Since I collect gold and it being hot, I decided upon this $10 piece with the "L's".

trueblood

derryb

you picked an expensive hobby.

CaptHenway

Was it under melt because of the light weight?

trueblood

@CaptHenway said:
Was it under melt because of the light weight?

Never weighed it.
Paid through the nose.
Oh well.

Nysoto

Nice "L" government counterstamp. I was considering it for awhile, other items had priority. Probably extremely rare for an L stamped CC Eagle. I plan to do some research on these at NARA when they open - I won't hold my breath.

trueblood

@Nysoto said:
Nice "L" government counterstamp. I was considering it for awhile, other items had priority. Probably extremely rare for an L stamped CC Eagle. I plan to do some research on these at NARA when they open - I won't hold my breath.

Glad I wasn't the only one thinking this way.

ricko

I am not familiar with the 'L' stamp... Is there a backstory on these? Cheers, RickO

TwoSides2aCoin

Looks like the work of some son of a rich blacksmith. Can I type this here ?

TwoSides2aCoin

And on the flip side , L is for Like.

PerryHall

@ricko said:
I am not familiar with the 'L' stamp... Is there a backstory on these? Cheers, RickO

Gold coins lost their legal tender status if they lost a certain amount of weight through wear (I seem to remember 0.5% but I could be wrong) and they then were worth only bullion value which would still be fairly close to face value. The US Subtreasury in NY would weigh any gold coins that came in and the ones that were "light" were stamped with an L to indicate underweight or light. The depositors were then paid based on weight rather than face value and the coins would be sent back to the mint for melting and recoining. This is my understanding and if anyone knows otherwise please correct me.

ricko

@PerryHall ... Thank you.... I somehow have missed this bit of information over the years...Interesting...and logical. Evidently, a few escaped the melting pot.... Cheers, RickO

jwitten

I've owned a fair amount of L stamped gold. I happen to like them! Nice coin!

WinLoseWin

@ricko said:
I am not familiar with the 'L' stamp... Is there a backstory on these? Cheers, RickO

Some good info on them in this thread:

"Counterstamped gold coins. Anyone else see these before"

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1000439/counterstamped-gold-coins-anyone-else-see-these-before#latest

Jimnight

Didn't no about the L stamp on gold.

2dueces

Unlike the treasury I’ll pay full face value for any gold coins deemed light.

asheland

Very cool!

trueblood

I just received this $10, nicer in hand, better color too. Counterstamps have crud inside also.

ShaunBC5

I didn’t know about the L’s, either. That’s a really neat coin.
Do these straight grade since it was done by the government as part of the coinage cycle?
Is it post and pre mint damage at the same time?

dpoole

PerryHall is a smart dude!

Thanks for that.

pursuitofliberty

Very informative, and a neat coin to boot. I had never had heard of this practice. nor can I remember seeing one of these before.

Crusty

I learned something new today. Thanks for sharing your new pick purchase with us.

topstuf

I was thinking the L's might stand for the ...Labor.... required just to cheat people out of the face value of their deposits.

trueblood

@ShaunBC5 said:
I didn’t know about the L’s, either. That’s a really neat coin.
Do these straight grade since it was done by the government as part of the coinage cycle?
Is it post and pre mint damage at the same time?

I will find out since I will be sending it off to our host with the article from the older newspaper explaining what it is. Hopefully our host will call it as such, but one never knows. I am optimistic, it is not like these have been found in droves.

Nysoto

The TPG's should recognize and attribute these as government counterstamped, a good research article would help. The Subtreasury records have not been researched in depth, I expect to do this to satisfy my own curiosity, it will take a while as NARA is C19 closed for public research.

A pictorial census of known examples would also help, the referenced thread is a good start with an number of L gold coins. They are scarce, if not rare.

Onastone

Thanks for the info @PerryHall ...quite fascinating. Cool find @trueblood . Let me know if you find any "H" stamped coins...you know, the coins that weigh out heavier than they should be!!

LukeMarshall

Here is mine, and yes I weighed it and it is struck on an underweight planchet.

There is another thread I am searching for this morning with links to the practice of assay offices or banks counterstamping these to denotate them being underweight.

Edit to add.

I sent this to PCGS a few years ago, and received a details grade, but I didnt include any backstory, so maybe with proper documentation it would straight grade?

micotu

Is that L going all the way through to protrude on the reverse? I noted it was backwards and in a similar place.

coinandcurrency242

How does the L affect the value?

LukeMarshall

@micotu said:
Is that L going all the way through to protrude on the reverse? I noted it was backwards and in a similar place.

Its not protruding on the reverse, they are both depressed, like it was put in a two sided punch and stamped.

@coinandcurrency242 said:
How does the L affect the value?

In many cases a counterstamp on a coin destroys value as it is "post mint damage"
There are however cases where counterstamped coins retain value and are sought after (think trade dollars, advertising pieces, ect.)

Here is the link to the thread I was looking for and some research into the "L" counterstamp on gold coin.

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/comment/12741544

micotu

Seems like this counterstamp would be pretty easy to replicate. Would seem like it would be hard for this to be an increase in value, or people would just start adding these to their coins, no? Or i guess a recent counterstamp would me more evident than one done 100 years ago.

LukeMarshall

@micotu said:
Seems like this counterstamp would be pretty easy to replicate. Would seem like it would be hard for this to be an increase in value, or people would just start adding these to their coins, no? Or i guess a recent counterstamp would me more evident than one done 100 years ago.

You are correct that anyone can go get an "L" counterstamp from the local hardware store and start smashing Ls in coins.

Yes a modern punch on a hundred+ year old coin is going to show a brightness in the stamp from freshly moved metal vs the original surrounding colours.

The coin I posted is actually a lightweight planchet despite having XF details, and seems to fall in line with the research of the treasury adding the mark to denotate as such, so I have no reason to suspect it was done for any other reasons.