$2.50 gold pieces a century apart
BillJones
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If you are a type collector, who wants a complete set from the half cent to the $20 gold piece, you will learn that the rarest and most expensive of type coins are the early quarter eagles ($2.50 gold) coins from 1796 to August 1834. The 1796 No Stars and the 1808 quarter eagles are the rarest and most expensive of all type coins.
A few months ago I was looking at my collection and found it interesting to observe how the coins had changed over a century. I looked at the dates of the later coins that I had and determined that I only needed two dates to complete this odd, little collection. Here it is just for the fun of it.
1796 Quarter Eagle. This is the holy grail of all type coins with an estimated fewer than 100 survivors out of a mintage of 963.
1896 Quarter Eagle. This is a "semi scarce" date.
1804 Quarter Eagle. This is the most common early quarter eagle type. Dave Bowers estimated the surviving population to be from 1,240 to 2060 out of a mintage of 18,524.
1904 Quarter Eagle. This is rated as a common date.
1808 Quarter Eagle. This is the second scarced U.S. type coin. The Bowers esimate is 143 to 224 out of 2,710 minted
1908 Quarter Eagle. This was the fist year of the Indian type. It is a common date. The feathers at the top of the eagle's wing are never struck up. This leads to some "bargains" now and then because of conservative grading.
1825 Quarter Eagle. The was a gap in the quarter eagle series which stretched from 1809 to 1820. The quarter eagle coinage resumed in 1821. This is the most common date for the Large Size, Capped Bust Left Quarter Eagles, but it's still a very scarce coin. The Dave Bowers estimage is less than 500 coins.
1925-D Quarter Eagle. There was a gap in the quarter eagle series from 1916 to 1924. The U.S. Mint System resummed the series, the all of the 1925 dated pieces were issued from the Denver Mint.
1829 Quarter Eagle. These coins were struck in a "close collar." Despite a mintage of over 25,000, only about 500 have survived.
1929 Quarter Eagle. The 1929 quarter eagle was the last of its kind. Unlike it's big sister, the 1929 half eagle. this is a common date. Most of the coins were not in treasury vaults when FDR issued his gold surrender order in 1933.
I hope you enjoyed this little journey through the world of early U.S. gold coins. Let's hope that large numbers of them don't end up the melting pot because of the currently insane prices for gold bullion.
Comments
Love the stats and the 1808
Holy Sh!t, Bill! A post like this should come with a warning in the title!
I know you've studied coins for decades and realize you have invested more time, energy and resources into your collection than all but a very few will ever do, but I didn't think this thread would have a 1796 and an 1808 QE staring at me. That is next level and illustrates your acumen and willingness to share.
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Thank you TomB for your quarter eagle journey. Very informative and most impressive.
Cool concept
Amazing “wow” coins! Thanks for the informative post!
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Chris
Love the coins and neat write up. Thanks for sharing!
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Really nice coins! Thanks for sharing.
Do you take your own photos? Great looking set and photos.
Great info and photos
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Yes I do. Sometimes they work, and sometimes they don’t. I have new camera which takers larger images.
You have a world class collection, my friend! Great thread! And amazing coins!
One of my most recent pick ups was a 1926 QE
I’m doing the type set as well, but mainly the 12 piece for gold.
I don’t think I’ll ever have the resources to do one as extensively as yours, believe me if I did, I would!
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I've done the same....but I could only afford to do it with lincoln cents and SAEs
(and, yes, I know the SAEs weren't over a century...but, until recently, they were affordable and one could easily see the changes in the surfaces of the SAEs, as minted, within a few years time of minting)
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I am impressed, Bill! A tip o’ the hat to you!
I have never collected the gold but I like this - Nice.
Curious if you thought of the 100 year thing before collecting them or was it something you put together afterwards (possibly by having multiple dates of the later dated $2.50). Doesn't really matter or impact the coolness of it, just curious.
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No, this just dawned on me a couple months ago. I saw that I had three out five of coins and that other two were common or fairly common.
I looked at the $5 gold coins. You have to have an 1829 and 1929 gold coins to do it, and that is really hard. The $10 gold coins require only a few dates, none of which are impossible.
Wow. What a great visual.
Very Nice! The Draped Bust and Capped Bust designs are a step ahead of all the others IMHO.
Awesome thread Bill! Very well put together & most informative!
Ken
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That 1796 No Stars is wonderful! I have always loved that, the 1836-37 No Stars silver and the 1876 No Stars Sailor Head pattern dollar, which I got to drool on once!