A survey of 19th century business strike coin
$2.5 CLASSIC HEAD (1834-1839)
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Coin Details
| Origin/Country: |
United States |
| Design Description: |
QUARTER EAGLES - CLASSIC HEAD |
| Item Description: |
$2.5 1836 SCRIPT 8 |
| Full Grade: |
PCGS MS 62 |
| Owner: |
BillJones |
Owner Comments:
The Classic head gold coins were President Andrew Jackson's answer to the unstable monetary conditions of his time. He believed that yeoman farmers were better off if they could use small denomination gold coins and avoid paper money. Given the state of banking industry in Jackson's day, that was sound advice.
In 1834 Andrew Jackson's right hand man in the Sentate, Thomas Hart Benton, introduced legislation that raised the ratio between silver and gold from 15 to 1 to 16 to 1. This coin and it's $5 counterpart were the result of this legislation. For the first time gold coins saw a fair amount of use in the U.S. economy. As a reult of this, these coins are quite scarce in strictly Mint State condition.
The coin show above has ultra smooth surfaces with the usual weak center on the obverse due to a die crack that runs from the 6th star, through the center and ends behind the curls in back of Ms. Liberty's neck.