The Flipside with Robert R. Van Ryzin

A pyramid of the yellow stuff

2008-08-25T17:40:40.9370000-04:00

I a couple of months ago I wrote in Coins magazine that if I had one dream coin it would be the new ultra-high relief Saint-Gaudens gold $20 being released next year by the U.S. Mint.

Recently, having attended the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money in Baltimore, I had a chance to view a U.S.Mint exhibit that included one of the coins. It was great to be able to see the coin ahead of time, but what I also found interesting was a stack of six 24-karat gold bars from the West Point Mint, where the new $20s will be minted.

The press information for this portion of the display noted that each bar contained 400 ounces of gold, each weighed 27.5 pounds, each was comprised of newly mined U.S. gold, and each was worth $384,645 as of the gold spot price on July 22, 2008. Total value of this pyramid of gold was $2,307,870.

Beside the gold bars, the exhibit showed the process of achieving the ultra-high relief design and included plasters of the obverse and reverse that could be touched by visitors to better judge the height of the relief.

The coins are likely to go on sale early in 2009 and there is no mintage limit, though they are slated to be in gold only for that year. Prices haven’t been set yet and will depend on the price of gold.

Gold was above $960 an ounce when the bars were valued for the exhibit. Right now it’s in the $830 range. So the bars aren’t worth as much as they were when they went on display, but they are still in worth around $328,000 each.

The original idea behind the heightened relief for the early 20th-century coins, designed by famed sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, is credited to President Theodore Roosevelt, who wanted new designs for the nation’s coins and longed for the dramatic high relief found on ancient Greek gold coins struck by hand.

However, the Mint ultimately judged it impractical and issued the coin in a much lower relief. Today the few ultra-high relief patterns that exist are worth in the millions. More reasonably priced, but valued in the thousands, are the more plentiful high relief specimens.

The new versions are crafted from original plasters that were digitally mapped and are to be minted in 24-karat gold, which is more malleable than the 22-karat gold used for the originals. The 27mm planchets for the new coins are about 50 percent thicker than those used for the American Eagle gold one-ounce coins.

There are some slight design differences as well, including the addition of the motto “IN GOD WE TRUST,” four more stars to represent the current 50 states, and a small border not found on the originals.

It’s an impressive coin that should prove popular and one I wouldn’t mind owning.

Buffalo nickel a tale of two Big Trees

2008-06-03T12:44:21.2460000-04:00

Having done plenty of research into the topic of who were the models for the Buffalo nickel, I'm convinced that Isaac Johnny John (Chief John Big Tree) was not a model for the coin, despite his claims otherwise. I make my full arguments in my book Twisted Tails: Sifted Fact, Fantasy and Fiction from U.S. Coin History (Krause Publications, 1995) and have previously written about the topic for Numismatic News, Coins magazine, and have given a number of speeches on the subject.

I won't go into the details here, but several factors work against his having been a model for the coin, including a quote from the designer, James Earle Fraser, who noted that Iron Tail, a Sioux; Two Moons, a Cheyenne; and different Big Tree (Adoeette, a Kiowa) were the models. Adoeette is shown here (at left).

John Big Tree also claimed he was the model for Fraser's famous "End of the Trail," statue, which is dubious. There are pictures in our photo archives of him posing before the statue in Waupun, Wis., in the 1960s—one of which is shown here (at right).

I started my research into the models for the coin believing he was a model for the coin, having seen John Big Tree on a TV quiz show when I was a kid. He claimed that Fraser used his forehead and the nose in the design.

It wasn't until I started working here at Krause Publications, in the mid-1980s, and began looking into the claims of another Native American who thought he was the model (Two Guns White Calf, a Blackfoot) that I began to doubt John Big Tree's claim and found that another Big Tree was a more likely model.

Even though I don't believe John Big Tree ever modeled for the coin, and really doubt he had anything to do with the "End of the Trail" statue, for past several years I've collected many items related to John Big Tree—particularly photographs of him from his movie days as a bit actor in Western films.

I have two black-and-white photographs of John Big Tree at Glacier National Park, in Montana, while appearing in one of the last silent films. The photos are somewhat ironic in that, in 1929, when filming was done, Two Guns White Calf was claiming to be the model for the Buffalo nickel. For many years after, Two Guns was an attraction at the park, greeting visitors, signing photographs and being promoted by the Great Northern Railroad as the model for nickel.

Unfortunately for Two Guns White Calf, when asked about his claim of being depicted on the nickel, Fraser denied having used Two Guns' likeness for the coin. Two Guns White Calf is shown at the left in the image here of two Native Americans. Though it's hard to make out, he is wearing a medallion with the image of the obverse of the Buffalo nickel on it. Two Guns died in 1934.

It appears that John Big Tree didn't take up the role until later. Shown here is a wooden nickel from one of his coin show visits in the 1960s.

One of the more interesting things in my collection is a modern jigsaw puzzle by Master Pieces Jigsaw Puzzles. It depicts an artwork by David C. Behrens titled "Five Cent Peace," which represents as its main image Two Guns White Calf in profile to the nickel, which is also depicted. Around the nickel are representations of Iron Tail, Two Moons and Adoeette (Big Tree). "Five Cent Peace" is also available as a limited-edition print, and I've seen the image on shirts.

