I have an 1879 $5 Half Eagle gold coin with a large letter "L" stamped into it on both sides. Does that mean that the coin was determined to be too light? How does that effect the grading/value?
Welcome to CoinTalk. It would be nice if you could post a pic. But it sounds like your coin was counterstamped. There were various reasons to counterstamp a coin - advertising was one reason but a single letter would not be an effective form of advertising. Some people counterstamped coins with their initials. It is safe to say the Mint did not counterstamp this coin. And they did not stamp it to denote it is too light. If the coin had been too light (and this fact was known) it would not have been allowed to leave the Mint. It would have been melted and recoined. Many coins with counterstamps will not be graded by the major grading services. An exception is the Trade Dollar which was routinely counterstamped in China as their way of saying the coin had the indicated amount of silver. Post a pic of your coin if you can.
Cyclone, The counterstamp destroys the numismatic value of the coin for most collectors. However, there are some people who specifically collect counterstamped coins. If you find the right collector you might be able to sell it for a premium (especially if he is looking for a coin with an 'L' counterstamp).
That's not true. Banks would send their coins to the sub-treasury where they would be counted and weighted. When a gold coin was determined to be underweight they would stamp it with an "L" denoting that it was light. Then they would send it back to the bank, in order for the bank to sell it as bullion for whatever gold was left.
I said: When I said "they did not stamp it" I meant the Mint did not stamp the coin as Light and release it.
No problem. By the way, welcome to CoinTalk. This is a great place to learn about coins or to share what you know with others. Where are you from and what do you collect? Looking forward to your participation.
But wouldn't only well worn coins lose enough weight to be considered light , this ones still in nice condition . rzage:smile:hatch::hammer:
Also why would the bank sell it for bullion , wouldn't it be worth more as the legal tender it was ? rzage:hatch::hammer:
If it actually was light enough to be below legal weight it would also no longer be legal tender but receivable only at its bullion value. However I would also agree that only a well worn coin would be underweight and this piece does not seem to qualify for that.
