Great Coin, even greater story! Both of my parents were born in 1908, just a few years after your dad. I put together a type set of 1908 coins (well cent through half dollar) and gave to them. They didn't spend them, lol, but they weren't into Coin collecting as much as I was, I guess? Anyway, I've got them back, now and that's another set I'll hang on to. Thanks for posting.
Nice find! Where did he find it? Like what state? If it was in California that’s right around the time of the gold rush. Is that the silver 3c piece or non silver one?
This 1799 Draped Bust Dollar is my other favorite coin (tied with my Athenian Tetradrachm). I like it a lot because it represents a time when America was still young and relatively weak but with a lot of promise and just getting started. The man who designed the Morgan Dollar (George T Morgan) wasn’t even born! I also like it because I imagine in 1799 that a dollar was a pretty significant sum of money. Apparently people back then could get a full sized decent meal with a glass of ale for 15 cents. But I also love the circulated cameo look. It means that this coin was actually spent and circulated around the time it was minted. I like to wonder about who held it back then. Oh and I think the design is cool too!
Love it! Mostly for the same reasons you listed, including the design. I really love history, and would love to own a silver dollar from the 1790's. But, I don't see that in my budget, however I've quite a few coins in my collection that I never thought I would have, so I'll not say "I'll never own one", just I don't have one at this time! Thanks for posting, very happy for you.
I have literally thought about this since the thread was created. I went through all of my imaged coins, hoping to find my one favorite coin. Like @green18 , it is too hard to pick one, so with my apologies....
The Shield on the reverse is excellent but just above think about how many fingers have rubbed over PLURIBUS UNUM through the years. Nice.
I thought the Stella was a gold $4 coin? Or is yours a modern bullion coin replica? I always liked the design although I do admit it’s pretty pointless but when there were already $3 princess coins. No point in a $4 coin when a $3 coin already exists. Just add a silver (or tiny gold) dollar and you have what you need.
@Gam3rBlake Yes it is a modern piece but it looks nice, and the price was fair. I do have a gold coiled hair sort of as I gave all my gold type coins to my son.
Ahhh ok that makes sense. I was gonna say I don’t think anyone on the forums has a genuine gold Stella since they are like $80,0000+ At most maybe one person does since I did talk to someone here who had a Badge of Phanes and a Lydian gold Croesid (as shown below) and those are both high 5 digit coins.