You can view "Five Cent Peace" and other Native American works by Behrens at his Web site: www.davidbehrens.com. (Incidently, he uses coins and medals in a number of his works.)

Josh's gold-plated nickel

2008-05-09T10:05:35.0940000-04:00

In next week's episode of "Collecting Money," on Coin Chat Radio, I plan to do a piece about Josh Tatum and the 1883 Liberty Head nickel.

Tatum, a deaf mute, who reputedly gold-plated thousands of the first Liberty Head nickels and passed them as gold $5s, probably didn't exist. But Variety 1 1883 Liberty Head nickels were definitely plated by shysters and tendered as gold $5s. There are numerous contemporary newspaper reports of attempts to pass the coins as gold $5s. Today collectors call these coins Racketeer nickels.

A quick search of the New York Times archives turned up an 1883 story datelined from Baltimore of a jeweler who had a tray of gold-plated Liberty Head five-cent pieces in his store window that he was selling at 35 cents each. The jeweler claimed the coins were being sold as charms to wear on watch chains.

What made the plating of the coins attractive to fast-buck artists was that the first 1883 pieces carried only a Roman numeral "V" for the denomination. Once it became evident that this was leading to the plating and passing of the coins at 100 times their real face value, the Mint redesigned the coin by placing the word "CENTS" below the Roman numeral for five. These Variety 2 1883 coins actually bring stronger prices than the Variety 1 1883 coins.

My piece on Tatum, part of a segment called "Collecting Type and Beyond," can be listened to at www.coinchatradio.com. The show will air beginning at 11 a.m. Central on Thursday, May 15th. It repeats on the main player at the top of each hour.

That show and previous installments of Coin Chat Radio's weekly "Collecting Money" show can also be accessed under the Archives tab at the site to play at your convenience or to download.

A pressing concern

2008-05-01T17:12:29.0610000-04:00

I ran into this interesting little tidbit that appeared originally in the Oct. 16, 1873 issue of the Philadelphia North American, while doing some research. Apparently the introduction of the new Trade dollar, which had been authorized earlier that year by the Coinage Act of 1873, warranted the building of a new, more powerful press for use at the San Francisco Mint:

We were shown yesterday at the works of Messrs. Morgan & Orr, No. 1219, Callowhill Street, the new coining press, just built by them for the purpose of coining at the San Francisco Mint all denominations of silver and gold coiange, but especially the new silver trade dollar ordered by the Department of the Mint.

This new machine weighs eighteen thousand pounds, and is made entirely of the best steel, iron, and brass produced in Philadelphia. The steel plate above the coinage stamp is home-made, and equal, if not superior, to the finest English, a fact that speaks well for our Philadelphia steel industry. The beautiful heavy brass beam was cast seven times over to secure its accuracy and exactness, as well as finish and strength. The large fly-wheel is cast hollow, and loaded with base metal so as to give it additional weight to counterbalance the heavy brass beam. This fly-wheel was cast in sections and securely united. In the front of the machine is a finely made brass cylinder to hold the unstamped coin, which as the wheel revolves, slip down one at a time upon the sliding bed-plate of iron with apertures made to receive a single coin, then drawn into the machine, the stamp descends, and the new trade dollar is carried out complete by an interior inclined plane. The heavy brass beam referred to of course controls the stamp. Perfect simplicity characterizes the machine, which is two and a half times beyond the capacity of any other coining machine that the firm ever made for the government. It is capable of striking eight twenty-dollar gold pieces, equal to $1,600, per minute, or twenty silver trade dollars in a minute.

Atrocious designs?

2008-04-02T15:56:42.4690000-04:00

You can't please everybody, and if you're a coin designer you're sure to attract your share of critics. Today, James Earle Fraser's Buffalo nickel is considered a classic, but at the time of its release, in 1913, not everyone was on the Fraser bandwagon.

The New York Times, for instance, complained its March 2, 1913, issue that "The new 'nickel' is a striking example of what a coin intended for wide circulation as small change should not be."

The paper noted that the coins, which had been released the day before by the sub-treasury, were bringing 10 to 15 cents on the street, "but there will be no great eagerness to get them hereafter in preference to the old five-cent coins."

In fact, the New York Times preferred the Liberty Head nickel. With its large "V" and the word "Cents," it served its purpose well, the newspaper reported, as those unfamiliar with the coin could easily tell its denomination. Whereas, on the new nickel, the lettering was so small that "it can only be deciphered by strong eyes in a bright light."

More amazingly, perhaps, was the paper's statement that until this new nickel arrived, the latest "atrocities" from the U.S. Mint were the new gold $5s, $10s and $20s, or the designs of Bela Lyon Pratt (gold $2.50 and $5) and Augustus Saint-Gaudens (gold $10 and $20), now highly thought of by collectors. "These are bad coins in design and execution," the New York Times related.

In its March 5th issue, the newspaper ran a letter from H.P. Nitsua of Connecticut, who also disliked the new nickel. "Numismatology can hardly be congratulated on the new recruit to its ranks," he proclaimed.

