleisher)

The idea of a condition census, or listing of best examples, for a date or die variety is time-honored in numismatics. Usually, the condition census will show a sliding scale of grades, such as the top two or three coins being graded AU55, the next best examples XF45 or AU50, and so on, with small rather than large differences in quality from one piece to the next. A few issues, however, have coins in their condition censuses that have become famous in their own right; the Abbey Cent, a 1799-dated large cent, is not at the top of any generally accepted condition census for its variety, yet it has achieved such fame that merely saying “Abbey Cent” sparks instant recognition among many early copper collectors.

In other instances, a coin is without rival, far ahead of the other pieces in the condition census, and gains recognition for its quality; such a coin may be referenced by grade or by pedigree, if the latter is applicable, and the highest possible honor is to be known simply as “that coin,” as in the following conversation:

Cataloger A: “So, have you seen anything exciting today?”

Cataloger B: “We’re getting in an 1856-O $20.”

Cataloger A: “Oh, nice! What grade?”

Cataloger B (smiling): “It’s a 63.”

Cataloger A: “A 63! …oh, is it that coin?”

Cataloger B (nodding): “Yes, it’s that coin.”

Our Long Beach Auction press release covers plenty of ground on the Specimen 63 1856-O double eagle, but it’s hard to convey in a press release how it feels to be in the presence of a mind-blowing coin, one that takes the expectations a collector has for an issue and turns them upside-down; it is not lackluster but gleaming, not softly struck but sharp, not heavily abraded but lightly marked. Until its reintroduction to the numismatic community, no collector even dreamed that an 1856-O $20 like it could exist, and once it appeared on the market, its impact was immediate. Phrases such as “the single most important New Orleans double eagle in existence” are not mere puffery, but reflections on the esteem in which this specimen is held. A common refrain among numismatists is, “If only this coin could talk!”

Perhaps it’s just the auction-house employee in me, but I imagine that if coins could talk, this one would be singing like Eartha Kitt and wanting an old-fashioned millionaire.

Click on the title of this post to leave a comment.

-John Dale Beety

Chicorel Collection of Golden Age Comic Books today

May 21, 2009
Posted by Noah

As we speak I am preparing to go downstairs for the opening of this week’s comic auction, which starts with the amazing Golden Age comic book collection of one Ralph Chicorel. Perhaps you’ve read about it on our home page or comics page at http://www.ha.com/, or maybe you saw the nice story Jamie Stengle of the AP wrote about the trove and its amazing journey.

Ralph’s story is one of those one in a million, suitcase-of-money-falling-from-the-sky things that we all wish could happen to us. Basically it’s this: he collected the original Golden Age comics off the newsstand, kept them carefully and moved on with his life. In 1970 he sold half of the collection to raise money for a family move. He got about $3500, a tremendous sum for comics at the time. He didn’t have time to dig up the other half of the collection before the auction, moved, became a successful businessman and forgot about the books.

Almost 40 year later he dug up the trove and contacted Heritage. It’s expected the amazing collection will bring upwards of $500,000, and I believe it – I’ve seen these things and they are indeed, as Al Milgrom put it, “some of the mintiest books I’ve ever seen.” It helps a lot that Ralph and his family are here, at Heritage for the auction, and that he’s about as nice as you’d want someone with such tremendous foresight and good luck to be. I love this story, am glad to be on the periphery of it and am glad that I get to witness such a thing and see that the word gets out about this collection.

As for the comics themselves, I don’t know where to start, except to say that they are all amazing books. From the Marvel Comics #1 to the Marvel #9 to the Batman #4 and #7 to any number of awesome comics in between, it’s a real treat. The color on many of these is still magnificent, and the prices are relative bargains. There are the sexy ones, mentioned above, that will get the high five and six figure prices, but it is the books that are going to go for $2000-$5000 that will prove the true future boon to their erudite buyers.

Yes, these are the type of comic books that make even the most seasoned veterans of the industry – meaning the guys in the Heritage comics department – sit up and take notice, even betray a little excitement. Barry Sandoval, the Director of comics, put it best when he likened the finding of this collection to the Time machine fantasy of many a comic book geek. All they want is to go back in time and buy the comics off the stand, first issue, put it straight into an air-tight containment device, and bring them back in time to add to their collections. There doesn’t have to be any more destiny tampering than that.

