CoinWeek: "New Million Dollar Coin: David Lawrence Rare Coins Sells 1879 Coiled Hair Stella"
Goldbully
Posts: 17,999 ✭✭✭✭✭
The Coiled Hair $4 Gold Stella is the coolest coin/pattern I'll never own. Everything about it is amazing. The hair, the font, the incused 400 cents, the big star, and the overall design alone. Why can't the Mint produce a modern coin like this one?
New Million Dollar Coin: David Lawrence Rare Coins Sells 1879 Coiled Hair Stella
By
David Lawrence Rare Coins -December 14, 2017
David Lawrence Rare Coins (DLRC) has brokered one of the rarest U.S. gold issues from the 19th Century. Graded by PCGS Proof 66 Cameo, DLRC placed an 1879 Coiled Hair $4 Gold Stella for just over $1,000,000. This transaction solidified the coin as one of the newest members of the PCGS Million Dollar Coin Club. Last sold in January 2014 for $851,875 in public auction, the coin had been held off the market for a few years and was recently acquired on behalf of the collector from a New Jersey dealer.
John Brush, President of David Lawrence, said, “A valued client that we’ve had the privilege of working with in recent years contacted us in his search for a Coiled Hair Stella. Thanks to our long-standing relationships with dealers throughout the country, we were able to locate this piece quickly, and we were excited to marry the coin and the collector. All the parties involved were extremely pleased with our efficiency and handling of this transaction.”
About the $4 “Stella” Gold Pieces
The $4 Stellas of 1879 and 1880 are considered “Pattern” coinage, but are treated and collected as regular issue proof gold pieces. Originally created by John A. Kasson with help from Dr. William Wheeler Hubbell, the Stellas were to be used for international trade. However, the coins did not gain public acceptance and production was halted. There are two varieties, Coiled Hair and Flowing Hair, with Coiled Hair being the rarer of the two. The 1879 Coiled Hair is the second rarest date (the rarest being 1880), and only 12 examples are known to have been minted.
“In the current marketplace, high end coins are becoming harder to locate,” continued Brush. “As collectors and investors once again are returning to collectibles, we’ve seen record results in many public auctions and in private transactions. So when collectors let us know their current Want Lists, we work hard to locate special coins such as the Coiled Hair Stella.”
This example of the 1879 Coiled Hair Stella can be traced back several generations as it was once part of the fabled Garrett Collection and Buddy Ebsen Collections. A premium gem with well-struck devices, the lightest softness is noticed on some hair strands due to the typical planchet striations. Frosty surfaces with wonderful cameo contrasts and deeply-mirrored fields, the eye-appeal of this piece is nearly unmatched.
Comments
Great coin.
The price record for a coiled hair Stella is $2.57m (1880 NGC PR-67, 2013). [Some of the price records below may be outdated.]
looks pretty scratched up.. cleaned?
Would love to own a coiled hair Stella. Hope the one imaged looks way better in hand.
I seem to recall that the Mint did recently try a gold coin with big stars, but most didn't like that particular design element.
That is a top-tier coin for a top-tier collection. Wait, never mind. No bean.
Awsome coin! David lawrence has always been a great dealer to work with when purchasing coins. Congrats to all involved!
I bought this coin on 3 separate occasions when it was in the ngc holder back in 2011-2013. The coin was brought into my local parsippany show and was a real treat to view in hand. Nice to see Mr. Hansen is the new owner.
Edited to add- I apologize as I thought the story was written but I guess I accidentally deleted the other part of the story. The clarification will be in a below post
I was thinking that,too.
Still cool.
Hard to imagine Jed Clampett having it.
Then imagine it was Barnaby Jones!
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
We’ve got at least one member here with a far more eye appealing example than this one ... at least based on the photos above.
Wish I had such a story to tell but.....NOT!
Much of the background text under "About the $4 “Stella” Gold Pieces" is wrong or very misleading.
Of the original Tinman.
What was the NGC grade?
'Weeeeee doggie" as Jed would opine.
Interesting coin and certainly a nice specimen. An interesting bit of associated history..... Where and why did the name 'Stella' originate?? (I know it was not from 'A Streetcar Named Desire') The coin was christened "Stella" because of the five-point star adorning the reverse (Stella is Latin for 'Star.') In their day, Stellas provided a very juicy scandal and many laughs at the expense of Congressmen who had ordered a special striking of these coins. The story broke that while no coin collector could obtain a Stella from the Mint at any price, these coins in special holders adorned the bosoms of Washington's most famous madams, whose brothels were favored by those same congressmen. Even today, several dozen actual Stellas exist which still exhibit traces of these infamous necklace loops. How cool... hooker gold...
Information courtesy of Govmint.com..... Cheers, RickO
@joebb21 you suddenly look more like the fonz to me with that story. Why did you not keep Stella
Best place to buy !
Bronze Associate member
As noted, the $4 "Stella" pattern piece was given that name based on the star on the reverse. They are a stylistic companion to the Metric Double Eagle
The prostitution connection was invented by Walter Breen. Stellas were sometimes used in jewelry just as were $1 and $3 gold. It is not possible to tell who wore (or 'whore') the jewelry.
Several members of Congress allotted their Metric sets (of which the Stella was a part) to other people, and it appears that most sets were quickly resold to eager collectors.
Inquiries from the general public about these pattern pieces began appearing in the late 1880s and continue for the next 50 years.