Artists needed—please report for duty

2008-03-26T10:20:38.3190000-04:00

Recently, U.S. Mint Director Ed Moy said, “We want to spur the highest level of artistic excellence in American coin design.” He made the statement along with the announcement of the Mint’s plans to recreate the 1907 Saint-Gaudens ultra high relief gold $20. It will be quite the challenge and one that promises to produce a popular collectible.

It was the dream of President Theodore Roosevelt, along with the help of noted sculptors such as Augustus Saint-Gaudens, James Earle Fraser, Adolph Weinman, Hermon MacNeil and others, to dramatically improve the look of U.S. coins.

Roosevelt went so far as to envision a U.S. coin with the same high relief as found on some ancient coins, thus leading to the experiments with the height of the relief on the Saint-Gaudens gold $20 issued in 1907. It was argued, however, that such a relief, which took some press time to achieve, wasn’t suited to high-speed coinage. So, the plan was shelved, and the gold $20 took a much lower relief.

It was a shame, and, as I said, the new effort should prove a noble one—at least from the technical side. Plus, if I can afford one, I’d like to have one in my collection. I’ve written about Saint-Gaudens and his design in the past, and it is one of my favorites.

However, I have one little concern. If we’re really striving for artistic excellence in U.S. coinage design, why do we need to return to the past (and in this case a century ago) to spur this on? Don’t we have artists who could produce a representation of Liberty that could compete with Saint-Gaudens, Weinman, or MacNeil?

Frankly, it looks to me like we’re running out of designs to bring back. First we recreated the Saint-Gaudens gold $20 obverse in low relief on the gold American Eagle in 1986. That same year we added a silver American Eagle with Weinman’s obverse from the Walking Liberty. In 2001, we brought back Fraser’s design from the Buffalo nickel. It is now also available on a gold $50.

About all we’ve got left to recreate from circulating coins from that period of artistic excellence is MacNeil’s Standing Liberty, Weinman’s Mercury dime, Pratt’s gold $2.50s and $5s, and Saint-Gaudens’ gold $10. Are they next?

Again, where are the artists? I like all of the prior mentioned designs and applaud Moy’s efforts to improve U.S. coin design. I’m just wishing for more originality and wondering where our generation of artists of the same ilk as Saint-Gaudens, MacNeil, Weinman and Fraser are hiding out.

We need you! Please report for duty.

It's show time

2008-03-14T09:11:50.7680000-04:00

Coin Chat Radio goes live today at 11 a.m. Central at coinchatradio.com

Give a listen.

I think we have some interesting features in our first show. Future broadcasts will at 11 a.m. Central on Thursdays.

Rats evicted from Old SF Mint

2008-02-27T15:02:23.5760000-05:00

Well, the rats have been cleaned out of the Old San Francisco Mint. No, these weren't disreputable people. Rather, they were real rats, according to a report datelined Feb. 18 from the San Francisco Chronicle by Anastasia Ustinova.

Ustinova quotes Erik Christoffersen, executive director of the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society, as noting that since the beginning of the Chinese Lunar Calendar's Year of the Rat, there have been no more rats spotted in the historic building at Fifth and Mission streets.

The Old Mint, famous for having survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, has now apparently withstood an invasion of furry four-footed creatures that have been entering the building through small holes.

The Chronicle notes that although the Old Mint has had rat problems for a number of years, more have moved in over the past year "after employees stopped using rat poison during some interior demolition work and a nearby vacant building was rehabilitated." Therefore, a team of professional exterminators was brought in to rid the facility of the unwanted guests.

Renovation of the Old Mint, which was built in 1874, is currently underway. Plans call for the structure to house a cultural museum, details of which are highlighted at www.themintproject.org.

Back from the exhibit

2008-02-19T17:08:39.2660000-05:00

I'm back from my trip to Minneapolis and the opening of the Anders Zorn (see prior posting for details) at the Swedish American Institute.

It was fun, and I was able to snap shots that will come in handy in the future. Among Zorn's subjects, which ranged from common folk to U.S. presidents, was Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

Saint-Gaudens designed the gold $10s and $20s that circulated in the United States in the early part of the 20th century. Shown here is detail from one of Zorn's etchings of Saint-Gaudens that is currently on exhibit.

Zorn etching a key

2008-01-29T09:09:17.0330000-05:00

February should prove to be a busy and fun month for me. On Feb. 5 I head to Minneapolis for the opening of an art exhibit titled "From Peasants to Presidents: Sweden's Greatest Etcher" and later that month my wife and I have tickets to see Blues legend B.B. King in concert at the Fox Valley Performing Arts Center in Appleton, Wis. Then it's off to the Wisconsin Coin Expos show in Oshkosh, which is always fun and enjoys a good attendance.

The art exhibit for which I am attending a reception for is of the Hagans' family collection of etchings by Swedish artist Anders Zorn. During his prolific career, Zorn sketched many citizens, including Augustus Saint-Gaudens, designer of the early 20th-century U.S. gold $10s and $20s so popular with collectors today.

The interesting thing about Zorn's etching, which shows Saint-Gaudens with a nude in the background, is the identity of the model. She was Hettie Anderson, a cousin of William Hagans.

William Hagans has found that Hettie Anderson was posing the day of the Zorn etching for Saint-Gaudens's "Victory" figure at the head of the Sherman Monument in New York.

