Best Of

Some kind of dip or other residue on the coin? My concern would be what it's going to look like in another 10 years. Will that toning start trending toward black?

Calf. Fractional Gold

Finally got this bit that I missed 11 years ago.
2014 (D):

@JCH22 said:
With respect, the write up is materially incorrect.

It is documented that Schultz's partner Garratt (correct spelling) retained the machinery and dies after private issues were regulated by the California Legislature and Schultz & Co was dissolved a couple months thereafter. Garratt himself so stated in a dictated statement. The machinery and dies survived the fire of 1851. They were retained by Garratt —and subsequently destroyed by a fire at Garratt’s later Fremont & Mission operation —almost 20 years later-- in 1870.

Garratt had the dies and machinery available for almost 20 years after to do with as he pleased.

Albert Kuner -- through Schulz & Co, was the engraver for most all private California issuers-- save for Moffit. He was not a principal of Schulz & Company, nor did he retain dies.

Coin appears to be an over-strike--- made by Garratt alone--- after Schultz & Company dissolved- but sometime before the 1870 fire.

Believe PCGS got it wrong by labeling a later Garratt over-strike as a "Schultz & Co." issue.

Duty Calls! - and you've answered Thank you!

I'd love to amend our article with some of this info. Would you mind sharing your sources? I will gladly credit you for pointing us in the right direction.

This is the wonderful thing about the Internet - we can easily amend publications as new info comes to light.

(BTW - it seems to me that it's still entirely speculative as to the exact origin date & source - but at the very least if we can definitively narrow the window to 1851-1870, that would be an excellent refinement.)

@1peter1223 said:
I have all the James A. Stack auction catalogs . He had some INCREDIBLE coins in his collection.
Not much is known about him compared to other collectors of his calibre .
From what little i have read ..

Not related to the Firm .
Was a Stock broker ?
Died in a 1951 Car accident ?
Was only actively collecting for about 20 years ?

I previously posted that I'm always interested in knowing more about these famous collectors. This is what I learned from the Stack's website.

James A. Stack, Sr., was no relation to the Stack dealership family. He was a widower who resided in the Hotel Roosevelt, East 45th Street and Vanderbilt Ave., just around the corner from Stack’s on West 46th Street. He was a broker and finished his day’s work at 3:00 each afternoon. He would visit Stack’s several times a week to see “what’s new” in our stock, view items in our upcoming auctions, and sit with my Uncle Joe or my father, Morton, to discuss coins.

In the 1940s and early 1950s Jim, as we all called him, formed one of the biggest collections of United Sates coins, U.S. paper money and English coins. Jim’s family immigrated to the United States in the late 19th century, and undoubtedly his sense of heritage attracted him to English coinage.

Jim, of course, also deeply loved the coins of the United States and pursued the classic American coins from 1793 to date in all metals – gold, silver, and copper. As he added to his holdings, he had vast collections to choose from as they came onto the market in the 1940s. It was a fact that many legendary collections formed during the late 19th and 20th centuries up to World War II, became available as either the old timers or their estates decided to sell them. The resulting “pickings” were great for collectors then active in the hobby.

Among these available collections were those of Geiss, Col. E.H.R. Green, J.F. Bell, F.C.C. Boyd, James Clark and numerous others. When Jim Stack died in 1949, the Stack collection was divided among his three children, with instructions that it remain intact until his youngest grandchild has turned 25. This directive ensured that none of his coins returned to the market until Stack’s Rare Coins (the predecessor of Stack’s Bowers Galleries) began auctioning portions of the collection in 1975. These landmark sales—held through the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s—cemented the Stack name as a byword for rarity and quality among a generation of collectors.