Non-Mexican Cap & Rays Numismatic Items

pruebas

I mainly collect non-US things, but I am fascinated by the use of the cap & rays device on coins, tokens, and medals of other (non-Mexican) countries. Here's a sampling of the US part of my cap & rays collection. I try to buy pieces in silver, if possible.

1836 US Pattern Gold $1 Judd-69 [silver] (ex Simpson)
(1860s restrike. About 10 known in this metal.)

1850 US Pattern Trime Judd-125 [silver]
(Common as patterns go.)

1849 US Territorial Gold Pacific Company Pattern Quarter Eagle [gilt silver]
(Very rare.)

1834 US Hard Times Token [brassy-looking bronze] (ex Partrick, Bowers, Miller)
(Very scarce.)

(1864) US Bolen Medalet [silver] (ex Garrett, Cogen)
(Only one known.)

1864 Another Bolen Medalet [silver] (ex Bowers, Tanenbaum, Cogen, Woodward)
(One of two now known.)

1864 Die trial of the Bolen cap & rays design before the rays were engraved [lead] (ex Bolen)
(Finest of 3 known.)

1836 US First Coinage from a Steam Press Medal [bronzed copper] (ex The Strong)
(I actually have this medal in silver, but don't have a good photo since it's in a NGC slab.)

bidask

Wowee !

1960NYGiants

That is a very nice collection!

JohnnyCache

Those pieces are beautiful and I think it's very easy to see how they are a great non-Mexican compliment to a collection/collector of Mexican material.

Yorkshireman

Very nice pieces!

pruebas

I'm working on some European pieces now.

Here is one from Great Britain that I recently picked up (a Conder token):

And one from France. (As an aside, I've heard of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, but Probity? This is the first time I've seen that in the slogan.)

Boosibri

Outstanding pieces as always

neildrobertson

Those are all wonderful. It's still funny to me that a cap like that every became the symbol that it did. Such a silly thing.

pruebas

Here's another one that I forgot I had. This is a reproduction of the first steam press medal, in gold, engraved by Ron Landis at the Gallery Mint for the ANA. The history behind the piece is as follows.

In 1999, the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia lent the first US steam coining press (the one that struck the original medals in 1836) to the ANA. As a fundraiser to help with the expenses of moving the press from Philadelphia to Colorado Springs, the ANA sold (20) 22K gold examples, (200) 0.999 silver examples, and (2000) copper examples of the Ron Landis reproduction. I purchased one of each. ANA Press Release.

Here is an image of the gold medal. (This is not my example since mine is still raw and I don't have a good photo. This is an example that was sold by Stacks in 2014. To the best of my knowledge, no others have been publicly sold since that time.)

pruebas

Adding my newp. Now I have a silver and a gold DCAM example of this pattern.

JohnnyCache

@pruebas said:
Adding my newp. Now I have a silver and a gold DCAM example of this pattern.

A coin such as this is so far beyond the depths of my limited knowledge but the piece is so very attractive that it piqued my curiosity enough to try and look it up to learn a little more about it.

In looking around one of the things raised was the registry of U.S. pattern gold.
Currently the Simpson set contains two of these patterns. I have to say, granted I am only going off of pictures, but the coin you've presented here looks even finer than those two. It's strikingly clean, sharp and void of anything that would otherwise distract the eye.

Did they accidentally put the "C" in America backwards or sideways initially?

Really a lovely coin, congratulations on its acquisition.

pruebas

To be honest, I haven't looked at the SImpson Collection in the Registry. He did have (and sell) two gold examples, but slight varieties of this. One was a gold/silver alloy (this one is the traditional gold/copper) and the other was a gilt silver example. I didn't care for the look of either, and they sold for more than I thought they were worth.

This example is one of two DCAMs at PCGS in the traditional gold alloy. Mine (shown above) is a PR65DCAM. There is also a PR66+DCAM which I have not seen in person, but didn't like from the PCGS photo. It seems to have more distracting marks than mine. There is also a PR65CAM example coming up from the Bass Collection.

Here is the link to the PCGS Coinfacts page for side-by-side photos of both.

The silver example in the OP above is ex-Simpson. I also viewed his copper specimen which sold a few years ago, but decided to wait for a nicer one.

The "C" does appear to have been punched incorrectly and repaired, doesn't it?

scubafuel

I love this pattern, great pickup!

It’s interesting that while there are originals and restrikes known, it’s not known which are which, except for one.

pruebas

@scubafuel said:
I love this pattern, great pickup!

It’s interesting that while there are originals and restrikes known, it’s not known which are which, except for one.

Which one is a confirmed original? I don’t know.

scubafuel

I don't think there are any definitively confirmed originals, though @MrEureka might know better? But there is for sure one restrike confirmed, and it's this one:

https://coins.ha.com/itm/patterns-and-prototypes/1836-1-gold-dollar-judd-67-restrike-pollock-70-r5-pr65-cameo-pcgs-pcgs-537377-/a/1341-3815.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515

Recently sold, and struck over a 1859 G$1!
Undertype clearly visible.