Over the years, few have doubted that "Victory" was the inspiration for figure on the gold $20. It's just that several different models were named as likely to be the real model employed by Saint-Gaudens for the coin. Among these were an Irish lass named Mary Cunningham and Saint-Gaudens' mistress, Davida Clark.

Even Saint-Gaudens's son, Homer, chimed in that the model could have been a "woman supposed to have negro blood in her veins." That was Hettie Anderson, who was African-American. Hagans has written extensively on the topic, including his feature, titled "Saint-Gaudens, Zorn, and the Goddesslike Miss Anderson," which appeared in the Summer 2002 edition of American Art, the journal of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and is reproduced at Hagans' Web site about Zorn (linked below).

Zorn did etchings or oil paintings of other important Americans, including President Grover Cleveland and Mrs. Grover Cleveland, President William Howard Taft, President Theodore Roosvelt, Andrew Carnegie, and Mrs. Potter Palmer of Chicago (the force behind the 1893 Isabella commemorative quarter).

You can learn more about Zorn and his subjects at the Hagans' Web site on the topic: www.zorninamerica.com. They also have a section on Zorn and his dealings with Saint-Gaudens. And on the the opening page, you can see the etching of Saint-Gaudens with Hettie Anderson in the background.

Info on the exhibit, which runs from Feb. 6-June 1 at the Amercan Swedish Institute, can be found at: www.americanswedishinst.org/exhibits.htm

I'll take it in Trades

2007-12-27T16:27:09.7730000-05:00

Much of my collecting lately focuses on drafts, checks, receipts, etc., related to the Comstock Lode, in Virginia City, Nev., and the Bank of California.

Although I have acquired items of value pertaining to famous personages active on the Comstock during its heyday, my favorites in the collection are some that didn't cost much but have interesting backgrounds.

This draft from the Agency of the Bank of California at Gold Hill (on the Comstock Lode) is one such item. It only cost me $11, and you can see that a portion of the draft is missing. So it is certainly not a high-grade specimen.

However, what's unusual about this draft is what it was payable in. Many of these drafts indicated they were payable in gold. This one, however, goes out of its way to designate payment in U.S. Trade dollars. And it does so in four different places.

One appears in parenthesis, next to "One Hundred & Fifty." Another is at the lower left, after the numeric designation of $150. And it can be found twice in red ink, vertically across the draft, as "Payable in Trade dollars."

What further interested me is that the draft is dated June 17, 1876. A little more than one month later, the Trade dollar's legal-tender status was revoked by Congress.

Originally intended for use in the Far East, shortly after issue, the coins became a nuisance in the United States, where they were legal tender only in small amounts. Silver had by then begun to fall in value, and by 1876 the silver in the Trade dollar wasn't worth a dollar, even though the coin was still being paid out at full value—at a loss to most who took it.

That same year (according John M. Willem Jr.'s The United States Trade Dollar: America's Only Unwanted, Unhonored Coin), the Aug. 3 issue of the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise reported that there had been a meeting of area saloon owners, at the Delta Saloon in Virginia City, to discuss the fate of the Trade dollar. Only 24 of the businesses (or a scant one-seventh of those in this hard-drinking town) were represented.

Some barkeeps called for total refusal of the Trade dollar in payment for liquor. Others suggested taking the coins at 90 cents or as low as 87-1/2 cents.

Considering the obvious problems with Trade dollars (and their shameful lack of acceptance even for basic necessities such as fine two-bit liquor), it's probably a wonder you could have found anyone who wanted payment in Trades rather than gold.

Mind your Ps, Ds, and Ss

2007-12-14T11:42:35.3520000-05:00

With silver above $14 an ounce, it is a good time to check any old coins you may have lying about. Most people know that even common-date dimes, quarters and half dollars dated 1964 and prior have most of their value tied to their bullion content.

I recently had the opportunity to go through a hoard of coins. Unfortunately, there were no rarities, but there was considerable value just from the bullion. Included were silver dimes, quarters, half dollars, 10 or 11 silver dollars, and one common-date gold $5.

Up until 1964, dimes, quarters and half dollars were being minted in 90 percent silver. What's lesser known by many in the general public, and the reason some silver can still be found, is that although 1964 was the last year for 90 percent silver halves, they continued to be coined in 40 percent silver through 1970 and still show up in searches of rolls at banks.

Another coin to watch for is the silver war nickel. These were issued during World War II to save on copper for the war effort. Thus, the normal 75 percent copper/25 percent nickel composition of all nickels before and since was changed to one that featured 56 percent copper/35 percent silver/and 9 percent manganese.

Fortunately these are easy to identify. I should say that they were easy for most to identify, with the exception being one ill-fated counterfeiter—Francis Leroy Henning. In the 1950s, Henning decided to produce counterfeit Jefferson nickels. Noted for being overweight, of poor quality and color, and sporting a defect in the "R" of "PLURIBUS," some of Henning's nickels had a more glaring error. He failed to observe that genuine wartime silver nickels (1942-1945) displayed a large mintmark above the dome of Monticello on the coin's reverse (see the color photo).

