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Oklahoma City Convention Center | 100 Mick Cornett Dr, Oklahoma City, OK 73109 August 19-23, 2025 – View $MILLIONS$ in rare coins and numismatic treasures. Buy, sell, and trade with hundreds of coin dealers, attend lectures and presentations from noted numismatists, and find out what your old coins may be worth! Show Hours Tuesday — 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday – Friday 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday — 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (Admission is FREE for everyone on Saturday!) Admission Information Admission is $10 daily, $25 for weekly pass.  Free for ANA members & children under 12.  Admission is free for everyone on Saturday, August 23. Please note: Valid photo ID required for ages 18+.

The Large Cent Gives Way to the Small Cent By the early 1850s, copper was limited, and the price of the raw metal rose to the point that the United States Mint lost money on every cent that was made. At the same time, the large copper cents had become increasingly unpopular with the American public, which thought the coins too ugly, too heavy, and too prone to collecting dirt. To address the situation, Congress passed the Coinage Act of 1857 that specified a smaller cent, composed of 88% copper and 12% nickel, based on trial half cents produced in that composition by Mint Director James Snowden in 1856. The same law provided for the redemption of the older cents, the now abolished half cent, and Spanish or Mexican coins that had, up to that time, freely circulated in commerce. These were all exchangeable for the new cents. The Flying Eagle Cent Debuts First produced as a pattern in 1856 in advance of the authorizing law, production of the coins for distribution began in 1857. The redemption system proved popular, producing long lines at the Mint in May 1857, as people eagerly traded the old coins for the new smaller cent. Though today we consider Flying Eagles to be copper coins, at the time they were called “nicks” in reference to their nickel content. The short-lived series ended most likely because of striking problems due to the too-high relief of Longacre’s design, with the eagle’s head and tail opposite strong wreath details on the reverse. In 1859, the Flying Eagle Cent was replaced by the Indian Head Cent. Flying Eagle Cents were produced only for three years but the first-year 1856 coins, considered patterns, were not distributed for public use but were instead given to Treasury officials, members of Congress, and other VIPs.Most of the 1856 coins were struck as Proofs, and though some are mislabeled as Mint State, true Mint State examples for the year do exist. Coins for this first-year date were restruck in 1858 and 1859 using the original dies, so the total number produced is not accurately known. Nevertheless, it is generally estimated at fewer than 2,000 coins. All 1856-dated coins are more expensive than coins dated 1857 and 1858 for both business strikes and Proofs. Business strike coins for the last two years are generally affordable, with prices jumping at Gem and above, but Proofs are expensive at all grades. Prooflike business strikes have been certified, as have Cameo and Deep Cameo Proofs. Key coins for the series are the 1856 dates and an 1858/7 overdate; all Proofs are scarce to rare. Obverse: Both obverse and reverse layouts were adapted from previously used motifs. The left-facing eagle, wings outstretched in flight is from engraver Christian Gobrecht’s 1836 Liberty Seated obverse. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA encircles inside the denticulated rim around the top two-thirds of the coin, with the eagle’s right wing tip separating OF and AMERICA. The date is centered at the bottom. Reverse: An intricate plant wreath, composed of various leaves and seed heads of corn, wheat, cotton, and tobacco, is bound at the bottom with a ribbon and placed inside a denticulated rim on the reverse. The wreath design was previously used by the coin’s designer, James B. Longacre, on the 1854 Gold Dollar and Three-Dollar Gold coins. In the center is the two-line denominational text ONE CENT. All were minted in Philadelphia, and no mint marks are displayed on the coins. Edge: The edge of the Flying Eagle cent is plain or smooth, without reeding or lettering. Varieties Series expert Richard Snow outlines dozens of die varieties for the Flying Eagle Cent series in his two-volume reference. The three best-known varieties are the 1858/7 overdate, the Large Letter 1858, and the Small Letter 1858. Several additional varieties are also known in this popular and extensively studied series, and include die doubling, clashing, and other minor die variations. Coin Specifications Flying Eagle Cent Years of Issue: 1856-58 Mintage: High: 24,600,000 (1858); Low: 1,500 (1856; estimated) Alloy: .880 copper, .120 nickel Weight: ±4.67 g Diameter: ±19.00 mm Edge: Plain OBV Designer: James Barton Longacre REV Designer: James Barton Longacre * * * References Bowers, Q. David. The Experts Guide to Collecting and Investing in Rare Coins. Whitman Publishing. –. A Guide Book of United States Type Coins. Whitman Publishing. Breen, Walter. Walter Breen’s Complete Encyclopedia of United States Coins. Doubleday. Guth, Ron, and Jeff Garrett. United States Coinage: A Study by Type. Whitman Publishing. Snow, Richard E. A Guide Book of Flying Eagle and Indian Head Cents. Whitman Publishing. Taxay, Don. The U.S. Mint and Coinage. Arco Publishing. Yeoman, R.S., and Jeff Garrett (editor). The Official Red Book: A Guide Book of United States Coins. Whitman Publishing.

