$4 Stella

Coinsponge

Does anyone know why the Stella coin is treated like an adopted design used in commerce instead of a pattern coin? Is there something that makes it different than other patterns? I have been curious about this for a while.

PonyExpress8

Great question. It could be something as simple as it got included way back in the Redbook in 1947 and the stella has been perceived as a commerce issue because of where it is in that book.

Any other thoughts?

crypto79

they made just enough of them to be popular & obtainable early on in the hobby and due to the novelty of a one off denomination people just added one for type to the point they were added in the Redbook. Much like the 1856 cent some things just take a life of their own and once popular it spreads.

BillJones

I think the fact that it is an odd denomination along with the fact that the 1879 Flowing Hair has a fairly high mintage at 415+. The coin has also been given the "normal coin (regular issue) treatment" in the Red Book since the very first edition.

To me it's still a pattern and something I don't have to own because I generally do not collect patterns.

Coinsponge

That does make sense. I didn't realize they were included in the first Red Book. I guess that even with a specific pattern section now, the tradition of having them listed in the main section must go on.

s4ny

In my (unwritten) book, they are patterns.

Were they ever legal tender?

lordmarcovan

What BillJones said.