It was the first time the Mint had used a mintmark to identify coins struck at Philadelphia. Up until that point, Jeffersons from Philadelphia had no mintmark, while those from Denver and San Francisco showed a small D or S mintmark on the coin's right side, next to Monticello.

Hennings, who turned to producing other non-silver dates as well, before being arrested in 1955, was eventually sentenced to a few years in jail and fined $5,000.

The black and white photo here is of a Henning's counterfeit.

Is that foul-looking fowl really an eagle?

2007-11-30T15:27:24.1290000-05:00

Next year, when the state quarter program ends, the plan is for the quarter’s reverse to revert to showing an eagle, as it had prior to 1999. That’s not a bad thing. Though Benjamin Franklin argued for adopting the turkey as the national bird (he thought the bald eagle was of “bad moral character”), an eagle has appeared on most U.S. silver and gold coins since the opening of the U.S. Mint in 1792.

This national symbol, however, has not always been shown at its best—at least not according to would-be art critics of the past. Take for example the scrawny creature on the back of the half disme in 1792 or the underfed bird on the 1794 dollar. Both of these birds ruffled some feathers.

But they were not alone.

When the Flying Eagle cent was released, in the 1850s, some termed it the “buzzard” cent.

In the 1920s, the eagle on the back of the Standing Liberty quarter was shamed in a press dispatch out of New York that complained that it faced the wrong way, which signified cowardice. The fact that it was winging across the coin didn't help. That, according to the dispatch, symbolized speed, meaning it was: “A coward and a fast running one.”

Adolph Weinman’s eagle on the half dollar, released in 1916, also raised a flap. An ornithologist claimed Weinman had made the bird look like it was “wearing overalls and marching through tar.”

A Chicago newspaper thought the eagle on the back of the Peace dollar looked like a tom turkey. (Franklin would have been proud.)

Some of the criticisms were fair. Others were not.

If I had to criticize one eagle on a U.S. coin, my choice would be the bizarre-looking creature on the 1936 Bridgeport commemorative half dollar. It’s definitely modernistic in design. But it hardly looks like an eagle.

For some reason, it has always reminded me of a whale with its mouth wide open. Of course, you have to ignore the legs. Commemorative authority Anthony Swiatek has noted that, if you turn the coin upside down, the eagle looks like a shark. Again, the legs are a problem.

But let's talk turkey (or in this case, whale- or shark-like eagle). Either way, that’s one foul fowl.

Ever see 1 million silver dollars?

2007-11-27T12:44:25.5020000-05:00

Have you ever seen 1 million silver dollars?

It was long before I began collecting coins, but the tale of the Million Silver Dollar Exhibit at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair is fascinating nonetheless.

Three Washington numismatists were behind bringing the coins to the fair. The three, who had formed Northwest Historic Medals Inc. to strike a series of medals commemorating the great water-power dams in the Pacific Northwest, had approached the Century 21 committee, organizers of the fair, with plans for producing a set of medals to promote each of the seven planned exhibits at the fair. Along with an already-authorized U.S. Mint medal, Northwest said the eight-medal set would make a great souvenir of the fair.

To cinch the deal, they had one other idea that really got the committee enthused. “If numismatics is going to take part in this Fair, the three reasoned, it ought to take part in a big way. The more money the better,” as the September 1962 issue of Coins magazine explained.

“Almost everyone dreams and talks about a million dollars, but how many people have ever seen that amount of cash in one place at one time?

"Why not have a display featuring one million silver dollars? Here, all in one, would be the most money the visitors would ever see, coupled with an intriguing chapter of American history."

Having received encouragement from the committee, the next step was to find the 1 million silver dollars.

Although the silver dollar is today well liked by collectors, high mintages and a lack of use led to bags upon bags remaining in government vaults through much of the 20th century. So getting the coins was a financial and logistical concern, but not impossible. Another concern was: If they could win approval to obtain the coins from the government, where would they store them?

The problem was solved when Northwest’s president saw an ad for steel buildings in a trade magazine and decided to approach the advertiser, Behlen Manufacturing Co., Columbus, Neb., with a promotional idea.

Northwest proposed that Behlen construct a building to be placed at the fair to house the silver dollars. “The proposal, startling at first, sounded like a winner, and, after discussing it with other company executives, Behlen went to work,” Coins reported.

“Within weeks, the idea had been cleared all the way to Miss Eva Adams, director of the Mint…and plans made to transport the coins from Philadelphia to Seattle.” The coins would earn interest for the government while they were on loan to the exhibit.

While details were being worked out on shipping the coins, and construction began on the building in which to hold them, Northwest went about designing and striking the medals, including a new one honoring the Million Silver Dollars Exhibit.

The fair’s opening date was April 21, 1962, and Behlen worked quickly to construct the corrugated steel building, while two Chevrolet diesels were employed to carry 500,000 each of the silver dollars, still in mint-sealed bags, from the Philadelphia Mint to the fair.

“Pinkerton guards rode with the trucks, state troopers and local police drove guard as the semis roared westward, following the trail cut by free-spending miners and frontiersmen who’d rather get rid of their bulky silver dollars than lug them around in their pockets,” explained Coins.

