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Unique Lesher Dollar from Bill Henderson's collection to be auctioned
CaptHenway
Posts: 31,548 ✭✭✭✭✭
I have no financial interest in the collection, but am friends with the consignor and had the honor of knowing his grandfather, Bill Henderson, when I worked at the ANA.
TD
Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.
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Their estimate is low, I think, for that Lesher dollar. There are others that are nearly non-collectable too. I remember when people looked down their noses that these pieces.
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
Can someone please explain the attraction of collecting Lesher Dollars??
it is in the realm of those who collect Patterns, but I digress.
I believe they are collected by persons with a keen interest in History, our monetary system, Western turn-of-the-Century Exonumia, the unique design, mining and the overall scarcity/rarity of the Lesher Dollars. they are a niche market which interests me but since the prices seem high to me I avoid them. they are like the Bryan Dollars on steroids, and Bryan Dollars have a boring design and are much more common overall --- yet sell for more than I am willing to pay for the interesting subject matter.
likewise, Patterns interest me but I am unwilling to pay up for them when I weigh that price against what I get in exchange. BUT, they are mostly all uber-cool, like the Leshers and Bryans.
Lakes,
To each his own. There are MANY things about this hobby that I do not understand, particularly what motivates someone to buy a particular numismatic item. That's part of what keeps me interested in numismatics, actually.
Lesher dollars were promoted about a century ago by Farran Zerbe--even then, they enjoyed a considerable premium over their bullion values. I have never owned one, but I do find some aspects of them interesting. Just not enough to prompt me to open up my wallet and add one to my collection. Even after reading the new book on Lesher Dollars, it is clear to me that even basic information, like numbers made or survival estimates, isn't known with certainty. If a cache shows up....
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
I like them because they are tied to our historic use of silver, octagonal, have pictorials and have numerous types.
From the following, Joseph Lesher's Referendum Dollars seem to be the classic equivalent of Bernard Von Nothaus's Liberty Dollars:
I would love to find one in a junk box in Paris...
Prices seem all over the board.
It would be a centerpiece in my box of 20.
BST: KindaNewish (3/21/21), WQuarterFreddie (3/30/21), Meltdown (4/6/21), DBSTrader2 (5/5/21) AKA- unclemonkey on Blow Out
Why are Brasher Doubloons collectible? Or Bechtler gold or Civil War tokens? Just private pieces meant to be used as money.
I think what puts Lesher Dollars and Liberty Dollars together, as opposed to the older pieces, is that they were both designed to skirt US coinage laws. Of course, there are collectors for Liberty Dollars too.
That is a gorgeous piece.
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
The same could be said of Mormon gold.
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
I like the fact that they had individual names on them. Made them much more personal.
They are in the Red Book.
it is clear to me that even basic information, like numbers made or survival estimates, isn't known with certainty. If a cache shows up..........
almost certainly this will not happen. the estimate of "No more than 3,500 Lesher Dollars are believed to have been minted" is probably not wrong and most of that number was lost to attrition through melting. betting on a hunch that maybe several hundred are going to show up is pretty unrealistic, but maybe it will happen and make the price low enough for me.
I would not take that bet.
Which laws were Mormon gold coins skirting? Mormon gold was struck from 1849 to 1860 while the laws restricting private coinage were passed in 1864.
Zoins,
Now that you reminded me of that, you are correct. I was confusing the church with the territory (sometimes not hard to do, if one knows something about Utah history and I do).
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
Lesher dollars are fascinating!
The problem is, of course, that so few are available that it takes a really long time to add a different variety to your collection. And they are reeeeally expensive.
But if you dont think Lesher dollars are sexy, man you better check your pulse!
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
I have always been fascinated with
Colorado’s numismatic history.
I had the pleasure of working on
a book about these dollars.
Legend currently has about six coins in their inventory with asking prices equal to or much, much greater than the estimate of this entire collection of rare to unique Lesher dollars.
I know where I'd spend my half million.
--Severian the Lame
That is an interesting response. Which begs the question--what kinds of arguments result in nonfederal items making it into the Red Book? [And the converse.] Just getting a coin listed in the Red Book no doubt drastically increases its value.
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
I like coins that tell the story of people solving problems. Lesher Dollars certainly qualify on that count. Some history here:
http://lesherdollars.com
I also like coins that are very difficult but not impossible to collect at the highest level. Leshers qualify on that count as well.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
Thanks for the replies - they were so far off my radar screen that I didn't realize that they might be interesting.
Will be sure to check out the current offerings and begin learning the history behind them.
While I have seen Lesher dollars mentioned here before, and even read a bit about them in some books...I have never actually come across one at a coin show....and certainly not inclined to collect them. They are interesting and certainly part of numismatic history. Cheers, RickO
Part of it was whether Richard S. Yeoman or Ken Bressett liked them way back when. A classic example is the 1837 Half Cent token. By being put in the regular Half Cent section, rather than with the other Hard Times Tokens in the back, the demand for it is far greater than if it were not in the book at all.
I thank Dick & Ken often as 1837 half cent tokens have been very very good to me over the years.
I would have to check my records to be 100% sure of the number (I'm 98% sure now) but I "discovered" the #18 - J.E. Nelson & Co. - Holdredge, Neb. Lesher Dollar ( now PCGS F-12) about 30-35 years ago at a tiny coin & antique show in the Midwest (that # had not been reported at the time). I sold the piece (not my best move) to a close dealer friend who had a good home for it with a serious collector of the series. From there the history of the piece includes theft (a low point), the U.S. Olympic team, a long period of silence, an auction, complicated removal from an auction (good thing I kept old invoices), private adjudication, recovery, reunification, slabbing (another low point IMHO) and an eventual completed auction for a few dollars more than my initial sale. I can't provide all the details of the story as the story is not all mine to tell but the piece itself is one of the many memorable pieces I've had the privilege of handling over the years.
I just finished reading "Forgotten Colorado SIlver: Joseph Lesher's Defiant coins," by Leonard, Hallenbeck, and WIlde. Their chapter on the Nebraska Lesher variety, like the other chapters, unfortunately has few details like Tokenpro's comment. Tracking the numbers of known varieties by year, and selected auction results, would have made the book much more informative. So would a rough condition census for the readily collectible varieties.
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
The Adna Wilde Lesher Census provides a good census. I had fun going through it.
It's section of the site posted by @MrEureka available here:
http://lesherdollars.com/census
Just saw this again. I agree the history on these are fascinating and it would be great to have a resource based on Adna's census to track the history of each one.