Walter Breen
Three Dollars. [119] *B-2. Upright of 1 wholly below left serif of L; partial slight extra outlines at r. ribbon and parts of r. wreath; minute spine down from jaw. The proofs were minted April 5, the 7,035 B-1's for circulation Jan. 31. (1) SI. (2) ANS. (3) Eliasberg. (4) Wolfson:284, possibly same as next? (5) Grant Pierce: 1246, Jay: 278, Breen I: 113, $4,000, few lint marks. Plus at least a dozen others, several being impaired.
Half Eagle. [62] Very low date. (1) SI. (2) ANS. (3) Atwater:1681. (4) Flanagan: 1138, J. F. Bell. (5) Ullmer:447 at $7,500, probably one of last two. (6) Amon Carter Sr. & Jr. One ex Morgenthau 418:63 (10/9/40). Probably less than 12 surviving though more should be.
Eagle. [50] *B-1. Low thin date. Not over ten specimens traced. (1) SI ex Mint. (2) ANS. (3) Atwater: 1438, possibly Amon Carter. (4) WGC:665, possibly same as next. (5) "Memorable": 559. (6) KS 2/60: 2790; same as one of last three?, cloudy. The others, including Wolfson: 678 and several impaired pieces, would be all but impossible to lay hands on now.
Double Eagle. [59] Date centrally placed, i.e. numeral 1 about centered between bust and border, but the logotype slopes down to right, the zero nearer border than is 1. Date shallow, lightly punched into die. The Smithsonian coin has not been checked. (1) ANS. (2) Wolfson: 872. (3) Atwater; 1252. (4) Lusk-Leonard (Mehl 12/9/30), Alto:418 (12/70). Ullmer: 521 at $24,000. (5) Baldenhofer: 1521, apparently from a different obverse die: date looks low, nearer border and more boldly logotyped. WGC lacked the date in proof. Probably less than 10 survive in all.
Gold proof sets. [30+] All the gold proofs were delivered April 5. At least 30 were sold in sets, some of the lower denominations as individual coins, the remainder unsold being melted in January 1862 per R. W. Julian. There are not now 30 proofs extant of any of the higher denominations. What this indicates is that some of the remaining sets were given the usual treatment -division by their recipients, the individual coins being filed by denomination. Significance of mintage of gold proofs almost a monthafter the silver-minor sets is uncertain.
Complete proof sets. The Mint Cabinet obtained its complete proof set on March 19 - an unrecorded special striking? This received no special comment in the Mint Cabinet Accounts book, only a charge of $48.64 specie for these coins and a Bechtler half eagle (at $5.12, included in the named amount). The only other complete original set known: ANS, ex Mint, Brock, Morgan.
1861
Cent. [1000+, net 400-] Rather heavy date. Scarcer than the mintage suggests, and many marketed as proofs are in fact early business strikes. Same comment as to 1860. Actual number surviving unknown but unlikely to be more than a couple of hundred, possibly only a little over 100. By April 30, 1861, some 134 had been sold from the mint, out of the mintage executed April 15. With and without small arc-shaped (convex upward) mark at top obv. border; left base of lover center, r. base of final lover space.
Trime. [1000, net 400-] Heavy date, well away from star point. Light die file marks at top and right obv. borders. Some 139 sold by April 30. In a rarity class with the 1860; survivors are only a minority of the original mintage. Fewer known than of 1862 and later years despite the mintage.
Half Dime. [1000, net 400- ] V-I. Date almost centered, skirt pendant above knob of 6, left base of 1 about over left edge of denticle. Rev.: Right end of ribbon clear. The majority of surviving proofs are from these dies. Cf. ANS, Landau: 395, etc.
- *Not in V. Date too far right: skirt pendant over left curves of 6, left base of 1 above center of denticle, both ends of ribbon well clear (lapped die). Eliasberg; Merkin 9/68: 199. This is much rarer.
Total population probably only a couple of hundred at most. Some 132 sold as of April 30, 1861.