Once at the fair, 800,000 of the coins (Morgan dollars apparently, as the Coins' article notes they were in bags sealed between 1910 and 1915) were stacked in the center of a Behlen corn crib enclosed in glass. “Then over and around the bags were poured a clinking cascade of 200,000 Peace dollars: 1,000,000 silver dollars, just for looks, just sitting there gathering 167 dollars a day in interest,” Coins wrote.

“But that’s not the only kind of interest the $1,000,000 display gathers. Each day the Fair is open this summer, more than 25,000 visitors pass through the steel building and gaze wide-eyed at the most money they’ve ever seen. On busy days 40,000 pairs of eyes repeat the performance.”

In June, when the 1 millionth fair visitor walked into the exhibit, a California resident, she was presented with 100 of the silver dollars from exhibit.

Interestingly, if you wanted, besides the nine-medal set, housed in blue Whitman bookshelf album, you could also purchase silver dollars from the exhibit.

As Northwest's president explained to Coins: “‘They’re for sale. Anyone interested in picking up a Mint-sealed bag of dollars minted prior to 1910 can put down $200 and pay the balance by the 5th of October. We’ll deliver by the 22nd.’”

An advertisement on the back inside cover of the November 1962 issue of Coins offered individual silver dollars from the exhibit, “mounted in an attractive World’s Fair holder,” for $1.95 postpaid. The limit on the bags was five bags per person (at $1,500 per bag of 1,000 silver dollars), to be shipped after the exhibit closed.

Shown here are the coins in the corn crib, along with the trucks that brought them to Seattle, parked in front of the exhibit building at the Seattle World's Fair.

Worn to perfection

2007-11-15T16:55:45.6790000-05:00

Today everyone wants ultra-grade coins. Many of those who buy directly from the U.S. Mint quickly send off these coins to one of the third-party grading services to see if they can score a coin in a high mint state or high proof grade and then sell it for a fortune.

What ever happened to the good old days of collecting, when a coin's grade wasn't always the most important factor in whether or not it was collectible?

I remember when I started collecting, I liked to carry around an Eisenhower dollar with just one goal—to see how worn down I could get it. I eventually had it well worn, but then misplaced it.

It was, however, not as worn as the Eisenhower dollar in this photo. It's obvious this collector was going for the worst of the worst. His hang-up on grade was in finding the worst specimen of various types of large U.S. dollar coins. And it looks to me like he did an admirable job.

In the top row is an 1803 Draped Bust dollar, next to it is broken apart 1850 Seated Liberty dollar, followed by an 1877 Trade dollar. In the bottom row are a Morgan dollar, Peace dollar and an Eisenhower dollar. The dates on these are all too worn to read.

No need to rush these bad boys in for slabbing. Borrowing a grading term from the 1800s I used in an earlier posting, these start out at "wretchedly poor" at best.

But I could have had a Dr. Steinmetz coin

2007-11-08T17:37:54.9920000-05:00

It was once suggested that I write a book on coinage measures that were proposed but didn't pass into law. It would have been a mammoth and likely tedious process and probably of dubious worth. However, it's sometimes fun to look back at what might have been, what could have been, and what maybe should have been.

Collectors today are not unknown for their grousing about there being too many coins being offered by the U.S. Mint, and that you'd have to be rich to keep up.

A look back at the mid-1930s, during the heyday of the classic commemorative coinage series, suggests that today's collector is not alone in the feeling of being overtaxed.

In 1936, for instance, collectors were offered the following commemorative half dollars, many of which were coined only in that year and others that were continuing series:

Albany, New York, Charter; Arkansas Centennial; Battle of Gettysburg; Bridgeport, Connecticut, Centennial; California-Pacific International Exposition; Cincinnati Music Center; Cleveland Great Lakes Exposition Centennial; Columbia, South Carolina, Sesquicentennial; Delaware Tercentenary; Elgin, Illinois, Centennial; Long Island Tercentenary; Lynchburg, Virginia, Sesquicentennial; Norfolk, Virginia, Bicentennial; Oregon Trail Memorial; Providence, Rhode Island Tercentenary; Robinson-Arkansas Centennial; San Diego Pacific Expo; San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge Opening; Texas Centennial; Wisconsin Centennial; and York County, Maine, Tercentenary.

But that's only half of the story. A look through issues of The Numismatist for 1936 gives a frightening view of what might have happened in the future if all of the laws submitted for commemorative coins had been approved. Those that didn't make it included:

A bill for a half dollar honoring the 50th anniversary of the founding of borough of Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania.
A bill for a half dollar for the 150th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of United States.
A bill for a half dollar to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the journey and explorations of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado.
A bill for a half dollar for the founding of the International Peace Garden at the international boundary line between the United States and Canada, in the Turtle Mountains of North Dakota and Manitoba.
A bill for a half dollar for the 160th anniversary of the arrival of General George Washington and the Continental Army at Morristown, New Jersey, after their inspiring victories at Trenton and Princeton, and the establishment of cantonments in Morristown for the duration of the war.
A bill for a half dollar for the World's Fair to be held in New York City in 1939 in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the inauguration of the first President of the United States of America and of the establishment of the Federal Government in the city of New York.
A bill for a half dollar in commemoration of the memory of the late Dr. Charles P. Steinmetz.
A bill for a half dollar for the 300th anniversary of the founding of Hartford, Connecticut.
A bill for a half dollar for 100th anniversary of admission of Michigan into the Union.