Is it so much to ask? Just a couple teeny tiny comic books?

The good news is that, today, we get the chance to see what those time-pilfered comics would actually bring.

Click on the title of this post to leave a comment.

-Noah Fleisher

More magic afoot at Heritage: Harry Potter trove in June

May 20, 2009
Posted by Noah

I wrote here a few months ago about when we auctioned off an original 1st edition signed paperback of Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone. It was worldwide news – It is, after all, Harry Potter – and seemed to open the floodgates where original Harry Potter books are concerned. This is, BTW, a good thing. Oh yes it is.

For our upcoming mid-June Rare Books Auction it seems we have a whole lot of a good thing with not just an original hardcover English 1st Edition Harry Potter leading the way – $30,000-$50,000 for this little treasure – but an original complete set of first Deluxe editions signed by Rowling Herself, a complete set of English hardcovers, also signed by Rowling, a complete set of American first editions, a first edition English version of Book Two – Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets – and, just to top things off, a first edition signed version of the Tales of Beedle The Bard, the only literature of the Rowling universe outside of the Harry Potter books themselves.

Whew! How’s that? I guess you could reasonably say that we’ve become the go-to house for rare and valuable Potter first editions.

Is it a little mind-boggling that books that are scarcely 12 years old are commanding $30,000? Yes, but I really don’t know too much about the world of rare books. I do know enough, however, to know that demand is everything and in today’s world there can be no doubt that the single most in-demand title is anything with Harry Potter on it. If we can facilitate the phenomenal growth of this niche – and fuel the continued growth of the Potter legend, then good for us!

Personally, I would love to have one of these books, because they are touchstones of modern Pop Culture and quite valuable. As far as literature goes, not so much. People love Rowling’s world, and they adore her characters, but you can’t possibly tell me that the writing is world class. The storytelling? No question. The writing? Again, not so much. I’ll take me some Faulkner or Nabokov on their worst writing day anytime over Rowling on her best. Like I said, it’s not to fault her epic imagination, just her prosaic writing. I know some of you must be fuming and wringing your hands over my blasphemy, but you can’t change my mind…

The real question with the Harry Potter phenomenon isn’t really what they mean to us today – it’s an indisputable fact that the series of books and movies are one of the most important properties of modern times – but rather whether they will have any legs 100, 200 or 300 years from now. Barring any unforeseen amazing medical breakthroughs – or maybe advanced cryogenics or the prospect thereof a la the future of Jim Halperin’s book The Truth Machine – I’m at a loss to say.

I won’t venture a guess here, as I’d hate for history to somehow prove me wrong, or some alien civilization based solely on the writing of Rowling to arrive here in millennia, uncover my answer and vilify me for all time to its dominion. You know it’s possible…

Anyway, content yourself in the meantime with looking at these superb volumes, and dream of where you’d put them on your own bookshelves. Imagine your grandchildren looking at them and asking you: “Grandma and Grandpa? Is that really a book?”

Click on the title of this post to leave a comment.

-Noah Fleisher

“Modern” Love: A wealth of 20th Century readies for June 4 auction

.May 19, 2009
Posted by Noah

I am pretty much the classic example of a Liberal Arts education. I am well-rounded enough in enough diverse subjects that I can speak with a modicum of knowledge on just about any subject. Wanna try me? Shoot me an email (NoahF@HA.com) and I’ll try to dazzle you with the wealth of trivia stashed in the storehouse of my skull. I have no particular desire to be this way; it’s simply the fashion in which my particular skill set – which allows me to do this wonderful job – has evolved. What can I say? Nature of the beast, and all that.

I mention this because there are so many people at Heritage who can say the same, but who have a much greater institutional knowledge of their specific specialty – coins, comics, sports, etc. – than I could ever hope to have, and who also possess an impressive generalist knowledge as well, and also because there is one area of this business I love above all others, and about which I feel I know just about nothing despite – literally – hundreds of hours spent in its pursuit. That specialty is 20th Century Design, and to say that this stuff makes me ecstatic like my 3-1/2-year-old when she’s chasing bubbles is an understatement.

