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1815 & 1825 E & L Quarters
BustDMs
Posts: 1,576 ✭✭✭✭✭
Much has been written over the years in the John Reich Journal about these interesting pieces of history. To this day no one has come up with the reason behind their issuance.
There are 4 coins needed to complete the set, an E and L from each year of 1815 and 1825. Few collectors have achieved a complete set as they are infrequently offered for sale.
I recently acquired the 1825 L illustrated here to go with the 1815 E that i had in my collection.
Let's see yours!
Any ideas of how they came about? I would be happy to hear any new theories.
Q: When does a collector become a numismatist?
A: The year they spend more on their library than their coin collection.
A numismatist is judged more on the content of their library than the content of their cabinet.
A: The year they spend more on their library than their coin collection.
A numismatist is judged more on the content of their library than the content of their cabinet.
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There must be a lot of them. I got two 1825-L quarters from a northern NH dealer around a dozen years ago.
I bought and sold a lot of these when I was a dealer, all 4 kinds. I had a personal set of all 4 coins also.
Fascinating issues, and I think that it is possible that eventually someone will find a document that explains their significance. Can't wait to see that document!
An authorized PCGS dealer, and a contributor to the Red Book.
I also think it is interesting although my interest has diminished over the years. I have come to the realization that they are not all that rare and nobody has come up with a plausible explanation imo yet.
I like the potential explanation about how they might have been used as voting tokens.
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/comment/12478138/#Comment_12478138
The main question for a numismatist is what level of proof is needed to accept this theory.
There will probably always be someone who wants a higher level of proof.
But it seems to be quite plausible and the best available theory.
Great pick up! I love both of your examples. Such an interesting mystery. I’ve been on the hunt for a while, but am yet to find the right example. Yours are great.
Lovely example thanks for sharing the photographs.
Great coins! I was bidding on a nice 1815 E on Ebay but was blown out of the water at the last moment. Went for strong money IMO. https://www.ebay.com/itm/354946294275?hash=item52a472a203:g:rEUAAOSwzIdkxEPL&amdata=enc:AQAIAAAA0EPFmVvzUCgqjsquSP9Ye172VeujW9o9Dhh/dEJIRY5nTmPqGmgGMzhf9Z8KRHtotG5tnD+LOeKaEJ+riVQ4jPOv5QALbDgtYDUH0wkLrNkL/+qP6A6URl6XkGDzUQ33F6/zxO5YiHziLOSWGJ3AeLgXsJxyqCQoyuog5xAkvgR+NRIiYoJyi8Xi4GYKXAeIMZpOqcyXHtOnEQhTnlktytPnWb97s7iw7bv/JCQsOfqFQPMp1kzZ0JY59xvepWiLp9d5+u3F+Mnu1ODp77DiPZ0=|tkp:Bk9SR4Dv9bjNYg&nma=true&si=4tDyAFMh9CX55mIbUwwBsv%2B8L5U%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
If used for voting tokens maybe the person who voted with this one had his vote count twice.
I had always heard that these were believed to have been awards in school (English and Latin) but it seems from this thread that the purpose in not known.
As for voting tokens that's a compelling theory, but in the early and mid 19th century 25 cents was not insignificant.
In any case, I am a bit shocked that these go for such high prices considering that it is a single letter counterstamp that could be duplicated with a vintage set of punches.
The face value is irrelevant, because the theory indicates those coins were owned by the community, and held as part of their assets.
Chosen in the room for voting, deposited in the box.
Never "spent" for voting.
I agree that they weren't spent, but they still had to be paid for. Why not use cents or half cents? They would serve the same purpose but at a fraction of the cost. Why tie up assets unnecessarily?
The silver was apparently part of the "Economite Treasure", just a way to store their assets.
Like how banks held many bust halves in vaults as assets.
So they already had these coins sitting, doing nothing.
Might as well use them for voting tokens.
Never saw a double punched one before.
As far as I know that’s the only double punched one. It was auctioned recently and it looks like BQH bought it. Pretty cool!
It looks like both punches were full strikes and not a bounced die. Which punch was second? It made me wonder if it was just an oversight or there was some point to moving the punch slightly.
I posted a picture of my double punched 1825-E on the Testing forum back in 2006. Very pretty coin that I had picked up at the Pittsburg ANA in 2004 or 2005. I have a set of all 4, but only photographed this one. None of my other 3 are this nice...
https://us.v-cdn.net/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,width=1600/http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o85/eriecoast/DSCN0057_056_056.jpg
Lakeshore, that is awesome! Thanks for posting it here. I think I must have missed it 17 years ago on the testing forum 😉
Again, a very close overlap to the punches.
Are you a bust quarter variety/date set collector or just an enthusiast of these counterstamps?
Thanks scubafuel. I’m not sure how I would categorize myself. I gravitate towards colonial coppers and pre-1836 US copper and silver coinage. Certain varieties catch my eye, like these E and L quarters, the 1818 B-9 quarter with the arrowheads clash, the 1807 O-111b Bearded Goddess half, and the 1857 flying eagle cent multi-denominational clashes.
As a side note, on my drive home from the 2004 Pittsburgh ANA with this coin in my pocket, I stopped at the Economy settlement site. I pulled the coin out of my pocket and talked to it, asking the coin if it recognized any of the buildings. Guess I certainly wouldn’t categorize myself as normal. Pretty sure my wife would agree...