Two other measures—one for a Tri-State (Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas) half dollar and another for a half dollar for 100th anniversary of the arrival of Marcus and Narcissa Whitman in the Walla Walla, Washington area, and founding of the Waiilatpu Mission—were changed to medals instead of coins.

And the guitar gently weeps

2007-10-24T16:09:59.1930000-04:00

OK. So the tune on one side of a 45 r.p.m. record I own may not rise to the level of George Harrison's "My Guitar Gently Weeps" as a musical composition. And, even though it does feature a guitar, I don't think it weeps.

Even so, if you are a coin collector, you have to love its title: "Our Love is Rarer Than a 1909-S V.D.B. Lincoln cent."

It's performed by the Rockway's, with Wayne Eberhart on piano and Rocky Nelson on guitar, and lasts 2.25 minutes. My version is a "Special 15th Anniversary Issue" by Whatever Wreck-Ard's, copyrighted 1990, which would put the original issue at 1975. The flip side has "Wayne's Mood," which is 5 minutes in length.

But that's about all I know. An Internet search turned up two listings of this record being for sale. One was priced at $75 and the other at $86. Though they were both autographed by Eberhart to the same person and may be the same copy.

It also appeared from my search that Eberhart owned Whatever Wreck-Ard's, based in Seattle. But nothing tells me if he wrote the all-musical piece or, if not, when it was originally composed.

More intriguing, were there ever any lyrics to it? What lyrics would come next, assuming the song started with "Our love is rarer than a 1909-S V.D.B. Lincoln cent"? Would the next line rhyme with "cent" or play off "V.D.B."? Obviously I'm no song writer, but I am a collector, and would (I think) love to hear it.

Anyone know more about its origin? Could it date to earlier? (The 1909-S V.D.B. Lincoln cent has been known as a key cent since its release.) And if there never were any lyrics, why this then seemingly unusual title?

'Coins' hit the big screen in 'The Truman Show'

2007-10-10T09:55:51.6460000-04:00

Here's a fun bit of trivia I'll bet few in the hobby know. What coin-related magazine appears on a newspaper kiosk in the Golden Globe-winning movie, "The Truman Show," starring Jim Carrey?

It's Coins magazine—the October 1996 issue to be exact.

In 1996, well before "The Truman Show" reached theaters, I received, by fax, a Legal Script Clearance from Beth Unger Morrison, representing Paramount Pictures Corp., asking me, as Coins' editor, to approve the use of Coins magazine in the movie.

The cover letter noted that:

"Our film is directed by Peter Weir ("DEAD POETS SOCIETY", "FEARLESS") and stars Jim Carrey ("ACE VENTURA") and Dennis Hopper ("SPEED"). "THE TRUMAN SHOW" is about Truman Burbank (played by Carrey), whose whole life is a television show, only he is the only one who doesn't know it. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week people across the country tune in to watch Truman's every move but when he finds out that his life is not real, Truman tries to escape the show. A confrontation occurs between the show's producer, Christof (played by Hopper), who ultimately loses Truman to the real world."

Paramount wanted to use the cover of the October 1996 issue of Coins in scenes at a newspaper kiosk that Truman passes every day on his way to work. The magazine would appear as set dressing in the background. Provided also by Morrison were two pages of a Sept. 8, 1996-dated version of the script, detailing Truman's visit to the newspaper kiosk in downtown Seahaven in scene 10.

She advised that:

"We hope to use your magazine in the scenes at the newspaper kiosk that Truman passes on his way to work. Truman always stops and looks at the magazines, then curiously picks one up and tears a portion of a page; we see this same routine happen twice in the film (for example, see attached scene 10). Your magazine will be seen ONLY as set dressing on the rack and will not be used as the one Truman tears. Also, no dialogue reference will be made towards it."

Filming was slated to begin on Dec. 2, 1996, and Paramount wanted me to grant permission and provide extra copies of the October 1996 issue of Coins for the kiosk.

Permission was granted, and the copies were sent to Nancy Haigh (set decorator for the movie and frequent Academy Award nominee and an Oscar recipient for her work on the 1991 film, "Bugsy") in Seaside, Fla. Seaside was the town that was the inspiration for Seahaven in the movie. And, according to one Internet site, principal photography for "The Truman Show" began on Dec. 9.

However, it took until June 5,1998, for the film to come out. By that time Dennis Hopper had been replaced by Ed Harris in the role of Christof, and I feared that the magazine would be forgotten. So I didn't go to see the movie in the theater—waiting until it came out on video.

Admittedly, it is a bit hard to see (easier with a DVD and zoom), but Coins made it onto the kiosk and appears in two scenes. The most popular item at the newspaper kiosk is a magazine called Dog Fancy. However, on at least two occasions, Truman buys a fashion magazine. On his first visit to the kiosk, you see him reach for a copy of She magazine. Coins is on the rack just above. However, it's really hard to make out.

A much better view comes later in the movie, just after the camera focuses in on a Seahaven resident reading a copy of The Island Times newspaper with the headline "Crackdown on Homeless." You can make out Coins on the top shelf, outside of the kiosk at the right of the screen. At one point, they are just over Truman's shoulder. Clearly visible is the Coins masthead, which was for that issue in yellow, as the lead headline was "Going for the gold" with the subhead "Affordable ways to begin a gold coin collection" below it.