Dime. [1000, net 400-] Type II (see 1860). Letters slightly heavier than 1860. One variety lacks rust pit on I of UNITED; high date, pendant over inner left curve of 6: e.g. that in Lester Merkin's April 1966 sale at $1l0; without and (ANS) with rust pit on right upright of M in DIME. The other variety, very similar, has rust pit on I and perfect reverse die. Total population probably a little less than the half dime. Many examples are poorly cleaned.
Quarter. [1000, net 400-] New rev. hub: pupil of eye in relief. Low date, shield point minutely r. of r. upright of 1, left base of 1 left of center, r. base of 1 over left edge. Rarer than the dime; many examples are cleaned or impaired.
Half Dollar. [1000, net 400-] Date very slightly above center of exergual space, shield point minutely left of 8, left base of first lover left edge, r. base of last lover center. Beistle I-A. Rarer than the quarter; doubtful if as many as 100 survive. This obv. was reused on the first (original) GOD OUR TRUST patterns.
Silver Dollar. [1000, net 400-] *B-l: Rather shallow date, minutely below center. Shield point minutely left of upright of first 1, base of first 1 r. of center of denticle, r. base of final 1 left of center of denticle. Rev.: Heavily impressed, arrows almost touch each other; small rough spot (unpolished) between upper and central pairs of leaves; later, cracked, rim to period, arrows. B-2: The same obv. was also used on proofs and coins for circulation with a different reverse, having arrows spaced well apart; and (*B-3) with a third, having arrowheads heavily touching shafts. Relative scarcity unknown. Some 127 of each of the upper silver denominations sold by April 30; between 300 and 400 sets in all.
Silver-minor proof sets. [1000] All struck April 15. Probably only three to four hundred in all sold as sets, others as individual coins, the remainder (at least 600 sets, per R. W. Julian) melted in 1862. Despite the large mintage, the 1861 coins are all considerably rarer than those of 1862 or 63 or 64 with their mintages of perhaps half the size. One in Phila. Estate ex Hesslein 6/23: 1472.
Gold Dollar. [349] B-5. Low date. Very rare, less than twenty now being traced, including SI and ANS coins, a few of them impaired (e.g. the Low-Wismer coin in NN 34: 12). Cf, 1974 ANA: 805 (cleaned) at $2,100.
Quarter Eagle. [90] Date placed well to left of its usual position, last 1 farther from border than first 1. Very rare, much more so than the gold dollar. (1) Smithsonian. (2) ANS. (3) Gaskill - NN 48: 302 - R. Picker for an unidentified collector. (4) Atwater: 1965. (5) WGC - "Memorable": 120, possibly ex Woodin: 1003. Among these may have been the coins reappearing as Wolfson: 185, and/or Golden I: 2283, and/or Ullmer 347. Do as many as a dozen survive?
Three Dollars. [113] Coined April 5. *B-2: Obv. brilliantly polished, without vertical striae. Rev.: Rather thin letters but not the die found on business strikes. Date a little nearer ribbon bows than DOLLARS and sloping slightly down to r.; leaves adjacent to date are intact though thin. Very rare. (1) Smithsonian. (2) ANS. (3) Eliasberg. (4) Wolfson: 186 at $1,700, reappearing as Grant Pierce: 1248 at $2,200, Phila. Estate. (5) Ullmer: 367 at $4,500. Probably less than 10 surviving.
Half Eagle. [66-] *B-2: Low heavy date. Rev.:
Attenuated spiny tail feathers. Very rare. (1) Smithsonian. (2) ANS. (3) Eliasberg. (4) WGC-"Memorable": 361. (5) Atwater: 1682, small spot on rev. border. (6) Elder 6/1/37:496. Phila. Estate. At least 10 melted, Jan. 1862.
Eagle. [69] Two die varieties. B-7: Date low in field, near border; no die file marks at 7th star. (1) ANS, ex J. P. Morgan, from Brock proof set, from Mint in 1861. (2) Dr. Judd, Illustrated History: 136. Reddish rim tone. (3) 1976 ANA:3088, $9000.