JohnnyCache

@pruebas said:

The "C" does appear to have been punched incorrectly and repaired, doesn't it?

  

 

This post showed up on Instagram today, same characteristic re-punched C

Once again, it does not appear to be as sweet as your example.

pruebas

Whose auction is that?

ELuis

I saw this one some weeks ago that was for sale:

ELuis

Found this one, is expensive for sure:

Abuelo

@pruebas never disappoints.

EASilver

What a wonderful theme. And an amazing collection!

JohnnyCache

@pruebas said:
Whose auction is that?

Heritages

EDIT now I can't find it anymore, strange?

harasha

Coincidentally, I was considering Mexican Republic 25 centavos and obtained 8 of them recently. I was not too impressed until I put them under the macro lens of my camera. Once I saw the detail at a glance, I realized what a beautiful coin it was!

coinsarefun

Beyond fantastic !

pruebas

Adding the 1864 Bolen Liberty Cap token struck in “Oreide,” which must be some alloy of copper. (Ex. Bolen himself).

coinsarefun

@pruebas said:
Adding the 1864 Bolen Liberty Cap token struck in “Oreide,” which must be some alloy of copper. (Ex. Bolen himself).

.
One of my favorites. I picked this one up years back.
1864 MA F-760A-8a S. TANENBAUM COLLECTION EX. LESLIE HEILBRONNER NGC MEDAL MS 65

.
From Stacks auction:
Massachusetts--Springfield. Undated (1861-1865) John Adams Bolen. Fuld-760A-5a, Musante-JAB M/E-10. Rarity-9. Copper. Plain Edge. 28 mm. MS-65 RB (NGC).
The Liberty Cap motif is one of the favorite Bolen dies. The symbol has a rich numismatic history that has antecedents on circulating Mexican coinage and the 1836 March 23 Mint medal for the steam press launch, as well as a pattern gold dollar of that year, both by Christian Gobrecht. The surfaces are about 50% blazing mint red deepening to navy blue.
Provenance: From the Q. David Bowers Collection. Earlier ex J. Kuehnert; J. Harris; Steve Tanenbaum Collection.

.

pruebas

@coinsarefun said:

@pruebas said:
Adding the 1864 Bolen Liberty Cap token struck in “Oreide,” which must be some alloy of copper. (Ex. Bolen himself).

.
One of my favorites. I picked this one up years back.
1864 MA F-760A-8a S. TANENBAUM COLLECTION EX. LESLIE HEILBRONNER NGC MEDAL MS 65

.
From Stacks auction:
Massachusetts--Springfield. Undated (1861-1865) John Adams Bolen. Fuld-760A-5a, Musante-JAB M/E-10. Rarity-9. Copper. Plain Edge. 28 mm. MS-65 RB (NGC).
The Liberty Cap motif is one of the favorite Bolen dies. The symbol has a rich numismatic history that has antecedents on circulating Mexican coinage and the 1836 March 23 Mint medal for the steam press launch, as well as a pattern gold dollar of that year, both by Christian Gobrecht. The surfaces are about 50% blazing mint red deepening to navy blue.
Provenance: From the Q. David Bowers Collection. Earlier ex J. Kuehnert; J. Harris; Steve Tanenbaum Collection.

.

What a lovely token! We have similar taste in numismatics....

I believe that cap & rays die is in the collection of the ANS now, having been donated by someone decades ago.

pruebas

I wanted to update this thread with a new item. While not a cap & rays item, it is a white metal trial strike of a US Shell Card (advertising token) with a Mexican theme.

Catalogued as Bowers NY-7680 (per Stacks Bowers) or Rulau NY-623 (per PCGS), the regular issue itself is pretty rare with only 5-7 known. This trial is probably unique.

I almost didn't win this item at auction. There were two of us bidding online. The auctioneer hammered the lot to me verbally but the other bidder snuck in a bid immediately before the lot closed online without the auctioneer noticing. I could not counter because the lot was closed immediately after the other bid.

So while I was announced as the winner, the bidding platform showed otherwise. I had to contact Stacks Bowers who reviewed the recording and made the adjustment manually. I don't imagine the other bidder was very happy, but that brings up the question: in such cases, who is the real winner of a lot when a mistake is made?

Regardless, I am happy to add it to this set!

JohnnyCache

Nice!

IMO, I would have to say that, once your paddle is declared the winner, you're the winner. Otherwise the lot would need to be reopened to be fair. What happened sounds like a technical glitch that allowed the late bid in followed by human error in not realizing the what happened and either declaring the late bid invalid or reopening the lot for further bidding.

Glad for you that you won it, it's a neat looking piece.

lordmarcovan

Whoo- impressive stuff!