1804 Restrike Dollar Article Published in StacksBowers Catalog
Rittenhouse
Posts: 618 ✭✭✭✭
Our article on the restrike 1804 dollars has been published in the StacksBowers Dec 2025 auction catalog. For those not onl the mailing list, it can be downloaded at: https://stacksbowers.com/auctions/catalog-library/
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Comments
I just had the pleasure of reading the article - thank you. I thought that both it and the lot description were fantastic.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
@Rittenhouse . Thank you. very nice of you. james
Glad you guys liked it. It was a truly interesting study. As usual, it took us about two weeks to really grasp the implications of the various die defects. And, contrary to the belief of some, they don't all register on first viewing. Some defects are more obvious than others. For example, we didn't see the die lines under the eagle's tail feathers until the fourth or fifth viewing.
The upshot is we do not agree with those who maintain viewing coins in-hand is significantly better than using photos. In fact, viewing physical coins presents serious challenges in that it is highly unlikely that a sufficient number of coins can be gathered in one place for comparison viewing ad that they can be held for the several days that it takes to get a full impression.
For those who question the accuracy of the photographic method, we offer the example of our Gobrecht dollar emission sequences. These were created using photos in 2011 to 2015. The major auction houses have examined and sold numerous Gobrecht dollars in the past decade-plus since we published and all coins have fit our emission sequences. 'Nuff said,
There’s a huge difference between using images, as you did, (for purposes of your study, comparisons and article) vs. relying upon them, in attempting to grade and ascertain a coin’s color, luster and eye-appeal. Properly assessing those attributes typically requires in-hand inspection in order to tilt and rotate coins at different angles under good lighting. And in most cases, there’s no need to gather multiple examples for purposes of comparison.
Edited to add:
Would you be OK with sharing your thoughts and feelings as you started putting the pieces of the (coin) puzzle together and how it felt at the time you finally arrived at your conclusions? It must have been exciting, thrilling and ultimately extremely satisfying.
And do you think it highly unlikely that any additional pertinent information could surface?
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Agree 100%. Grading via photos is problematic, especially the eye-appeal and color attributes. The major auction houses do a pretty good job of not over-representing the coin, but I'd be very leery buying a really hi-grade coin from auction photos. Evaluating circ pieces is less of a problem, but even then either I view it "in-the-coin" or have someone I trust look at it. Doing an in-person double-check is the best way to make sure you didn't miss something or became awed by a flashy photo.
Die stating and constructing emission sequences are the toughest puzzles in numismatics and figuring this stuff out is "pull your hair out" frustrating, exhilarating, "geez I've got a headache," "wow, look at this" all at the same time.
We start out just looking at good photos for several days, familiarizing ourselves with general characteristics. While that probably sounds odd, most of the coins we do this for are pretty scarce, so its not like you've seen a thousand of these over the years.
Next, we start looking for "die markers," i.e. features that are die-related - like rust, die cracks, metal crumbling or spalling, die polishing, etc. That takes several more days (you'd be amazed how tired and brain-fogged you get after a few hours) and we begin to get a general sense of die states and striking order. Then its on to the tough part - the search for die markers that tell the story. That takes several more days as we find them and take turns playing "devil's advocate" in an effort to debunk each one.
It all comes together over a period of a few days, during which we drive my wife nuts with our "coin nerd" discussions. - "Oh my god, look at this; holy crap that's a crack; do you see the die scratches; oh geez, the metal is chipping out, the die is spalling." We then align the coins in a proposed order and see if we can make them "go backwards" or in any other order. When we can't, it's "BAM! We got it."
Typical time to do this? Two to three weeks. The shortest time ever was two days for the 1836 Gobrecht dollar, but then we had the Korein collection with like 50 pieces and the die states corresponded to die rotation.
A word of caution if some readers decide to try their hand at this - get a large hi-end UHD monitor and a really good graphics card. I have a 48" 4K UHD and an AMD Radeon card. I can blow-up a good photo of a half dime to the size of a truck tire without pixelating. It makes this work so much easier. However, at higher mags, you do need to make sure you aren't mistaking some little strike-related or planchet defect for a die marker.
I agree as well. Thanks for the immensely useful observations.
Official PCGS account of:
www.TallahasseeCoinClub.com
Thanks, so much for taking the time to walk us through your process and sharing what you experience while performing your detective work.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.