The Flipside with Robert R. Van Ryzin

Scowling British lion?

2010-08-09T15:03:29.492-05:00

OK. So George Morgan's initial "M" appears on the Morgan dollar (1878-1921) in the curls of Liberty's hair. Some, not knowing the English engraver who designed the new dollar, took the "M" to stand for "Mint." But how anyone, as reported in the April 4, 1878 issue of the Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, could have figured he hid a "scowling British lion" ... "in the abundant back hair with which [he] has embellished the head of Liberty" is beyond me. The Tribune quipped, 'What else this malevolent artist may have managed to crowd into the design, who dare conjecture?"

I'm not seeing a lion in Liberty's hair--scowling or otherwise.

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Laugh out loud

2010-07-25T16:34:33.358-05:00

Apparently the following was a "good one" back in 1869, as several newspapers picked it up:

"Why is a one dollar greenback better than a silver dollar? When you fold it you double it, and when you open it you find it in creases."

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Knowledge shouldn't be avoided

2010-07-22T13:27:24.478-05:00

I edit two magazines for coin collectors (Coins and Coin Prices) and one for paper money collectors (Bank Note Reporter). As such, in June I attended the International Paper Money Show in Memphis, Tenn. This year's IPMS was the first to be run by Lyn Knight and show chairman Doug Davis. A major highlight as far as I was concerned was the number of educational opportunities.

On Friday and Saturday of the show, experts from all areas of the currency field gave delightful, illustrated presentations free for all to attend. With so many scheduled, I couldn’t make it to all of them, but I did attend quite a few.

Leading into this show and aware of the wide range of educational opportunities being offered (including several excellent programs at club meetings and an author’s forum), we asked paper money collectors in a poll question whether or not they attend educational forums at paper money shows. It was disappointing to see the results. Only 14 percent checked “yes.”

If those figures are reflective of the hobby, it’s a shame. In the nearly 25 years I’ve been with Krause Publications, I’ve attended hundreds of these presentations, about paper money and coins, and I’m always intrigued by what other collectors have learned and are willing to share.

Knowledge is the key to success in this hobby and those who pass by these opportunities are making a mistake.

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An 1808 silver dollar?

2010-06-16T14:12:28.988-05:00

Recently I was digging through some 19th-century newspapers online to find references to U.S. coins. I ran into a number of stories on the 1804 dollar, all of which varied as to their assessment of why this coin is so rare as compared to others.

One of the most bizarre stories was in the Washington, D.C., Critic-Record of Dec. 17, 1888, about counterfeiters and the police pursuit of them. It was explained that a centerpiece of the collection of Hamilton Dission, a wealthy Philadelphia saw manufacturer, was “a silver dollar of 1804, during which year but six were turned out from the United States mints.”

When his collection sold at auction, the newspaper reported, the coin brought $1,100. However, before completing the purchase, the winning bidder took the coin to the Philadelphia Mint to be checked for authenticity. There, Mint experts, who apparently weren’t versed in U.S. coinage history, determined the coin to be an 1808, “which is quite common.” A huckster, according to this fractured tale, had taken an 1808 dollar and punched out the last 8 and plugged the hole with a 4.

“When this fact became known to the Numismatists’ Association it caused much alarm, and circulars were sent out to all the members in the country. As a result it was learned that eighty three members of the association believed themselves to be possessors of these six valuable dollars.”

Eventually, authorities turned their attention to Pete McCarthy, a resident of the Indiana State Prison North at Michigan City, and “one of the most famous of the latter-day counterfeiters.” This led to Pete’s wife, who was shacking up with Dr. Mason (a counterfeiting associate of her husband) in “a rickety, tumble-down cabin” on the outskirts of Neoga, Ill.

While the couple was away, officers broke into the cabin and “in the loft discovered a complete kit of counterfeiting tools” and “a number of genuine dies, evidently obtained through the collusion of some employe of the Mint at Philadelphia, were also there.” Also found was a counterfeit die for the 1804 dollar.

One wonders, however, how this tale connects with the Dission coin. The counterfeit die for an 1804 dollar can be believed, but Dission’s coin was found to have been made from a “common” 1808. Problem was, no 1808 U.S. silver dollars were ever minted. The Mint did strike 1804-dated dollars, beginning in the 1830s. Today, 15 are known.

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Who was the American Indian model?

2010-06-10T14:44:42.725-05:00

The next issue of Coins magazine (September 2010) will feature an interesting article by Tom LaMare on the Indian Head gold $5 by Bela Lyon Pratt and the supposed American Indian model for it and the $2.50.

As with other such stories, not everyone agrees on the model. Some believe it was Hollow Horn Bear, a Sioux. LaMarre suggests Thundercloud, a Blackfoot.

The Buffalo nickel story also suffers from mixed up tales. I cover that one in my new book, Fascinating Facts, Mysteries and Myths About U.S. Coins. There you'll also find why Black Diamond may not have been the model for the bison on that popular coin's reverse. For info on the book see:

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A pyramid of the yellow stuff

2008-08-25T16:40:40.937-05:00

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

2008-06-03T11:44:21.246-05:00

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

2008-05-09T09:05:35.094-05:00

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

2008-05-01T16:12:29.061-05:00

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?

2008-04-02T14:56:42.469-05:00

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.