Gold Dollar Guess The Year
ambro51
Posts: 14,008 ✭✭✭✭✭
OK Folks.....the obverse here has indicators which tell the year. Do you know??
a bit of a 'hint'
a bit of a 'hint'
0
Comments
wag
I don't have a clue for the year, but for a giveaway, I'll guess 1861.
If no one guesses, Ill post the answer about 6 tonite, along with a passage from a reference which tells the story.
(the "hint" is very helpful)
Rok
LA KINGS #11 - KOPITAR
<< <i>1850
wag >>
For this type, it would have to be between 1856 and 1889.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
OK. What we see here is an 1879. The very interesting feature, and the diagnostic...is that the first feather in the headress is partially polished away, and there is a triangular area of polish under the ear. What this signifies...is the re use of the 1862 Proof obverse die, which was retired from proof use after striking about 400 proofs over the years. Perhaps an overenthusiastic mint worker carried on the annual polishing a BIT too far that year, and actually caused the ''streaks' that extend up from the headress through the lettering to the border. Youll notice on your proof gold dollars from 1862 and forward for several years...this same polishing ov the first feather in the headress. (for reference, see QDBs gold dollar book, under 1862 proof )
so...thats what we have here! Over the years, auction houses and collectors have mistaken early strike 1879s for proofs, but the true nature of the proofs are shown by an area of unfinished die within the O of Dollar on the reverse.
Pretty neat, eh?