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New Orleans Type Set, The Forgotten Mint

Category:  Thematic & Topical Coins
Owner:  JTO
Last Modified:  12/22/2015
Set Description
I am finishing my New Orleans type set. Although the registry has a Carson City–one per denomination type set, the New Orleans Mint has not been deemed worthy of such a designation. Nevertheless, after completing the Carson City set, I slowly, over several years, I have been working to complete a New Orleans type set.

For the New Orleans set several coins present a challenge that is unique to the New Orleans set. (This is why I think that a competitive New Orleans set would be fun, challenging, and popular.) The Double Eagle was difficult only based on price, the $3 was not bad and the 1909-O $5 Indian, the stopper for the gold portion, was again a matter of finding the funds and just waiting for a major auction. I finally found a $5 Indian that I could live with and be happy with without taking out a mortgage. The toughest coin to find in AU or better has been the half dime, no stars. It has actually been quite challenging to find in an acceptable grade. I can’t afford to just pay a dealer to go out and buy me a complete mint state set, nor would I want to. That would take the fun out of the hunt.

As I near the completion of this set I can say with confidence that the 2 most difficult coins are the no stars half dime, which is totally under rated and the $5 Gold Indian which usually comes with quite a bit of fanfare. I still need a 1891-O Quarter, it is the only post civil war New Orleans Liberty Seated Quarter with Motto. I am waiting for the right coin at a reasonable price. I hope you’ll enjoy the photos of the coin as I hope I enjoy the coins, happy hunting.

Set Goals
I have tried to include one of each type of coin minted in New Orleans. In essence to make a full type set of just New Orleans coins. New Orleans never worked in copper or nickel, so coins made of those metals are not obviously included.

Slot Name
Origin/Country
Item Description
Full Grade
Owner Comments
Pics
View Coin 3c Silver United States 3CS 1851 O PCGS MS 63 1851-O Important as the only mint marked trime. Another important New Orleans issue. Only 3c from New Orleans
View Coin H10c Liberty Seated, no stars. United States H10C 1838 O PCGS XF 40 These are WAY under valued there are less than 50 on the population reports. This coin could go AU on a good day. A truly rare coin. No stars Half-Dime from New Orleans, the first NOLA H10c. This could be the first coin off the press at New Orleans.
View Coin H10c Liberty Seated, no stars. Just a bit better than the XF-40, Ah the games we play. United States H10C 1838 O NGC AU 50 This is a rare coin! On par with the 1914 D Lincoln for under appreciated rarity. Less than 200 certified today, with at least half "problem coins". Then half of those "non-problem coins" are found in low grade, i.e. < XF-40
View Coin H10c Liberty Seated, no stars. United States H10C 1838 O NGC MS 62 Wow try finding this coin in a nice uncirculated grade. Many Unc's have the appearance of Miss Liberty's feet being washed away as though they were made of sand. The washed away appearance of the feet and date is as struck but not attractive to me. Consequently I have avoided those strikes and as a result it took me 3 years to find this coin. I love the sharpness and the New Orleans mint. It has original color. There are likely less than 300 of these no stars half dimes still in existence. This is the rarest of the "mini-Gobrichts".
View Coin H10 Liberty Seated with stars United States H10C 1851 O NGC MS 61
View Coin H10c Liberty Seated with Legend Half Dime United States H10C 1860 O NGC MS 61 New Orleans Legend half dime
View Coin 10c Liberty Seated, no stars, dime. United States 10C 1838 O PCGS AU 50 The New Orleans Gobrecht dime
View Coin 10c Liberty Seated Stars Dime United States 10C 1857 O PCGS MS 62 GREEN HOLDER
View Coin 10c Liberty Seated, Legend Obverse United States 10C 1891 O NGC MS 64 This is a one year type from New Orleans. All other "Liberty Seated" dimes from New Orleans have the stars on the obverse with "United States of America" on the reverse. The only other Liberty Seated New Orleans issue with the "Legend" on the Obverse is the 1891-O Quarter which is in order of magnitude more expensive. This may have to suffice for a while as my example of New Orleans issued Liberty Seated Legend obverse for a while.