A guest blog by Andrew J. Fandozzi Introduction The word “survivor” designates the beneficiary of an improbable outcome, not infrequently the result of pure chance. In this sense, every no-motto half eagle in existence today is a survivor. As we shall see, experts estimate that there are perhaps 45,000 of these coins, the remnant of an original mintage of over 11,000,000. In other words, the odds against survival for these coins were on the order of 250-to-1, which qualifies as improbable. Among these survivors, I believe that somewhat more than 3,600, or about 8%, are Fairmont coins. Indeed, when the dust finally settles, I think it is likely that the Fairmont hoard will be recognized as the largest single source for these coins. As such, it seems natural to ask whether the date/mint distributions of the Fairmont No Motto half eagles can tell us anything interesting about the corresponding distributions of the entire population of surviving no-motto half eagles. Conversely, discrepancies may reveal facts about the makeup the Fairmont hoard, itself, which are not otherwise obvious. This is a change in emphasis. In the prior articles of this series, I have been mainly concerned with determining the number of Fairmont coins. Now, I will be using that information to investigate whether those numbers tell us anything useful or interesting about the overall population of surviving US gold coins, starting with those I know best, the no-motto half eagles. In the next section, I will discuss survival estimates and their limitations. Following that, I will present a comparison between these estimates and the Fairmont numbers in graphical format. Finally, I will discuss the results. Survival Estimates In principle, the most straight-forward way to determine the number of surviving no-motto half eagles would be to count them. In practice, this does not work very well because, unlike bank notes, coins do not carry serial numbers. Of course, third party grading (TPG) slabs do, but the problem here is unrecognized re-submissions and selection bias that distort the counts. Rusty Goe, for example, is firmly dismissive of TPG data serving as survival estimates: The concept of population data derived from PCGS and NGC population (or census) reports serving as actual totals of extant coins is a worn-out paradigm that does not accurately reflect true supplies. The phrase, “PCGS has graded such and such a number of a specific date-denomination,” simply based on the submission events total recorded in PCGS’s database, is misleading and needs to be relegated to the trash bin of numismatic jargon. A sense of the difficulties with TPG data may be conveyed by noting that, as of late December, 2024, PCGS reports that it has graded 27,442 No Motto half eagles (Classic Heads and No Motto Liberty Heads, combined), and NGC reports grading 28,595, with another 10,000 (yes–that’s the precise number!) receiving NGC-Details grades. PCGS does not report its details grades, but assuming a number comparable to NGC, the implied total is about 76,000 NM half eagles, about 1.7x the number of survivors estimated by the experts. In this respect, the Fairmont coins are unusual because PCGS data, either through direct inspection or from time-series analysis, do more-or-less “accurately reflect true supplies.” We may never again be so lucky. Selection bias is also at work. Briefly, it is more likely that a run-of-the-mill no-motto half eagle from one of the branch mints (Dahlonega, say) will be submitted to NGC or PCGS for grading than a similar, common-date coin from Philadelphia. OK–direct enumeration does not work, and using TPG census numbers as a proxy does not, either. What about other proxies? Some 45 years ago, David Akers used sales records to estimate relative rarity. At the time, this was a creative approach, but in hindsight, it suffered from the same problems as estimates based on TPG data – multiple counts and selection bias. To his credit, Akers recognized the first of these, but it is less clear that he considered the second, which stems from the practice of sales being organized as date runs, often with a single example per variety, which thereby caps the numbers for the common dates. Thus, Akers tended to underestimate systematically the relative number of survivors for the common varieties. What about mintage numbers? In a previous article in this series, I showed that mintage