Owner Comments:
1868 1$
Judd-652, Pollock-725
Rarity: High R.7, PR63 Cam CAC Endorsed
Struck in Aluminum with Reeded edge
Obverse and Reverse: The same designs that the Mint used to strike regular issue 1868 dollars.
Comment::
This is a beautiful Aluminum piece without the issues typical of Aluminum patterns with no lamination or oxidation. Deep reflective fields showcase the devices with a net cameo appearance.
Until the mid-1880s, when a new process to separate aluminum from its ores caused the price of the metal to plunge, aluminum was considered a precious metal. Today aluminum is common, but pattern silver dollar coinage remains quite precious to a large subset of pattern specialists.
Four or five complete aluminum dies trial sets were struck in 1868 at the instruction of Henry R. Linderman, Director of the Mint. One of these sets, in an original leather presentation case, was in the Garrett Collection sale in 1979, Lot 396. This set later appeared in the 1997 ANA sale as Lot 7289. Another nearly complete set (undoubtedly assembled rather than original) was offered as individual pieces in Bowers and Merena’s 1984 Arnold/Romisa sale. It was missing only the Nickel Three Cent and Five Cent pieces. Another complete set, an original set in the possession of descendants of Hugh McCulloch, Secretary of the Treasury in 1868, reportedly was sold privately in recent years [ Later appeared in the Eric P Newman Auction Heritage 2014 lot 3341 – 3456 and broken up and sold individually]. In addition to the 4-5 complete sets, apparently a few extra pieces of each denomination may have been struck, because today an estimated 6-8 specimens are believed known of each denomination. The 1st set was reported to have been auction by Ebenezer Locke Mason Oct 4 1870 Lot 1381, followed by 6 other recorded auctions in the 19th century with sets. In 1871 the set sold the prior year in 1870 was broken up and sold individually and believe the 1$ was resold in 1879.
Provenance/Appearance:
Private sale Oct 2022, No prior appearances can be trace.