What's a 19th century engraved 1856-S XF 1856-s $20 worth?

roadrunner

I saw pics of the coin and sure enough, it's totally original dirty XF45ish gold with a nice look. Someone might have used this as a pocket piece in the 19th century or early 20th century. Their name is neatly engraved in the left upper obv field and also along the based of Liberty's neckline. The city and state (Maysville, KY) are also in the obv field. At a certain angle you can hardly see the engraving as it's toned over. Apparently the man referenced on the coin (J.N. Davis) was a land speculator in the 19th century. The Davis clan is well-represented in Mason County, KY. Finding more on this person might not be that hard. Maysville, KY is on the Ohio river and was the major port of commerce for river/steam boats etc. during the 19th century joining the south to the east. In one reference I found that Maysville was the site of the "Great Union Barbecue" during the Civil War in Sept. 1861. Read this account and still really don't know what this "barbecue" was all about other than driving out Union troops.

So is this 1856-S just a "hunk of bullion" to everyone or might have some additional "historical" or "folk art" premium over the $1200 bullion content? I thought the coin was sort of neat with the older style engraving, neatly done including serifs, etc. 1856-s is not a tough date as type 1's go either. I see an AU55 of this date on the BST for $3495. For risk/reward, this one within 8-10% of bullion value seems pretty reasonable. Even if you buy an AGE you still have to pay a 3-6% premium.

Great Union Barbecue

cohodk

Sounds really neat. We need pictures!!!

roadrunner

<< <i>Sounds really neat. We need pictures!!! >>



They are available.

I can't link the photos or even the thread directly as Kitco forums don't allow that. But here's a link to get you to the Kitco home page. Select "gold forum" at the top. Then "numismatic discussion group."

Kitco link

secondrepublic

Sounds like you can't really go wrong buying it close to spot. As to whether there's a premium, doubtful for just an engraved name/city unless it's someone famous and there's a provenance. That doesn't sound like the case here. Possibly you might find a family member who would be interested but that's a long shot. Still, sounds like a neat piece.

roadrunner

At spot or real close to spot is a no brainer. But how far can you get from spot before you get brained?

As a point of reference one of the leading US gold buyers is paying 7% over spot for ok VF $20 Libs. Their buy for jewelry quality coins is about $40-$50 less. That's still 3% over spot. This coin sure looks a lot better than
a jewelry quality coin imo. If you forced me to choose between a lower end VF or this XF details engraved coin....I'd take the XF. There's no shortage of generic VF/XF $20 type 1 Libs. There's only one of these. And probably
not a whole lot of others with 19th century engraving. An engraved 1900-1907 $20 Lib wouldn't be at all interesting to me unless Teddy Roosevelt engraved it.....

secondrepublic

Even cleaned, raw $20 Libs sell for a 10%+ premium over spot at places like APMEX. This coin similarly impaired, from a numismatic standpoint, even though it's nicer in many ways condition-wise. I would probably pay 8-10% over spot for it.