It also just so happens that we have what is really a spectacular 20th Century Design auction coming up here at Heritage. I kid you not. If you’re an aficionado of Modern design, and you’ve watched as Heritage has made its way in the category, then this is the one that you’ve been waiting for.

Depth? You bet. Variety? Unquestioned. Style? Where to even begin?

All I can say is that our new Director of 20th Century, the multi-faceted Christina Japp, (click here and scroll down for her bio) has done an expert’s job of assembling as deep a selection of 20th Century as has ever been offered here, and one that will certainly make the main players in the category sit up and take notice.

My focus has always been on “Modernism” as a form between roughly 1940 and 1980, give or take a few decades on either end with a healthy nod to Biedermeier, the Vienna Secessionists, Arts & Crafts, Mission and Deco. So, basically, everything. I would give my left foot for an original Charlotte Perriand bibliotheque, anything original by Nakashima, Bertoia, van Der Rohe, Prouve, Miller, Eames or any of 30 or 40 designers I know I am forgetting, which is exactly what is so amazing about the pursuit of 20th Century design.

Fortunately for a Modern-o-phile like myself, this auction has a little bit of everything, and a little bit of dozens of designers. There’s amazing Tiffany, a superb Ruhlmann cabinet, a classically modern Sotsass cupboard and a simply astounding array of other great stuff I simply don’t have the time to write about. There’s even an iconic New York Keith Haring painted leather jacket.

I know that I will finish this post, get it online and kick myself for not doing this auction, or my passion for Modernism, justice, but that is the nature of this particular bug. The very best minds on the form have forgotten way more than I will ever possibly know about Modernism, and they would say the same of their teachers. It is an infinite, intricate pursuit; one that fills a lifetime and makes you wish you had just a little more time.

A good place to start is here at Heritage on June 4, or at the online catalog for the event, linked here as well.

Click on the title of this post to leave a comment.

-Noah Fleisher

Coin Monday: A San Francisco Double Feature in Long Beach

May 18, 2009
Posted by John Dale

The United States Mint experienced dramatic changes in the 1860s, with three of five Mints (Charlotte, North Carolina; Dahlonega, Georgia; and New Orleans, Louisiana) leaving the fold after the states they were in seceded. Only the main Mint in Philadelphia and the branch in San Francisco remained open, and Philadelphia produced all coinage dies, sending dies to San Francisco as needed. With wide swaths of the American West still unsettled, communication between Philadelphia and San Francisco lagged, and two distinctive S-mint $20 gold coins (or double eagles) resulted from that lag, both of which make an appearance at our upcoming Long Beach Auction.

The first issue had its origin in a short-lived design change for the double eagle denomination. In the waning months of 1860, Anthony C. Paquet, an assistant Mint engraver known more for his medals than his coinage-work, prepared a modified reverse die for the double eagle distinguished by tall, thin lettering that was one of the engraver’s signatures. The design received approval, and Paquet reverse dies were sent to New Orleans and San Francisco for use with obverses dated 1861. Philadelphia discovered an apparent problem with the rims of the Paquet design, spurring the then-Mint Director, James Ross Snowden, to halt use of the Paquet reverse and send the same orders to New Orleans and San Francisco.

While Snowden’s early January telegraph reached New Orleans promptly, there was not an extensive telegraph network west of the Mississippi river, and the Mint Director’s message had to be carried overland from Missouri to California. By the time Snowden’s instructions arrived at San Francisco, 19,250 double eagles had already been struck with the Paquet dies and released into circulation. While most of the 1861-S Paquet double eagles are now lost, around 200 survivors, including this AU53 example, remain. Collectors who view the Paquet double eagle as a distinct subtype (myself included) have made it one of the most in-demand San Francisco double eagles.

