1866 $3 Lincoln Gold "pattern" God and Our Country PCGS MS66

DCW

Thought I'd share with you all the results of my latest submission, which I am quite happy about.
1866 $3 Gold Lincoln JC-1866-1 PCGS MS66

A very mysterious piece struck in gold in the aftermath of the Lincoln assassination. The obverse is a nicely executed portrait of the slain president heralded by the motto "God and Our Country." The reverse is a known US Mint pattern die for perhaps a 3 cent piece. As this was struck on a gold planchet around the size of a nickel, it is referred to as a $3 "private pattern." It is included in Judd and Pollack.
Most likely, this piece was created by combining an unused mint reverse die with a contemporary die sinker's own obverse die. It has been attributed to Joseph Merriam years ago, but it has great similarities to the work of William Key who had more ties with the Philadelphia Mint. They could have been mated inside the mint or in the die sinker's shop, but this is a mystery that might never be solved.
Such an interesting piece of Americana!
Much gratitude goes out to @Regulated who helped me on his own time to get this submission sorted out at PCGS. It pays to have the "Numismatist of the Year" on your side.
Thanks for looking!

cardinal

Excellent!!

I identified another one of these for PCGS 4-1/2 years ago:

Sadly, the example here shows filed rims!

Smudge

Jeehosephat, post of the day or more for me. Never seen that. Thanks for posting.

DCW

@cardinal Looks to be the plain edge variety? Mine has a reeded edge. About 4 or 5 known of each

jwitten

Amazing!

coinsarefun

What a beautiful piece, steeped in mystery and history

scubafuel

I wonder if they used the file as an expediency to get a "plain edge" variety.

Paradisefound

BEAUTIFUL!!!!! I especially love the wreath ...... olive branch and oaks?

MrEureka

Here's a pattern nickel that was definitely struck at the US Mint.

MrEureka

And a reverse die trial of the unfinished reverse.

MrEureka

Here's a similar trial for a three cent piece, unknown to be used on any patterns.

MrEureka

And the one cent version.

MrEureka

And here's a "$3" struck in nickel. Or is the gold piece a 3CN struck in gold???

MrEureka

While the jury is still out on the Merriam (Key?) pieces, my belief is that his pieces were not made at the Philly Mint. The fabric of the pieces is just plain wrong. However, it seems likely that either he borrowed Longacre's design, or Longacre borrowed his design. If the latter is true, I have to believe that it was at Merriam's (or Key's) suggestion.

Zoins

@MrEureka said:
And here's a "$3" struck in nickel. Or is the gold piece a 3CN struck in gold???

Interesting question. Is a large roman numeral with nothing else more common for cents or dollars? It's also interesting that this has a 6 pointed star on the reverse which was also used in a larger way on the 3 cent silver.

My gut feel is that a large roman numeral was more common for cents, but I'm not sure about all the patterns that are out there.

Great photos of the different, but related, specimens.

MrEureka

And just to be thorough, the 1868 version.

MrEureka

Which also exists in gold!

MrEureka

@DCW said:
It has been attributed to Joseph Merriam years ago, but it has great similarities to the work of William Key who had more ties with the Philadelphia Mint. They could have been mated inside the mint or in the die sinker's shop, but this is a mystery that might never be solved.

What can you tell us about William Key?

AlexinPA

A very interesting story, thanks.

DCW

@MrEureka said:

@DCW said:
It has been attributed to Joseph Merriam years ago, but it has great similarities to the work of William Key who had more ties with the Philadelphia Mint. They could have been mated inside the mint or in the die sinker's shop, but this is a mystery that might never be solved.

What can you tell us about William Key?

William H. Key became assistant engraver at the Philadelphia Mint in 1864 and was there until around 1892. (The other assistant engraver was a guy named William Barber.) He was apparently responsible for more than a few patterns of the day. 1866 was a big year, with perhaps more than 75 variations for the nickel alone struck .

I tend to believe that the gold piece I posted was Key's work, and not that of Merriam based on engraving style and Key's obvious connection to the Mint. It also appears to me that the reverse die "III" was to be used for a three cent piece that never came to fruition.

Thanks for posting those die trials!

The "God and Our Country" motto can be found on quite a few patterns from this year so whoever designed these clearly had some kind of pattern in mind.

Namvet69

Thanks, I was unaware of this memorial. Peace Roy

ricko

Wow....Interesting gold pieces.....and thanks for the associated information. Cheers, RickO

asheland

Very interesting!

DCW

I saw the 1868 variant in gold just sold at Heritage for $6,600! Same grade as my 1866, but it was in a NGC holder. I would've liked to add it to my collection, but I wasnt bidding and with taxes added it would be north of $7k. Like many other lots in the FUN auction, it sold for strong money. Anybody pick this one up?

Broadstruck

It's been a while since I've seen one, but had seen quite a few of these over the last 2 decades.

In my opinion the 4-5 you state might actually be more like 20-30 known.

Broadstruck

@MrEureka said:
Which also exists in gold!

Well that explains the low mintage as the obverse die failed.

Broadstruck

I don't believe these are work by either Joseph Merriam or William H. Key.

Both were far better die sinkers than this and that's a pretty homely looking Lincoln compared to their known work.

Timbuk3

OMG, absolutely gorgeous !!!

amari2018

amari2018