These were never part of the standard series of US coins, and their appearance in the Guide Book as part of normal coinage is an idiosyncratic remainder from Richard Yeo. The Stellas are not coins and have/had no legal tender value.
NGC PF66 CAMEO
Sweet. WTG DLRC
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The full story which I thought i wrote out but I guess i edited and forgot to put back in:
Sometime in 2011 this coin just glided into the Parsippany show and was being offered fresh as part of a multi-million dollar collection. Not knowing it was going to be there I didnt get into the show until somewhere closer to 9-9:30 and by that time over $500,000+ of it had been sold to about 4 or 5 dealers. That included a huge almost complete collection of $20 libs as well as $10 libs- and if I remember correctly seated halves as well. There was more Im sure I just forget what right now.
At the time the only auction sales that were relevant was an ngc pf63 that sold for $304,000 in 2009 and $655,550 for the ngc pf67 cam in 2005.
The first asking price was $600,000 which was a pretty aggressive at the time which is why an immediate check was not written I assume. At the time I was working for RCW and since there was a 3 hour time difference between myself and home base I waited until 7 am CA time to first call the boss and ask his thoughts. He was up and gave me an almost immediate green light to buy the coin if I liked the coin.
I walked back over to the table and asked to see it again and spent the next couple of minutes looking at the coin and then finally asking the price again. Upon hearing the price of $600,000 i said ok Ill buy it and immediately cut a check. This was the biggest single coin i had ever tried to buy and I was so excited to do so. The dealer at first accepted my acceptance but then started getting fidgety and pulled the coin for sale. I did not understand what was going on but the coin disappeared from his case the rest of the show and no talking was changing his mind. This was my first time I purchased it but the sale was reneged on.
Fast forward a couple of months and the dealer called me up and said his client whos collection he was selling was now ready to sell the Stella again.
Instead of giving me a price ahead of time he wanted to meet me to discuss again a number etc. I went to meet him and saw the coin again. This time the price was $650,000. Another call was made to my boss and very annoyingly was agreed (as the seller jacked up the price since he new I/we were very interested) I agreed to the price (buying it a second time now) and the dealer called his client to let him know we purchased it. The dealer came back from the phone call and said his client decided not to sell it. This obviously did not go over well-especially as I went specifically to buy this coin and he reneged a second time.
A third time this happened some months later when I got a call about it for sale at $700,000. With a buyer lined up already I agreed to $700,000 with little expectation. (I had little faith in the deal going through). A date was set to make a switch and low and behold the seller pulled out a 3rd time.
Eventually I did get to handle this coin a 4th time when i worked at heritage when it sold in Jan 2014. This is a whole other crazy story but one I will have to leave out.
So- bought it 3 times and handled it 4x total.
I apologize the whole story did not get written out and implies something different then what I meant. Full story now added
Great story Joebb. You had way more patience with that dealer than I would have,.
Thaz die polish..........
The photo is still up with the other ones on pcgscoinfacts.com.
pcgscoinfacts.com/CoinImages.aspx?s=88058
"To Be Esteemed Be Useful" - 1792 Birch Cent --- "I personally think we developed language because of our deep need to complain." - Lily Tomlin
Wow, absolutely awesome !!!
Here's the TrueView for the Garrett-Ebsen-Hansen specimen which is also shown in DL's Registry Set at PCGS PR66CA:
https://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistry/mycoinfacts/coiled-hair-stella-1879-1880/2342233/148087
How many Stella's have you owned to make such a claim?
Andrew Blinkiewicz-Heritage
A future issue of the **Journal of Numismatic Research **(JNR) examines these in detail.
Is the reasoning for the word "Stella" on the coin known? Who came up with the name?
Wikipedia mentions that the coin was created in an attempt to join the Latin Monetary Union (LMU) but did not go through. It also does not mention the origin of the word Stella.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stella_(United_States_coin)
Yes. It was proposed because, like the shield on 2-cent and 5-cent coins, it was considered a national symbol. It had been used in that context on silver 3-cent pieces, too.
Calling the piece a "Stella" also imitated use of Latin mottoes on the metric $20 and $4.
Stella means star in Latin. Since he did the design, did Barber also come up with both the star design and use of the Stella word on the coin?
[Checked my JNR manuscript and corrected faulty memory.]
No. Those were ideas from Hubbell and Rep. Alexander Stephens -- but William Barber converted the written comments into final designs.
William Barber made all the designs except the coiled hair which was modified by Charles Barber from one of William's designs.
It seems the coiled hair stellas all got more expensive. I bought the 1880 Coiled Hair PR 65 this year for 1.4 Mio, it sold before at heritage for 1.1 Mio. I though the coin is high end for the grade, it came out of a PR 65 old green holder. Anybody has seen the coin too ?
With a mintage of 10, that doesnt really leave that many options to choose from.
Further, of those 10 you bought 1 of only 2 that are cac able.
Mr. Hansens coin will not sticker
thanks
Your coin looked very nice from the auction pics didn't get to see it in hand though. As far as 1880 Coiled Hairs go, the Tacasyl 67CAM was cool but I don't think that every stickered. The NGC 67 CAC Heritage sold is my personal favorite, great look and old holder to boot. As far as the coin in the OP I looked at it when it sold at auction; nice coin, definitely CAM but didn't do a whole lot for me.
Andrew Blinkiewicz-Heritage
Yes the coin here looks dipped a bit and I love original colours. So Im happy with mine
Well, if I can't own a $4 Gold Stella, I guess I'll have one of these tonight.