Similarly, the time and distance between the East Coast and West Coast Mints created another prized variety, the 1866-S No Motto double eagle. In 1866, the various larger-size coinage designs were modified to incorporate the motto “In God We Trust,” an inclusion said to reflect a nation that had increasingly turned to prayer for comfort during the trials of the Civil War. As was customary, Philadelphia shipped the next year’s obverse coinage dies to San Francisco in advance, and the 1866-dated obverse dies arrived at the California facility in November 1865, but no new reverse dies were included. Though Philadelphia refrained from coinage until the various With Motto dies were ready, San Francisco went forward with production using old reverses, and several 1866-dated San Francisco issues are split between No Motto and With Motto pieces, including the half dollar, $5, $10 and $20 denominations.

Communication between Philadelphia and San Francisco improved and in 1877, when the Mint made the next significant change to the double eagle design, there was no laggard San Francisco issue. Still, double eagles such as the 1861-S Paquet and the 1866-S No Motto survive as reminders that even after the most dangerous Gold Rush days were done, there was considerable separation between the Western states (first California, later Oregon and Nevada) and the rest of the states in the Union, a distance measurable in both weeks and hundreds of miles that the Mint and many others had to overcome.

Click on the title of this post to leave a comment.

-John Dale Beety

Of great publicity, Martignette, Dr Pepper, Coins, Natural History. Or, How Heritage is planning on taking over the world…

May 15, 2009
Posted by Noah

There are so many things I would like to write about that come through the doors at Heritage, and so many potential things coming to auction that I can’t write about yet, but I can say this: The month of May has been a stellar one for humble little Heritage in terms of national and International PR. It’s actually the sort of extended run of coverage that adds up to an amazing string and a major boost for Heritage brand awareness. Forgive me if you can for using this soapbox to trumpet the achievement and the incredible hard work of HA staff across the board.

Consider this: Since the beginning of May, Heritage has been in the news – national or international – in one form or another, good, bad or indifferent, every day of the month, plus a few at the end of April. I would list all the links here to all the various stories, but that would be a list of more than 1100 hits, so just take my word for it.

It started with the auction of the 1804 $1 for $2.4 million at Central States at the end of last month. There was pre-auction coverage and post-auction coverage.

This was followed quickly by a Texas AP story on the much-debated Old Corner Drug Store ledger book with the “Dr. Peppers Pepsin Bitters” recipe in it, which set of a firestorm of coverage, interviews and speculation that spanned a full week of news cycles and ended up all over the world. It has to be noted that the ledger book failed to open at the minimum $25,000 bid in Wednesday’s Political & Americana Auction, which is no fun for us – though a private treaty sale is possibly in the works – but it did again get us another round of coverage in the national press.

On top of this, our Natural History Director David Herskowitz was interviews by Robert Siegel on NPR’s All Things Considered on Tuesday night, after an article appeared in the Chicago Tribune, and was mentioned again in the show’s letter section the next day. This was followed by an article in a La Brea, CA newspaper just yesterday, that looks like it could get some legs. The auction of a controversial 95% saber-tooth skull – absolutely, undisputedly authentic – is this weekend here at Heritage. This thing is a truly beautiful beast and an amazing piece of history.

Topping that off today is the lead spot in today’s New York Times Arts & Antiques Column, by Eve Kahn, about the upcoming auction of the awesome Martignette Collection of Illustrated Art. It’s a fantastic little bit about the man behind the collection – an eccentric, for sure, but on the side of good – and the collection itself. What more can you ask for?

Ed Jaster, Director of Illustration Art here, put it best in his quote about the amazing art in the collection: “The guys could flat out paint!”

Wonderfully put, indeed!

I also know, for a fact, that there will be another Heritage story coming out the AP wire next week about the imminent auction of the amazing Chicorel Collection in our May Comics Auction. It’s another fantastic human interest story and we are lucky enough to be the arbiters of its fruit. I’m hoping this one continues our amazing May run. I’m sure there a few things I’ve even missed.

Life at Heritage is often so busy we don’t get the chance to reflect on the accomplishments of the amazing staff here. When I look back at a month like May so far, it brings it all into focus and reminds me why we do what we do here, and why we love it so much.

Have a safe and happy weekend.

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-Noah Fleisher