five-dollar gold coins of 1887 are not likely to soon become rare
1630Boston
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Successful transactions with : MICHAELDIXON, Manorcourtman, Bochiman, bolivarshagnasty, AUandAG, onlyroosies, chumley, Weiss, jdimmick, BAJJERFAN, gene1978, TJM965, Smittys, GRANDAM, JTHawaii, mainejoe, softparade, derryb
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Yup, there are about 45 known to exist.
Define "soon"
And the irony is that if Philadelphia had started making $5s in mid-December of 1887, they'd be the rare ones for that date. Of course, people weren't concerned about the mint much back then.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
1887 Liberty Head half eagles were made at just the Philadelphia and San Francisco (S) mints. However, the Philadelphia mint only produced proof half eagles in 1887, meaning all of that year’s $5 gold business-strike coins came from San Francisco. While only one mint was able to provide a batch of circulating coins, the total number of business strikes approached 2 million, which was a substantial output of $5 gold coins for the San Francisco Mint to strike at the time.
Here’s a look at the mintages and values of 1887 $5 Liberty Head half eagle gold coins:
1887 (proof only), 87 minted; $65,000
1887-S, 1,912,000; $400
Successful transactions with : MICHAELDIXON, Manorcourtman, Bochiman, bolivarshagnasty, AUandAG, onlyroosies, chumley, Weiss, jdimmick, BAJJERFAN, gene1978, TJM965, Smittys, GRANDAM, JTHawaii, mainejoe, softparade, derryb
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Do we know when during the year the proofs were made?
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Interesting example of the mindset before collecting by mint marks became popular.
Seems funny now, that they were only thinking that the year mattered as who would ever care about what mint it was from.
Maybe only just a few people might have been collecting some mintmarks then, but "That changed in 1893 when Augustus G. Heaton published his landmark monograph, A Treatise on the Coinage of United States Branch Mints, for sale for just a dollar" as noted in the article linked below by Q. David Bowers.
Bowers on collecting: The rise of mint mark collecting
news.coinupdate.com/bowers-on-collecting-the-rise-of-mint-mark-collecting/
"To Be Esteemed Be Useful" - 1792 Birch Cent --- "I personally think we developed language because of our deep need to complain." - Lily Tomlin
There is info in "Walter Breen's Encyclopedia of United States and Colonial Proof Coins 1722-1989" which available in full on the PCGS website.
It reports "Mintage: First quarter, 25 for the March sets; second, 27, of which 17 were delivered then and 10 in third quarter; fourth, 35 struck and delivered, total 87". Whether that bit of info is accurate, I do not know.
The Philadelphia Double Eagle of 1887 is also Proof-Only.
https://pcgs.com/books/breen-proofs/Chapter07/64
"To Be Esteemed Be Useful" - 1792 Birch Cent --- "I personally think we developed language because of our deep need to complain." - Lily Tomlin
Has anybody been able to verify this? I have problems trusting anything Breen says with all of his fake specimen and proof designations.
A question....when there was a Proof-only gold issue such as these for 1887, did the Annual Assay Commission held in the following February receive one Philadelphia Proof $5 and one Philadelphia Proof $20 to be weighed and/or assayed?
Good question. Never thought about it before and don't recall ever seeing it addressed, though maybe it has been at some point.
"To Be Esteemed Be Useful" - 1792 Birch Cent --- "I personally think we developed language because of our deep need to complain." - Lily Tomlin
I'm working on it
Successful transactions with : MICHAELDIXON, Manorcourtman, Bochiman, bolivarshagnasty, AUandAG, onlyroosies, chumley, Weiss, jdimmick, BAJJERFAN, gene1978, TJM965, Smittys, GRANDAM, JTHawaii, mainejoe, softparade, derryb
Bad transactions with : nobody to date
The 1887-S is the lowest-mintage San Francisco Liberty Head $20 with motto.
Overall, it is the 4th lowest mintage San Francisco Liberty Head $20 when including all subtypes and varieties:
1861-S: 19,250 (Paquet tall letters variety) (plus 768,000 with normal letters)
1866-S: 120,000 (no motto variety) (plus 842,250 with motto)
1854-S: 141,868
1887-S: 283,000
Does anybody have Roger Burdette's compilation of Assay Commission Reports that were published on CDs?
I do not, they may be available here.
To order Burdette's Assay Commission DVD, see:
Annual Assay Commission: United States Mint 1800-1943 (www.wizardcoinsupply.com/annual-assay-commission-united-states-mint-1800-1943.html)
https://www.wizardcoinsupply.com/annual-assay-commission-united-states-mint-1800-1943.html
Successful transactions with : MICHAELDIXON, Manorcourtman, Bochiman, bolivarshagnasty, AUandAG, onlyroosies, chumley, Weiss, jdimmick, BAJJERFAN, gene1978, TJM965, Smittys, GRANDAM, JTHawaii, mainejoe, softparade, derryb
Bad transactions with : nobody to date
Yes, I have this. I can check tonight.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
I just checked in the mint production reports on the NNP. There were 25 made in March, 17 in June, 10 in September, and 35 in December. Other gold for the year was struck on a similar schedule.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
I just checked now, since it turns out it was handy. There is one $5 mentioned in the assay report of coins produced during CY 1887 (assay conducted Jan,-Feb. 1888), and it was weighed on December 28 (0.03 grains light). The were no $5s mentioned being submitted for a "mass melt". The summary at the end of the report, however, says that there were 4 $5s reserved for assay. Apparently, 3 of these were submitted to the assay but not weighed.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Does that specify Philadelphia Mint, or is that all Mints?
That's specifically Philadelphia. The report is separated out by mint. The 3 proof $5s unused for the assay would have been either put into circulation or offered for purchase by commission members.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Thank you. That is very important information, because it supports Roger Burdette's article in Coin World which claims that the Proof-only Trade Dollars from 1879-on were struck as medals rather than as coins because none of them were submitted to the Annual Assay. If Proof-only gold was submitted, then Proof-only silver should have been also.