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Filthy, crusty southern gold on my desk this morning...

RegulatedRegulated Posts: 2,992 ✭✭✭✭✭
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I just received an old, old friend this morning and got a couple of decent photos of her for posterity. The coin in question is one of about a dozen C. Bechtler No 75. G, Coarse Beads Quarter Eagles known to exist. These were the earliest Bechtler Quarter Eagles, and are only the second privately minted Quarter Eagles in the United States, after the 1830 Templeton Reid $2 1/2s.

This example was unknown until around seven years ago, when the woman who owned it called me up because she had questions about what she thought was a "better Bechtler $2 1/2" - all Bechtler $2 1/2s are pretty scarce, but when she sent me a dark cell phone picture of it, I was stunned, as these Beaded Border coins do not show up with any real frequency.

It turns out that the coin in question was a family heirloom that had been passed down from mother to daughter since 1850. She had never married or had children, and had some expensive home repairs to pay for, so it was time to put the coin out into the world.

She sent the coin to me, and when it arrived, I was blown away with its originality and luster - it had only a faint hint of wear on the semi-prooflike surfaces, and had been stored in a fairly neutral environment, so it had only toned a tiny bit, but it still had a lot of original dirt clinging to its protected areas. It went out for grading the next day, and was sold within two weeks for about four times the cost of the home repairs, which really pleased its owner.

Anyhow, if you want to see absolutely fresh, original, never been messed with by a dealer surfaces, here they are:




What is now proved was once only imagined. - William Blake

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