1866-S NO MOTTO Double Eagles

CaptainBlunt

The mintage and coinage history of the 1866-S No Motto Double Eagle needs to be tweaked a bit. I copied this text from the two prominent grading services online sites.

Citation 1: It is likely that 120,000 1866-S double eagles were made with the Type One reverse…in February, prior to instructions that were received from Philadelphia to change to the new Type Two reverse…

Citation 2: While Philadelphia delayed production of the 1866 (Double Eagles) pieces..until the reverse dies were ready, San Francisco proceeded with production of No Motto coins until it received the With Motto reverse dies. This resulted in two distinct varieties of 1866-S coins for the half dollars, half eagle, eagle and double eagle…

While the 1866-S No Motto double eagle is clearly the more elusive of the two issues, its mintage and distribution remain enigmatic…Garrett and Guthrie, in their 2006 volume Encyclopedia of U.S. Gold Coins, state an estimate of 120,000 coins. This later figure is in agreement with research conducted by R.W. Julian and the value is logical, with the With Motto reverse dies not having arrived at San Francisco until MARCH, that the Mint had an ample window for a six figure production, even if striking only took place in FEBRUARY…

I agree with the 120,000 mintage figure for the 1st Quarter of 1866. However, the coins were struck in January, February, March and April of 1866. The new Motto (In God We Trust) dies did not arrive in San Francisco until mid APRIL. Thus the mintage of the NO Motto pieces must be greater than 120,000 coins.

On November 13, 1865, the Philadelphia Mint wrote to the San Francisco Branch Mint notifying them that they were sending a box of dis for the year 1866, that included 6 obverse Double Eagles dies in cases marked 33, 34, and 35.

On March 17, 1866, the Director James Pollock in Philadelphia wrote a letter addressed to the San Francisco Branch Mint Superintendent instructing him that the “In God We Trust” Motto dies were being send today via Wells, Fargo & Co. Express. Included were dies for the Double Eagles, Eagle, Half Eagle, Seated Dollar, Half Dollar, and Quarter. He told the Superintendent upon receiving the dies, he was to at once begin striking coins with them.

He wrote: The following is a list of the dies sent as furnished by our Engraver all having the motto “In God We Trust” viz. in all thirty six
Gold. Cases Marked. Silver. Cases Marked
Double Eagles 6 53,54,55 Dollar 6 56,57,58
Eagle 6 65,66,67 Half Dollar 6 59,60,61
Half Eagle 6 68,69,70 Quarter Dollar 6 62,63,64
Enclosed you will find receipt of the Express Co.

On April 14, 1866, the San Francisco Branch Mint Superintendent wrote to Director Pollock in Philadelphia telling him that he had just received the new With Motto dies along with Pollock’s letter dated March 17. I think the dies arrived in San Francisco the previous day aboard the steamship Sacramento.

The dies must have been shipped from Philadelphia to New York and then traveled by sea to Aspinwall. They then crossed over the the Central American Isthmus by rail to Panama and were loaded on the steamer Sacramento for San Francisco. In essence the Sacramento was carrying the passengers, mail and cargo that began their by sea aboard a steamer departing New York harbor on March 20th.

There is a warrant in the S.F.B.M. Surviving records that shows a payment made to Wells, Fargo for the freight charge ($10.25) on a box of dies from Philadelphia. The warrant was dated April 14, 1866, concurrently a San Francisco newspaper also ran a notice of the new Motto coin dies arrival at the Mint.

The letter, warrant, and newspaper article (three separate sources) proves that the dies with the Motto “In God We Trust” had arrived at the S.F.B.M. In April and the Double Eagles delivered in January, February, March & April previous to the 14th and perhaps beyond were the NO Motto variety.

If one adds up (see below) the Double Eagles delivered in the first quarter of 1866, the number reached is 120,000.
So the mintage of the $20 1866-S No Motto Double Eagles must be greater than this, if one takes into account the coinage documented in the S.F.B.M. Coiner’s Blotter in April before the new dies had arrived and were put into use.

On April 16, 1866, the S.F. Mint Superintendent requested more coining dies including 8 obverse and 6 reverse Double Eagles dies. These were sent in May. Eight additional 1866 Double Eagle obverse dies were sent in August and an additional 8 reverse dies in September.

The contemporary newspapers stated that the first new with Motto Double Eagles had been coined at the S.F. Mint on April 19th.

S.F.B.M. Record Books Paying Clerks Blotter
No Motto Double Eagles received from the Coiner
1866. Number of DE’s

Jan. 25, 5,750
Jan. 30, 5,500
Jan. 31, 4,500
(Total 15,750 coins)

Feb. 2, 6,000
Feb. 3, 6,000
Feb. 6, 3,000
Feb. 8, 3,000
Feb. 10, 5,500
Feb. 13, 3,000
Feb. 15, 3,000
Feb. 16, 3,000
Feb. 26, 5,500
(Total 38,000 coins)

March 1, 6,000
March 2, 4,500
March 3, 3,000
March 6, 5,500
March 8, 4,500
March 12 6,000
March 14 6,000
March 17 5,000
March 22 5,000
March 24 5,500
March 28, 5,500
March 30 4,750
(Total coins 66,250)
120,000 for the 1st Quarter

April 2, 4,000
April 4, 3,000
April 5, 3,000
April 6, 3,000
April 7, 3,000
April 10, 3,000
April 13, 3,000
April 14 the new Motto dies had arrived at the S.F. Mint
April 14, $105,000 in Double Eagles delivered
April 17 $80,000 in Double Eagles delivered
April 19 contemporary local newspapers stated the first new Motto DE’s had been struck at the S.F.B.M.
April 20 $60,000 in Double Eagles delivered
Etc.
Etc.

Conclusion: the mintage of the 1866-S No Motto Double Eagles was 120,000 plus coins
They were minted in January, February, March and part of April.

Of course the survival rate is the key with this coin.
Only an estimated 175-225 are known. Mint State specimens are prohibitively rare.

The Saddle Ridge Hoard included a MS-62 piece graded by PCGS. It is pictured on the Coin Facts site.

A lot of the information in my post appeared in a Coin World article published in August of 2017. There have been a large number of good articles published in CW over the years.

Clackamas1

There seems to be a number of them in MS recently, probably Fairmont coins.

Crypto

Calling @DDR

Nic

Fairmont saturated the market.

CaptHenway

Posted for CaptainBlunt

Courtesy Coin Facts

GoldFinger1969

@Nic said:
Fairmont saturated the market.

But did they depress the market across the pricing curve...or just at select grades ? And also....has pricing recovered ?

That's actually been the trend so far with the Fairmont coins. Going back further to SSCA....it did what I call a "pricing twist": it lowered the prices at the high-end because of the supply but increased demand RAISED the price at the lower levels (at least this was the case up to a few years ago).l

DDR

Thanks for flagging @Crypto. And great research, @CaptainBlunt !

One of the pride and joy coins of my fledgling Type I Double Eagle in a well-worn 1866-S No Motto in PCGS F-12 CAC. Unfortunately, I don't have a TrueView or I would post a pic here.