How the heck did this high-relief $20 Saint get this way?

You could get them from the bank. $20. The bankers didn't like 'em much 'cause they didn't stack right and complained so much to the Gov's that they went back to making lower relief........

 

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They were not meant to be collector's pieces or bullion. They were cash money. Hand over 20 Morgans and get one Saint. It was a good chunk of cash in 1907: about $490 when adjusted for inflation.

 

I worked at a gas station once, and someone paid with a gold coin on the shift before mine. coworker traded it out for cash, and got it before me. But now that I think about it, the year was 2010, so I conclude it probably was stolen. Who the heck uses gold coins at a gas station? Someone who doesn't know jack about coins and inherited it, or someone who stole it. So, I don't feel too bad about not getting it in hind sight

 

That's always been an interesting thought to me... "which coin (or coins) will be tomorrows Saints or Morgans?"

Not that we would probably be around to benefit from it, but I still find it interesting. Perhaps it's a useful thought when trying to determine what to pass down as family heirloom.

If I was wealthy I would maybe have one as a pocket piece. It would already have to be worn. Pocketing a high grade piece would make me cringe. I would definitely use it as a golf ball marker. That would be cool I think.

 

I bought an 1892 S Double Eagle in around 2000 for about $400. Sold it a year or two later for the same. D'oh!

Rob

 

Any books or written pieces detailing how $20 Saints were used as currencies ? Maybe as part of a larger piece on $20 Liberty's ?

 

I sure woudnt mind a time machine lol. Where's a Delorean when you need one?

 

How did it get like that? Simple, it circulated. Those coins were not regarded as numismatic curiosities back in the days they were minted. Just as was said before--Gold was cheap, and they were no different than the ASE Gold coins of today.

 

I use a no date standing liberty quarter as my golf ball marker.

 

But my understanding -- at least from relatives and from the Boards -- is that nobody paid for stuff with $20 Saints or other gold coins (certainly not Eagles or Double Eagles) in the 1920's. Currency or regular coins were used.

I'm thinking that Liberty's were used more as regular payment for goods and services, pre-1904.

 

With that type of wear it was likely a pocket piece. Saints were more often used for bank transactions they were stored in bulk bags and moved as such. Why so many are unc and baggy the ones that circulated didn't much why their so scarce below au

 

This coin was talked about on another forum last year and I believe pocket piece was the consensus

 

In an authentication seminar in the 1970's, the instructor related a story that happened at ANACS in Washington. A fellow came in with a $50 slug pocket piece from his relative that was worn down to F-VF. The coin looked like a "cast" counterfeit. When the authenticators took the coin over to the Smithsonian (as a lark to kill some time), it turned out to be 100% genuine! He said they were shocked as they had already decided it was counterfeit before examining a genuine coin in the collection.

The genuine slugs were made on the medal press at the mint and have a wavy surface. He said right after that experience, The First Rule of Authentication was born. We all know it today as: "In order to authenticate a coin, you need to know what the genuine specimen looks like."

 

I like it better outside of MS, and would be more likely to purchase it at a premium (over spot). History tugs at my heart, not "sat in a collection 2 days after minted, never to be touched again."

 

I like this coin circulated. I love it in ms. Either way I'd be proud to own it

 

It was the same way during the Civil War. Gold was not for the common folk. From what I have read, you could get pay in paper and silver, or get gold at a premium.

"I was in the Civil War nearly one year; was with Sherman on the march to the sea; went from Savannah, Georgia, to Beaufort, South Carolina, on a coaster, and marched there to Washington, D.C., where we witnessed the Grand Review. We were then transferred to Springfield and discharged. We received $16 per month for services rendered and if we wanted a gold dollar we paid $2.80 in greenbacks to get it."
-from the book Esrom and Mary Hutchings and Their Descendants written by William H. Hutchings

 

Yes, Swish, the premium for actual gold rose as the Union ran into trouble and fell as the war went better for the North. I recall a chart in one of my coin books and I think the premium was as high as 50-60% when things weren't going well in 1862 or 1863.

 

My first thought was Iron Man

 

Here you go!
http://www.wral.com/delorean-goes-back-to-the-future-into-production/15280933/