Question about Patterns...

VonZipper

I love the old patterns and don't know much about them. How were these aquired, did the mint sell them off? Does the mint still do patterns and release them or destroy them? Thanks

ursabear

I like Erik's questions...

To add one of my own, what constitutes a pattern over a mule or some other intentional testing object or intentional rarity?

kranky

The cut-off for pattern availability seems to be around 1916. Patterns after that are very scarce and the legality of holding them is questionable. Way back when, the mint traded patterns in order to get coins they didn't have in their collection. Others got out via Mint officials (a long time ago, not recently).

I seem to remember some collector trading some coins to the Mint years ago for an entire crate of old patterns (I don't have my books now so I can't look it up, but I bet boiler78, MrEureka, njcoincrank or RKKay would know.)

A pattern is a coin whose designs weren't used for regular coinage. A mule is a coin made from regular dies, but not in the proper combination (obverse/reverse). Some patterns are very, very close to the regular design and others are nothing like actual coins. Many of the known 1916 Merc patterns are circulated, apparently because they resembled the regular design so closely that they might have been accidentally spent.

Some patterns have dozens of examples known, and others have just one like the famous J-1776.

RKKay

Kranky, you give me more credit than I deserve. Boiler, Mr.E or njcoincrank would know more about that story than I would. As for pattern versus mule, etc., here is the link to the various terms. LINK Many patterns were more fantasy pieces struck deliberately for sale to collectors.

ursabear

Cool! Thanks!

Julian

As far as the trade goes, Wm. H. Woodin, who later would go on to become Secretary of the Treasury, had two 1877 half union ($50) gold coins and the mint wanted them back. They traded him a crate of other patterns for them.

There is no inventory that I am aware of for that crate, but it numbered in the 1000's of coins. Considering that the $50's would probably be worth between $5 & 10 million each today, we will never be able to figure out if it was a good deal or not, but the US Treasury was going to get the $50's back and so Woodin had very little choice in the matter.

Woodin and Edgar Adams wrote the first standard catalog on patterns, AW #'s.

boiler78

Julian- Aren't the Half Unions on display at the Smithsonian?

Julian

I know that they are in the Smithsonian collection, but I do not know if they are on current display.

kranky

Julian, my apologies for forgetting you are one of the "pattern guys" here on the board!

boiler78

Kranky- Thats an understatement. Julian is the Dean of Pattern School!

Johnscoin

Good questions and answers. There are a few modern patterns out there with Martha Washington on them, which are actually legal to own now. There was an article about these in Coin World about 3 weeks ago. I've actually seen the dime and it's quite an attractive coin.
The typical book on patterns is the Judd/Pollock reference which is a bit outdated at the moment. But there is a new one coming out in August at the ANA, written by two pattern scholars. It should be a great update on the old reference if you're interested in patterns.

kranky

My understanding of why the Martha Washington "patterns" are legal to own is that they weren't made by the Mint, but by an outside company.