SLOTKIN FAMILY TRUST GOLD PROOF TYPE SET
$5 Coronet Head, No Motto (1839-1865)

Owner Comments:

1860 $5 PR64 Ultra Cameo NGC. Regardless of the date, proof No Motto half eagles are elusive. Official mintage records place the total production at just 62 coins. Some of these were melted, having never been sold by the Mint, and thus the net mintage was even smaller. Walter Breen stated that "at least 30 sold at Mint, rest melted Jan. 1862 as unsold." Perhaps it is reasonable to assume that as many as 10 examples survive today based on grading records. In addition to coins in the Smithsonian Institution and the ANS, we are aware of the following examples: Eliasberg, lot 496; Amon Carter, lot 678; Garrett, lot 482; Norweb, lot 862; and Ullmer, lot 447. The Atwater, Flanagan, and Morgenthau (sale 418) coins mentioned by Breen may be different from the others enumerated herein. The Harry Bass specimen is the one from Ullmer.

This coin from the Lake Highlands Collection has a small mint-made flaw in the left obverse field at eye level. Another small flaw appears at the border outside star 2. A third appears below the digit 0 in the date. All three of these flaws are virtually identical to those that can be seen in the plate of the Bass coin, although these are two different specimens! 1 in 64 Ultra Cameo, none finer. 8/08