1892 Colombia Discovery of Americas Proof 50 Centavos
Boosibri
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I picked up this very rare 1892 Colombian Discovery of Americas proof 50 centavos with the bust of Colombus, minted to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus landing in the Americas.
The coin was minted at the Birmingham mint under the authority of the London mint. It would appear that two coins of the four extant were kept by the Birmingham mint, later sold in the Paramount 1975 Long Beach sale, while the other two were likely given as presentation pieces contemporaneous to the business strikes being produced. The earliest sale of a proof was in the 1964 Virgil Brand sale where a proof was sold as part of a proof minor lot, unplated.
Looking at the coins below, it is reasonably clear from the state of toning that two were stored in one environment, and two in another. Lot 99 of the Paramount sale notes "magnificent lilac toning, especially on the reverse". Based on the original toning on the Norweb coin, and the skin on the Eldorado coin, I would guess that the Whittier/Cape Coral coin and the Lissner coin, came from the Birmingham mint cabinet and were dipped at one point.
There are four known specimens of this coin in proof; a PF67 ex. Lissner, a PF66 from the Stacks 2018 Eldorado collection (Spink August, 1982), the present coin, a PF65 ex. Norweb/Pat Johnson, and a PF64 ex. Whittier & Cape Coral.
Here are the coins:
PF67 ex. Lissner
PF66, ex. Eldorado
PF65, ex. Norweb, Pat Johnson
PF64, ex. Whittier, Cape Coral
Comments
Congratulations! Nice coin. Not exactly a crown though.
Odd that HA only could find 2 other specimens in their search. And they said it was made at the Bogota Mint.
Honestly, I don't understand why the auction companies are now including the mint name in their descriptions. Particularly if they are going to guess at it. It's mostly wrong info, yet they feel the need to do it anyway.
Which one did you land?
I’m partial to the El Dorado coin
I'm BACK!!! Used to be Billet7 on the old forum.
Norweb. Here are better pictures
Latin American Collection
Great coin and information as usual. Well done.
Based on those images I would agree with your assessment/thesis on the storage of those coins.
It is very lazy cataloging. The Eldorado sale was three years prior, and I assume that this is the second specimen HA is referring to. Lissner was in 2014 and not exactly under the radar.
I agree with your point on the use of mint names in descriptions. What poor false information to provide in this case. Say nothing if there is no documentation or generally accepted mint agreed upon.
Latin American Collection
One addition to the upfront summary: The 1985 Norweb sale contained several proofs which originated from the 1975 Paramount sale and notes them as such in the descriptions. The absence of any mention of this coin being from that sale seems proof enough that it was one of the presentation coins and not one of the specimens kept in the mint cabinet and sold in 1975.
Latin American Collection
Nice scores and good info 👍
Congrats- terrific addition
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Great coin!
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