In the corner, next to COINS, is the obverse of a 1996 Smithsonian commemorative gold $5. However, on my small screen, all that could be made out was its circular form. Same was true of the headlines below it.

The cover also featured a one-ounce gold American Eagle in a Capital Plastics holder, which is partially obscured by the masthead. Lower on the page, in the capsules they were issued in, are a silver Eagle and another gold Eagle.

Why the set decorator wanted this particular issue of Coins, I'm not certain, unless she was attracted by the 'Going for the gold" headline and at some point it was thought this would be in a position where it could be read by movie viewers. If it was just the Coins masthead that was liked, any issue of Coins would have worked. Perhaps you can read the headlines better on the big screen.

"The Truman Show" was nominated for three Oscars and six Golden Globes, winning three Golden Globes, including Best Actor in a Motion Picture-Drama honors for Carrey. It also won the 1999 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. I'd like to think Coins helped. Too bad there's no award for best supporting set dressing.

"And the award goes to..."

Our fascist dime

2007-10-02T12:49:33.3340000-04:00

Among the many false rumors spread about U.S. coins over the years was that the appearance of the "fasces," an ancient Roman symbol of authority, on the Mercury dime (1916-1945) was linked to a secret support of fascism in this country.

Why? Well, even though the Mercury dime went into circulation prior to the rise of fascism in Italy under Benito Mussolini, by the 1920s, some began to notice that the fasces, which was by then being used as a symbol of fascism, also appeared on the back of the U.S. dime.

"Anyone who denounces Mussolini for the adoption of a battle-ax as the symbol of the Fascisti, says Representative Sol Bloomsays, better take a look at our dime," wrote the Chicago Evening Post in 1926.

In 1936, a letter sent to the chairman of the House Committee on Coinage, Weights and Measures (reproduced in the October 1936 issue of The Numismatist, the monthly publication of the American Numismatic Association), warned that:

"The fasces, which is the emblem of Fascism, the present form of government in Italy, strangely enough appears on the reverse of our dime. Although it appears on this coinage as early as 1916, and although it was not adopted by Mussolini and his followers until 1919, future world historians delving into the past through numismatics, as is often the custom, are liable to draw the conclusion that the United States and not Italy was the birthplace of fascism."

For the artist's part, Adolph Weinman, whose coinage designs reflected the mood of the nation as it faced the possibility of entry into World War I, the fasces on the dime's reverse were "to symbolize the strength which lies in unity, while the battle-ax stands for preparedness to defend the Union. The branch of olive is symbolical of our love of peace."

Brother, can you spare some gold?

2007-09-26T17:33:42.9640000-04:00

Next month, I'll be attending the California State Numismatic Association's Eighth Annual Northern California Educational Symposium, slated for Oct. 27 in Vallejo.

I'm one of four speakers at the symposium, which focuses mainly on California and its relation to gold. Alton Pryor will be speaking on "Those Lusty Gold Camps of California"; Dr. Donald H. Kagin will present "California Gold Coinages"; and Dr. Michael F. Wehner will talk on "The Golden Gate Bridge on Tokens and Medals."

My presentation is title 'A Tale of Mines plus Trade and Morgan Dollars" and is drawn from my book, Crime of 1873: The Comstock Connection (Krause Publications, 2001).

Few would relate silver to California, thinking first of gold. But it was California that at the Comstock Lode's height controlled most of the silver-rich Nevada mines.

It was also an influential California banker, William C. Ralston, who through secret payments to Treasury agent Henry R. Linderman, engineered many of the provisions of the Coinage Act of 1873 (aka, the "Crime of 1873"), including the adoption of the gold standard and the dropping of the standard silver dollar from the coinage measure. Out of their relationship and maneuverings also came the U.S. Trade dollar and, eventually, the Morgan dollar, with the start of free silver agitation in 1876.

The tale of money during this time is a complicated topic. Specie (hard money) payments had been suspended during the Civil War and wouldn't resume until the late 1870s. Much of the nation relied on depreciated paper money. The West, however, with its abundance of gold, clung to hard money and continued to use gold and silver in change.

An interesting illustration of the problems caused by having one region of the country value currency at different rate than another appeared in the May 21, 1869 issue of the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, which wrote:

At Corinne [Utah], the traveller going east strikes a greenback country; a country where the people look with astonishment and perplexity upon a gold coin, and scarcely know what to do with it. Prices, as far as the Promontory, are on a gold basis, east of that on a currency basis. Thus, the traveller who starts from Sacramento pays $1 in gold for his meals, up to Promontory. Thence eastward he is agreeably surprised to find that the charge is only $1 in currency. On the other hand, the traveller bound west discovers, with a lengthening face, that the meal which only cost him $1 in currency at Corinne, requires $1 25 or more twenty miles west of that town.

I suppose with the U.S. dollar recently dropping below the Canadian dollar, Americans traveling to Canada are experiencing similar dismay as 19th-century travelers to the West. On the flip side, Canadians coming to the United States are probably quite happy.