There are coins that we seem to always discuss even those that we may never actually see but then there are those forgotton coins. Those coins that have historical value that may or may not fetch high prices that we seem not to give much attention to for whatever the reason. Now there will be the potential quote how is a coin forgotten if you mention it and that is the whole point, lets bring out of the darkness some of our forgotton darksider coins. Mine happens to be from Spain and is the 50 excelentes 1476-1516 Fernando V and Isabel I gold coin. Crowned busts facing each other with the reverse having coat of arms and eagle. There is no price on it that I know of if found. A coin that is relative to the muslim crisis today. A coin that is relative to the history of a United Spain. A coin that is relative to our own history of the United States. I will search for a picture.
I don't have anything that can compete with that. However, I almost bought a 1897-S $20 double eagle recently. This sounds common enough, but it has one feature that interested me. That was the year the gold from the Klondike gold strike was shipped to San Francisco and used for coinage. I thought that would make it worth owning because of that little forgotten piece of history. However, someone beat me to it and by the time I inquired about it, it was gone.
I would agree that the history behind the gold that made the coin would be as interesting as the coin itself. How much was the coin going for if you do not mind my asking? and how much more would that have been for a double eagle of the same grade for another year?
It was $623 for an MS61 graded by NGC. The surfaces looked pretty clean. I thought it was a good price even for a fairly common coin in that series. I haven't seen any uncirculated $20 liberties at lower prices than that recently. Apparently neither did the person who beat me to it.
Can I answer the last two at the same time - with one coin ?? A 1542 4 reales struck at the Mexico City mint. The very first coins struck in the New World were struck in 1536 of a very similar design. The mint was actually set up in the home of Cortez and these coins became the foundation not only of the Spanish Empire but of the United States as well.
Good points. I wonder how many students of American history are aware of the facts that you alluded to. Which brings the question, should every collector of American coins have spanish reales in thier collection. "The United States dollar derives from the Spanish 8 reales coin which was composed of just under one ounce of silver. This coin was popular among American colonists, who called it the Spanish dollar, the name having derived from a German coin of similar size and composition known as the thaler. The first dollar coins issued by the United States Mint were of the same size and composition as the Spanish dollar and even after the American Revolutionary War the Spanish and U.S. silver dollars circulated side by side in the United States. Although private banks issued currency backed by Spanish and U.S. silver dollars, the federal government did not do so until the American Civil War" Taken off the internet.
Nice Pillar dollar willieboyd. Bonedigger are you going to tell us about your coin? You garnered my interest and others as well I'm sure.
When I first began collecting,I saw one of those ads that suck you in with hype like this."Just imagine owning a coin that was used as legal tender in the American Colonies and might well have been carried in the pocket of one of our founding fathers",and in small print,"our choice of dates". So I send in my $79.95 or whatever it was,hoping for a nice Charles III, 1776 and here's what I received.I'm aware that several of the founding fathers were still alive in 1815 but I doubt they could even lift one of these babys to PUT it in their pocket. Oh well....it has sentimental value.
