SF Gold Reference

highcheese

Hi All

I am turning my collecting interests to S-mint Gold, particularly quarter and half eagles from the early days at the mint. I am looking for opinions/suggestions on a reference book others feel is a must have in order to make this new area for me more enjoyable and will help me make informed choices when buying.

Thanks,
Mike

RYK

Welcome!

S-mint gold is an extremely diverse and interesting area, ranging from the extremely rare 1854-S $5 to the extremely common (generic) 1901-S $10. To my knowledge, there is no specialty reference for these coins. In that case, the best references are the general gold references like Bowers' United States Gold Coins and the Garrett and Guth Encyclopedia of US gold coins.

savoyspecial

1854 and 1870 have some real stoppers!

DaveG

As RYK mentioned, there isn't a specific book on SF mint gold coins.

However, Doug Winter has written a number of articles over the years that discuss SF mint gold coins (particularly the quarter and half eagles). If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend that you visit his website and peruse his article archives.

There is, also, a fair amount of information available on the early years of the SF mint, if that interests you. I recommend Bowers' book on the Brother Jonathan for its chapters on the SF mint. You might also investigate Bower's giant book on the California gold rush.

highcheese

Thanks for pointing me in a direction. The DWN site has been a wealth of info for me over the years. I was hoping he would have written a book like he has for the the other branch mints, but now it is up to my lazy carcass to do some homework.
In the end I will be better for it.

GeorgeKellogg

Another reference that is good for San Francisco gold issues is United States Gold Coins, An Analysis of Auction Records, by David Akers. There is a separate volume for each denomination. The books were of landmark importance when first published (beginning in the mid-1970s) and the information contained therein is still useful today, particularly for those issues (such as San Francisco gold) for which there are not specialty references.

BillJones

If you would like a reference book that covers a lot of ground in one place, but the U.S. gold coin book (not the title) by Ron Guth and Jeff Garret. I think there is now a second edition. You don't get die variety information, but you do get an annalysis of every date and mint mark combination up to 1933. It covers ALL U.S. gold coins, including the patterns and early (1903 - 1926) commemorative coins. The book will cost you something like $50 to $60, but it's worth it.