Options
Coin Decathlon: The Ten Most Famous U.S. Ultra Rarities
Zoins
Posts: 33,911 ✭✭✭✭✭
I just ran across this Registry Set which has an interesting list of top coins.
TEN MOST FAMOUS UNITED STATES ULTRA RARITIES
Here are the coins.
- 1913 Liberty Head Nickel – five known.
- 1894-S Barber Dime – eleven known.
- 1876-CC Twenty Cent Piece – less than 20 known.
- 1838-O Half Dollar – about a dozen known.
- 1804 Bust Dollar – eight Originals, seven Restrikes.
- 1870-S Seated Liberty Dollar – nine known.
- 1885 Trade Dollar – five known.
- Coiled Hair "Stella" (1879 or 1880) – 10-12 known of each.
- 1907 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle – 20 known.
- 1927-D $20 – just over a dozen known.
Eliasberg Coin Decathlon
Louis Edward Eliasberg Sr. is the only one that has 100% completion for this set.
Here are photos of some of the Eliasberg coins. It will take some time to assemble these photos as some are in NGC holders, quite a few don't have photos in the CoinFacts Condition Census, and the 1927-D doesn't even have a CF Condition Census listing.
2
Comments
These are the cool, famous coins from the Red Book that are collectible.
Much more "Famous" than "Ultra Rare".
The Ultra Rare coins are really the ones with only 1-2 known, like:
I think they are all included in the "100 Greatest" registry set.
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/famous-u-s-coins/famous-u-s-coins/100-greatest-u-s-coins/composition/1576
It's all just words, though, in defining what "Ultra Rare" means.
Maybe there is "Insanely Rare" which is rarer than Ultra?
I agree with you that this list is more famous than rare, but it's important as these are actually collectible by more than one person at a time, so it makes them more interesting from the perspective of set completion.
The unique to own coins are so hard for anyone to complete as a set, that the discussion isn't interesting because no one can do it! Of course, it would be amazing if someone did. I would add the 1933 DE to the list as a unique to own coin. For these coins see the Holy Trinity thread:
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1066500/the-holy-trinity#latest
As for the 100 greatest, that's a great list, but that's also a lot of coins to comprehend!
By "famous" do you mean "over-hyped"? Get rid of the patterns and unofficial coins made by the "midnight minters" and substitute these legitimate unique coins.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
I would title the list "Coins I will never own."...
Cheers, RickO
Can you post a list of 10 coins with the changes you'd make? It'd be great to see
I'd be more interested in a list containing only coins that were actually struck for circulation and did circulate.
It could be! Can you create a list and post it?
I'm still trying to figure out how to get images of the ones not slabbed by PCGS or by PCGS without TrueViews.
I'll start it:
1849-O quarter.
Thanks!
That's a very short list
Is the Eliasberg coin known for this?
CoinFacts has the following though I've learned that when an auction house says "sale of (someone) Collection", not all coins may be from that collection. It seems the name is used for marketing purposes.
Ref: https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/coin/1849-o-25c/5414
Here's the @DLHansen specimen. It may be worth building a set of photos for Dell here as well.
About 40 years ago I owned a specimen of the 1849-O quarter that was superior in appearance to the Hansen specimen. I sold it to a fellow coin club member. I wish I hadn't.
What we have here, is a failure, to communicate!
Please communicate Tom!
Are we talking about "fame" or "rarity?" They are not equivalent.
The 1804 Dollar is, IMHO, the "most famous" U.S. coin. I have held five of them in my hands, two of them raw, and in my personal experience the recovery of the Linderman Specimen was one of the highlights of my nearly half century in numismatics. As a young collector I wanted to own one. I think I can afford the "$10,500" they used to list at in my first Redbook.
I have held all five 1913 Liberty Nickels in the palm of my hand at one time. Rarer than the 1804 Dollars, and nearly equal in fame thanks to B. Max Mehl, but I never wanted to own one.
I have held both the 1870-S $3 and the 1870-S Half Dime. Each unique, but not nearly as famous as the previous two. Again, never wanted to own either one.
Never held an 1822 or 1854-S $5, but I consider the latter to be more interesting because of the Gold Rush stories they could tell. The 1822 is rare because of bullion speculators. Meh.