1868 Complete 16-Piece Aluminum Pattern Proof Set, Cent Through Double Eagle !

Never heard of this myself, a very nice peice!

 

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I would have thought the price was even lower by then as the mint in the late 1860's and early 1870s was seriously considering making the half dimes through half dollars out of aluminum rather than having to use silver to redeem all the factional currency notes in circulation. The thought was why redeem paper with silver if we can use something cheaper. And even though aluminum might have been higher than silver due to the lower density of aluminum you could make almost four times as many coins with the same weight of aluminum than you could with silver. (If silver was $1.74 then aluminum would be the cheaper metal if the price was below about $7 an oz.)

It didn't matter though, the price of silver was falling fast as well and eliminated any advantage that aluminum might have had.

 

TTT

Sold for:

$211,500.00 (includes BP )

WOW !