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| Half Cent
The half cent was authorized as US coinage in 1792 with the first coins showing a date of 1793, production ended in 1857. |
United States
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1/2C 1834 C-1
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NGC MS 61 BN
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During the 64 years the half cent was coined, there were four major design changes, and a few minor changes especially during the first few years of production. Most the design changes mirrored the changes in other denominations, like large cents. Also there were no half cents produced in 1837, 1838, and 1839, to fill that void tokens were privately minted by businesses and some restrikes of coins with the date 1836 were also produced.
This example is dated 1834, only 141,000 half cents were produced that year, not the lowest mintage in the series, but still a somewhat low production number.
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| Two cent
The two cent piece was authorized in 1864. This coin was another short lived series only coined from 1864 to 1873. This coin does have the distinction of being the first US coin to bear the motto "In God We Trust" on it. |
United States
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2C 1864 LARGE MOTTO
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This is a coin I own and is raw in my 7070 album, it shows as a want list coin in this set as only NGC, and PCGS graded coins as well as want list coins can be displayed in the custom registry.
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| Three cent silver
Authorized for US coinage in 1851 with the first coins dated 1851 and produced thru 1873. |
United States
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3CS 1861
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NGC AU 53
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This was the first US mint production coin that did not have the image of Miss Liberty on the coin. Part of the need for this unusual denomination was to facilitate the purchase of a US mail stamp which was reduced from 5 cents to 3 cents in 1851.
During the years of production, the mint changed the design twice. In 1854 three lines were added to outline the six-sided star on the obverse design. And on the reverse an olive sprig was added over the III numeral and a bundle of three arrows placed under the III numeral. These coins are tiny, it must have be so easy to lose these tiny coins. Collectors and dealers have given this issue a few nicknames, I have heard these called "fishscales" and "trimes" many times.
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| Three cent nickel
Authorized for coinage in 1865 with the first coins dated 1865 and produced thru 1889. |
United States
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3CN 1870
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NGC AU 58
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This issue was meant as a replacement for the three cent silver coins, made from a composition of 75% copper and 25% nickel these were larger and thicker than the 3 cent silver coins. I imagine that made them less likely to be lost, but the use of base metals was not overly popular with the public.
This example from 1870 was about middle of the road in terms of mintage numbers at 1,335,000 coins struck that year. All three cent nickels were struck at the Philly mint facility, no branch mint strikes.
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| Half dime
The half dime was authorized for coinage in 1792. However, the first coins were not produced until 1795 with a date of 1794. This domination was produced thru 1873 |
United States
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H10C 1858 O
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NGC AU 58
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Like many of the long running designs that the US mint employed this series saw several design and composition changes throughout its history. This particular design is called the seated liberty type and was employed between 1837 to 1873. During the years of production for the seated liberty type design, the US mint employed four different varieties of the design on half dimes, this example is variety 2.
A very nice and original appearing example, what some collectors would call "crusty". I do like this coin and it is a premium coin as evidenced by the CAC green bean. But I have to admit that it is a bit dark for my tastes and perhaps one day I'll attempt to switch this one for a lighter coin that is more what I tend to gravitate towards.
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| Gold one dollar
The $1 gold coin was authorized in 1849 with the first coins dated 1849 and produced thru 1889. |
United States
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G$1 1851 O
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NGC MS 61
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the $1 gold coin was authorized in 1849 with the first coins dated 1849 and produced thru 1889. During its production there were three different designs used by the US mint. This particular example was the first or original design used from 1849 thru 1854. In 1854 the Mint produced both type I and type II coins, and then in 1856 both type II and type III coins were minted with only type III coins from 1857 thru 1889.
This first design was called the Liberty head type one gold dollar, what a tiny coin at only a 13mm diameter. Much like the 3 cent silver coins; I cannot imagine how these were ever used in commerce as these tiny and wafer thin coins would be so easy to lose. 290 thousand were coined in 1851 making this year one of the highest production years for type one coins from New Orleans.
