Set Description
I reconnected with coin collecting in 2005 after 40 years of inactivity. At first I was pursuing investment focused gold like $20 St. Gaudens and $5 Indians. While I was at it, I added 20th Century Liberty coins. I fairly quickly assembled a complete set of 20th Century $2.50 Libs (all MS67) and $5 Libs (all MS65 or better). In reviewing the collection, I realized that there was an amazing sameness to the coins in each series. They were bright, shiny and beautiful, but they weren’t terribly interesting.
When attending large coin shows like FUN and the ANA, I began to explore coins that had more character and historical significance. I settled on an expansion to my $5 Lib with Motto collection. The collection had great scarcity for some of the coins (e.g. the 1876 and 1876-S have less than 50 coins remaining) and great rustic looks for others (like some of the CC coins). The series has 107 coins so it is long and difficult to complete. By the end of 2008, I had 101 of the coins. I figured I’d have the set complete by 2009 or 2010 at the latest. Well, lo and behold, at the end of 2014 I’m still missing two of the coins; 1870-CC and 1875. I’m reasonably sure that I’ll be able to find a nice example of the 1870-CC at some point, but I’ve all but given up on being able to afford a nice 1875 for the collection. There are probably less than 10 of these coins in existence and the only nice example that I’ve seen is priced at over a quarter of a million dollars; too rich for my blood.
Since I posted my first comments about the $5 Lib with Motto collection in late 2008, I have upgraded more than 30% of the coins. In many cases, the upgraded coin had the same or lower numerical grade as the original coin; it was just a nicer coin. The cost of “tuition” when you start collecting can be steep and the learning curve on what constitutes a nice coin can be slower than one would hope.
When I began to run out of coins to buy in the with Motto series, I started dabbling in the $5 Lib no Motto series. This is another long series consisting of 102 coins (101 if you exclude the unique $5 1854-S). At this point, I have acquired nearly two thirds this series. I currently have 170 of the 208 coins in the $5 Liberty series.
I am particularly proud of two sub-series within this collection. I currently have a nice example of every Charlotte mint $5 Liberty coin. This includes some finest known examples but also includes the only coin I have graded lower than AU, the 1842-C Small Date. I purchased this coin in EF40 because I felt that the price for higher graded coins was not warranted based on the scarcity of this issue. The other sub-collection that warrants mention is Carson City. I have every coin in the $5 series except for the 1870-CC. Several of these coins are condition census for the date.
Another sub-series that some may find interesting is the “earring” collection. The only one of these coins that is designated on slabs is the 1854 DDO (FS-001) which is caused by doubling on the obverse which is most obvious on the ear. I do not have an example of this coin in my collection. The earrings that I also find interesting are the cases where there is a distinct mint made “punch” in the earlobe. This earring can be seen on the 1844 (scarce variety), 1849 (scarce variety), 1851-C (common variety) and the 1876-S (all known examples). A similar effect can be seen on some 1860 coins where it appears that the mint attempted to fill the punch. Images of coins that have these earrings can be seen in my examples of the 1844, 1851-C, 1860 and 1876-S. If anyone knows the exact origin of these earrings, I’d love to know; please contact me through the NGC Registry.
Hopefully, you’ll take a look at my descriptions and the images in this collection (I’m sorry, I’m not a great photographer and some of the colors may be a little off). If you think that I’ve made a mistake in any of the descriptions, please let me know so that I can correct it. You’ll notice the sources of the coins and in particular the name Doug Winter. Doug has been a tremendous help, particularly with my no Motto purchases. In addition to the coins that I have directly attributed to him, Doug has been a very valued auction representative on many of the coins I purchased from Heritage and Stack’s Bowers. Thank you Doug for your invaluable assistance!
