Colorado Territorial Gold

covers

I just put up a webpage on Colorado Territorial Gold (the Mayer collection).

I have some tweaks yet to do on the site (maybe add some CG patterns) but if anybody has any comments for improvement, please let me know. Thanks.

Colorado Territorial Gold

DorkGirl

Nice read, thanks!

drwstr123

I enjoyed the read and nice layout. Thanks

TwoSides2aCoin

Now that is an educational site deserving of the front page, here.

CaptHenway

Nice site.

Have you seen the 1862 $5 obverse die with UNION on the headband at the Colorado Historical Society? The one that Dr. Mumey used with the Conway restrike set in 1961?

I have a totally speculative theory that that die might have been intended for a patriotic issue by Clark, Gruber & Co. in 1862 in light of the Civil War, which never happened as the firm was sold to the U.S. Mint in 1861.

If you ever get a chance, see if you can compare punches with the various Clark, Gruber coins to see if anything matches.

Tom DeLorey

covers

Thanks for all the positive feedback. I have corrected some typos and added a separate page with additional Clark, Gruber patterns.

Tom DeLorey - I have seen the CHS set of dies but I think they only own five of them unless they recently purchased the $5 you mention. That particular die was privately owned and was offered for sale to Mr. Mayer while he was alive. I was probably influential in the decision to turn it down as I thought it didn't fit the collection. I didn't study it, nor even saw it in the flesh if memory serves. I have a photo of the set of six dies, with the $5, that I got from Larry Lee and used the image at the CHS exhibit.

P.S. - I claim no special knowledge of the material and was primarily an advisor on philatelic materials, but have long held a special interest in Colorado history. Larry Lee will be authoring a book on the subject which should be published late Summer.

covers

Tom,

Below is a scan of the $5 Conway re-strike coin. What do you see that indicates the die might be a CG product?

ricko

Superb site and article. Thanks for a very informative study. Cheers, RickO

Pistareen

Regarding the Union obverse, I'm of the opinion that it was the mate to the newly discovered P. and R.R. Smith reverse die, which turned up in early 2006 and was sold in an ANR sale that summer.

The images and description are here.

The shanks on the Conway dies are all similar, while the Union obverse is quite different.

The best thing about that die: there was a gold fleck down in the devices. That means it struck coins -- and one might survive!

firstmint

Hopefiully, there will be mention of the different J.J. Conway obverse that was once owned by John Ford. It too, was reportedly discovered in some burned out ruins in New Mexico; however, this story remains unvalidated.

The Ford die was used to create a so-called "trial" piece that was overstruck on an 1845 U.S. half eagle, which was sold to the Kagin's in 1958. This particular piece was not struck in the 19th century.

This item was first publically offered and ended up being sold in the March 11, 1965, Kreisberg / Schulman sale, lot 25A. There were also some J. Parsons & Co. undated pieces that were crudely struck in low grade gold, or copper and then gold plated in the same sale. These were illustrated in the separate plate section.

I will present more of the story in my forthcoming "John Ford and the Franklin Hoard" book.

CaptHenway

<< <i>Thanks for all the positive feedback. I have corrected some typos and added a separate page with additional Clark, Gruber patterns.

Tom DeLorey - I have seen the CHS set of dies but I think they only own five of them unless they recently purchased the $5 you mention. That particular die was privately owned and was offered for sale to Mr. Mayer while he was alive. I was probably influential in the decision to turn it down as I thought it didn't fit the collection. I didn't study it, nor even saw it in the flesh if memory serves. I have a photo of the set of six dies, with the $5, that I got from Larry Lee and use the image at the CHS exhibit.

P.S. - I claim no special knowledge of the material and was primarily an advisor on philatelic materials, but have long held a special interest in Colorado history. Larry Lee will be authoring a book on the subject which should be published late Summer. >>



As I said, it was pure speculation that the UNION die might be related to C.G. & Co. When I saw it up at the Colorado Historical Society in Denver in the early 80's it was in amongst the five Conway dies, and it was obvious from the fabric of it that it was not related to them.

My speculation that it might be related to C.G. & Co. was based simply on the fact that they were in the area, and did use a Liberty Head die. John Kraljevich's explanation is certainly more plausible, and I would love to see the obverse and reverse dies side by side, or photographed side by side.

You say that the CHS does not own the UNION die? When I saw it there, nobody said that they did not own it.

TD

derryb

Nice work Richard

covers

Interesting comments. Thank you all.

John - Hello, Hope all is well with you. Hope to see you at the Costa Rica sale in NYC in October!

Pistareen

Richard -- Great looking site! I congratulate you on it (and Mr. Mayer for having the foresight to put them all in one place).

I'll definitely be at the Costa Rica sale -- hopefully we have time for a coffee or a beer.

STONE

I agree, great site.

I've added it to the Information Page on my "Master List of Websites". (Right below "Cal-Gold")

covers

Stone - Thanks

John - Its a date. You should come to the stamp sale on Wednesday. Email me if you want a copy of my new book: "Postal History of Costa Rica to 1883"

Lakesammman

Thanks for posting - nice job. The subsequent comments are a treat to read - makes me realize how little I know and how much I could learn if given the time .......

I bought a P66RB Mountain $10 out of the recent Robert Bass/Kagin sale, ex. Garrett - it's really a treat to look at but impossible to photograph and share.

covers

Lakesammman - David McCarthy (who works with Don Kagin) did the actual photography. Very impressive as it wasn't a "fancy" set-up. Just a camera stand, a couple lights and a digital camera. Images on the site are even lower dpi than full "disk" images (2400 dpi).

I tried making images of my Roman coins, bought the recommended equipment, light tent, etc - didn't help me at all!