Blast white but not with the dipped look.
View Coin 10c NOLA Barber Dime...Unc United States 10C 1906 O NGC MS 63
View Coin 10c The last year NOLA... Dime United States 10C 1909 O NGC AU 58 The Last of the New Orleans Mint!
View Coin 25c Liberty Seated no Drapery. The first New Orleans Quarter United States 25C 1840 O NO DRAPERY PCGS AU 50
View Coin 25C Liberty Seated Quarter Arrows and Rays no Motto, with Drapery United States 25C 1853 O ARR & RAYS PCGS XF 45
View Coin 25C Liberty Seated Quarter no Motto, with Drapery United States 25C 1860 O PCGS AU 58 A true slider with a nice milky white appearance.
View Coin 25c Barber Quarter, Second to last from New Orleans United States 25C 1908 O PCGS MS 64 Second to last year for NOLA
View Coin A classic. Just try as I did once to offer a dealer "full red book (retail)" for the coin. I was laughed off the bourse floor. Try 2 to 3 times Red Book and then you are in the ballpark. United States 50C 1839 O NGC AU 53 First obverse mint mark on a US coin. This is one of my favorites. The coin pictured is actually housed in an old ANACS AU-55 holder. I owned both coins but this one is much more attractive. I would send it in to NGC but I am concerned by their policy of not grading it without cracking it out. If it goes to a tough grader and comes back with details grade I lose. Maybe I'll send it to PCGS.
View Coin 50c Liberty Seated Half Dollar. United States 50C 1845 O SS NEW YORK NGC SHIPWRECK EFFECT
View Coin 50c Liberty Seated with Arrows and Rays. No New Orleans arrows and rays quarter made in 1853, so this is another one year one denomination coin for NOLA. United States 50C 1853 O ARR & RAYS NGC AU 55 Here again key because of the O mint mark. Arrows and Ray are better than just arrows but the "O" mint mark kicks it up a notch.
View Coin 50c Liberty Seated Half Dollar. United States 50C 1854 O ARROWS NGC MS 61 '
View Coin 50c Liberty Seated Half Dollar. United States 50C 1860 O PCGS AU 58 Solid for the grade. Made shortly before the New Orleans Mint was converted into everything from a meat locker to munitions battery during the civil war the next year.
View Coin 50c The classic CSA coin almost could grade. United States 50C 1861 O CSA OBVERSE DIE CRACK - SS REPUBLIC NGC PR 1
View Coin 50c CSA Liberty Seated Half Dollar with die crack through date United States 50C 1861 O SS REPUBLIC NGC PR 1
View Coin 50c CSA Liberty Seated Half Dollar with die clash on the reverse through the olive United States 50C 1861 O SS REPUBLIC NGC PR 1
View Coin 50c CSA Liberty Seated Half Dollar with both obverse and reverse die cracks. United States 50C 1861 O SS REPUBLIC NGC PR 1
View Coin 50c Barber Half Dollar. The last year... United States 50C 1909 O PCGS AU 55 The end of the New Orleans Mint productions. The mint never "closed" they, the US Government, just stopped funding it. so it became a Prison, Museum and more. If you are in the city it is worth the trip!
View Coin S$1 Great story to open a 1000 coin bag expecting Morgans, only to find original mint sealed Liberty Seated 1860-O's United States $1 1860 O PCGS MS 62 This coin is as common in MS as not! Thanks to a few $1000 bags stored in the treasury for more than 100 years. These bags were bid on with the understanding that they were non-CC Morgan dollars. The lucky bidders found 1859-O and 1860-O Liberty Seated dollars instead. The 100 years of bag storage and movement accounts for the large population of "bag marked" MS-60 through 62 coins of which this is one example. Common in MS but rare in Gem (65) MS.
View Coin S$1 Morgan A fun VAM United States $1 1882 O/S TOP-100 VAM-3 FLUSH S NGC MS 61 Strong / flush version
View Coin S$1 Morgan United States $1 1893 O NGC AU 53
View Coin S$1 Morgan United States $1 1900 O Stack's W 57th St NGC MS 66
View Coin S$1 Morgan United States $1 1900/00 O/CC TOP-100 VAM-9 PCGS MS 63
View Coin S$1 Silver Morgan's Liberty United States $1 1903 O NGC MS 64 One of the greatest coin investment stories on record.
Price in the 1964 Red Book Unc. $1650.00 (the most expensive Morgan). One year later, 1964 1903-O Unc. $30.00.