A very nice example of this type, nice honey gold color with a nice but not quite full strike.
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| Gold two and a half dollar
Authorized for US coinage in 1792 but the first coins were not struck until 1796. The designs have varied from the original and the fineness of the gold content was changed twice. |
United States
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$2.5 1843 O SMALL DATE
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NGC AU 53
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| Gold three dollar Authorized in 1853 with the first struck coins dated 1854 and produced thru 1889. |
United States
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$3 1874
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PCGS XF 45
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CAC green bean
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| Gold five dollar
Authorized for coinage in 1792 with the first coins struck with a date of 1795 and produced thru 1929. |
United States
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$5 1881
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The US mint began striking $5 gold coins as early as 1795 thru 1929, the five dollar gold coin was the very first gold coin produced at the US mint. In that time many different designs were employed by the mint. In addition to the design changes the mint made changes to the grains weight in 1834 and fineness of the gold content in 1837.
This example is known as the Coronet or Liberty head design type 2 with motto on the rev. This coin is my personal coin but because it is in a CACG holder I had to list this as a want list coin in order for it to be seen.
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| Gold ten dollar
The $10 gold coin was authorized by the coinage act of 1792. Also like many other gold coins the designs and gold content fineness have changed over the years. The first coins were struck in 1795. |
United States
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$10 1903 O
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PCGS MS 63
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Purchased from the Fairmont (Rhone set) auction held by Stacks and Bowers in August of 2023. This was the year with the highest mintage for Liberty Head gold eagles at the New Orleans mint. 113K were minted in 1903 followed closely in 1904 with 108K total mintage. That means that there are many very nice quality examples of this coin for type set needs as in my case. This was already CAC green bean certified when I purchased it.
This is a very pretty coin with ample luster, minimal marks or scuffs, and a well executed strike that gives this coin the look of a higher grade.
Currently I am using the photos from the SB auction until I am able to provide my own high quality photos.
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| Gold $20 Saint Gaudens
Authorized in 1907 with the first coins dated 1907 production ran thru 1933. These first year coins were minted in high relief while later years struck in normal relief, production continued thru 1933 |
United States
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$20 1924
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NGC MS 62
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The first year's coins were minted in high relief with the date in roman numerals. After striking 11,250 coins in high relief the design was modified and the relief lowered so that production could be done on high speed presses. The date was also changed from roman numerals to standard date numerals. This change in relief and date format were the only changes to the design throughout the years of production.
In the 1940's the US government decided that because it had been decided that the entire production of 1933 Saints were to be melted and not distributed that the handful of coins that were in collector's hands had to be surrendered to the government. This has led to some high-profile court cases in recent years.
A coin from my collection housed in a rare generation 2 NGC holder. The biggest difference between the two gen 2 holders is that for this holder the foil logo is printed inside the plastic shell. The other gen 2 holder has the reverse logo embossed on the outside of the shell, this unfortunately made it very easy for the logo to be damaged from handling and dealer stickers. In his book Conder101 called this slab gen 2.1, however, it was latter reviled that this version of the gen 2 holder likely should have been listed as gen 2.0 and was really the first of the second generation holder style that NGC used. As I wrote in the description for the gen 2.0 holder, Conder101 reports both the gen 2 holders were only used for a month or less in December of 1987. However, given the number of examples that are known to exist I think the timeframe that the gen 2 holders were used by NGC was longer than reported by Conder101.
I purchased this coin at the ANA show that was held in Phoenix AZ in the spring of 2023. A dealer that I was unfamiliar with was setup at the show and had several gen 2.0 and 2.1 NGC slabs. I have wanted an example of both for some time and was really intrigued at the thought of adding one or the other when I saw his case. Most of his other coins were late date WLH's which would have been a bit less than this Saint. But the idea of a large gold coin over the silver half's was more enticing and a deal was struck.
I wish I had been smarter and purchased an example of this style of holder earlier in my collecting journey, it would have saved me a lot of money, lol. Of course, early on I was focused more on completing series and collections and not even thinking about the history of slabs themselves.
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