View Coin G$1 Gold Type I United States G$1 1849 O PCGS MS 60 Should be either a 63 or 58
View Coin G$1 Gold Type I United States G$1 1850 O PCGS MS 63 This is unequivocally the rarest New Orleans $1 gold piece in mint condition. There are likely less than 20 and may be less than 10 coins that truly make the mint state grade. This coin has had several incarnations with the most notable being that it is the Plate Coin (Photographic Example of the 1850-O gold dollar) in Winter's "Gold Coins of the New Orleans Mint" (I tracked the photo through several auction sites) and then each case, both NGC and PCGS, the grade was always MS-63. There are a number of coins that were previously graded in the high about uncirculated level and recently got bumped up to the MS 61-62 level. This coin has several areas that appear to be related to other coins rubbing against it within a bank bag. Nevertheless, the luster on the high points is fully intact with some bag marks but not distractingly so, such to justify the 63 grade. Also, of interest, the mint mark is much smaller than for the 1851-O. If you look at my New Orleans Mint gold dollar set you can compare the pictures. There is quite a difference between the mint marks on the coins from the 2 years. Enjoy.
View Coin G$1 Gold Type I United States G$1 1851 O NGC MS 63
View Coin G$1 Gold Type I United States G$1 1852 O NGC MS 61 Likely would have graded as an AU in the 80's then a crack out to get to "mint state". Is it wear or bag marks? A nice enough coin but my grade is a solid AU-58.
View Coin G$1 Gold Type I United States G$1 1853 O NGC MS 63
View Coin G$1 Gold Type II United States G$1 1855 O NGC AU 55 The only NOLA type II gold dollar. A key among the type II based in the limited number of C, D,O and S mint marked coins minted. Mintage of ~10,000 (10k)from Charlotte, 2k Dahlonega, 55k New Orleans and 25k from San Francisco.
View Coin $2.5 Gold classic head S.S. Yankee Blade? United States $2.5 1839 O NGC AU Details Classic 2 1/2, mint mark obverse. The only gold obverse "O" mint mark.
View Coin $2.5 Gold S.S. New York United States $2.5 1843 O SMALL DATE SS NEW YORK C109 NGC MS 61 SS New York. Seems like a low score for a ~ early $2 1/2 in Mint State.
View Coin $2.5 Gold Liberty United States $2.5 1854 O NGC AU 50
View Coin $3 Gold Indian Princess? United States $3 1854 O PCGS XF 45
View Coin $5 Gold Liberty Motto United States $5 1894 O NGC AU 58
View Coin $5 Gold Indian One of the"stoppers" for an NOLA type set. United States $5 1909 O NGC AU 50 Wow the stopper for a New Orleans Gold Type Set
View Coin $10 Gold No Motto United States $10 1847 O SS REPUBLIC NGC AU 55 S.S. Republic, tough to get nice early New Orleans Gold. Note the green hue classic for the gold of New Orleans. Most of which came from melting foreign coins. Most of the foreign gold coins came from the Spanish New World (Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru and Chile).
View Coin $10 Gold No Motto just before the war. United States $10 1860 O NGC AU 55 A long wait for an affordable example of this coin in 50 or better. Just 11,000 minted with most lost to melting. This example is not cleaned and flashy but shows solid honest original wear that looks like it could have just been plucked out of circulation. I appreciate New Orleans' gold!
View Coin $10 Gold Motto United States $10 1903 O PCGS AU 58
View Coin $20 Gold Type I United States $20 1851 O PCGS VF 35 New Orleans the hardest G$20 mint to find in high grade... by far! Classic green hue found on NOLA gold $20 pieces especially the $20's.
View Coin G$20 1852 Rare but obtainable United States $20 1852 O NGC XF 45 This $20 Gold piece demonstrates the classic New Orleans green hue. This is most pronounced on the $20 Gold pieces. this coin is not quite an about un-circulated example but it is close. Note that each star has full definition. I am curious what would happen if I sent to coin in to NCS to have the dirt removed and then re-submitted it.

These coins are far more rare then their score would suggest. Hands down New Orleans $20's are far more rare than those from any other mint.

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