numbers, segregated according to mint and adjusted for loss through attrition, work surprisingly well to model the number distribution of the Fairmont NM $5s, but this is likely, once again, to be a one-off. The Fairmont NM $5s are almost certainly a relatively well-mixed sample of the overall population of no-motto half eagles that is, itself, likely to be unusually well-behaved, in the sense that its individual issues evidently shared, in common, more-or-less the same loss history. In other words, among the No Motto $5s, the survival numbers for the various individual issues do not appear to be strongly affected by idiosyncratic events–a ship wreck, the arbitrage activities of speculators, or government actions–rather, to the extent that events affected the population (and they certainly did), they appear to have affected all the issues more-or-less equally. Thus, although perhaps only 0.4% of the original total issue of no-motto half eagles survive today, this number is probably roughly descriptive for all the varieties within the series. This circumstance may also apply to the no-motto eagles and double eagles (the 1857-S $20s are a well-known exception), but certainly not to the overall population of US gold coins. All of which leads us to expert knowledge: experts such as Doug Winter or Rusty Goe tell us how many survivors they believe exist within their areas of specialization. I suspect if someone were to ask Doug or Rusty: “How do you know”? the answer would be along the lines of “From decades of observation and study as a dealer and a specialist, with both a keen interest and an economic stake in getting it right.” In our “information age” of digital computers, expert knowledge presents a

I spend millions of dollars per year on rare US gold coins. Here are some of the questions I ask myself when contemplating the purchase of literally every coin. Please note that I give considerably more time thinking through the purchase of a $25,000 coin than I do one priced at $2,500. However, I do ask many of the same questions for the lower priced coin as I do the more expensive one. IS THE COIN NICE? Seems like a pretty basic question, but it’s one that has to be asked—and answered—on every coin you buy. As I view coins at shows, auctions, online, or in my office, I view them first with no magnification (except tiny coins like gold dollars which my old man eyes can’t see anymore). The thing I am looking for in the first few seconds is the level of eye appeal. I believe that 95% of the time your first impression about a particular coin is correct, so I’m making mental notes regarding the originality, the color, the luster, and how severe any marks are. I spend about 90% of the time viewing the obverse. If I like the front of the coin, I’ll eventually flip it over to view the reverse, but unless there is something terribly wrong on this side, I’m going to make my decision to buy or pass based on the obverse. Remember that the light you use is going to strongly impact the way you see a coin. Don’t view a coin in direct sunlight, and avoid overhead sources like at coin shows. WHAT’S WRONG (OR ISN’T WRONG) WITH THE COIN? Sizable percentages of certain issues or types have been doctored. If I am looking at an early gold coin, I’m going to assume that something is wrong with it. I tend to look very carefully for shiny spots in the fields (these are often the result of something having been removed from the coin), or swirls which are a sign of a sharp object having been used to remove a spot or a shallow mark. Very few collectors—or dealers for that matter—tend to look at the edge of a coin. It is relatively common for early gold coins to have been rim filed, which is when a coin with an edge bump or a rim ding is carefully filed to hide this damage. It’s not easy to see the full edge of coins in third party holders (especially coins in old slabs), but I urge you to look at them; certainly when you have the coin in hand. Certain dealers are known for either doctoring coins themselves or via proxies. If a dealer has coins that are all shiny or his inventory is filled with No Grades run don’t walk. IS THE COLOR ON THE COIN REAL OR NOT? It is important for you to learn what genuine color looks like. One of the most important things to note about gold is that it isn’t as reactive a metal as silver or copper, and therefore it doesn’t tone as richly. If you see a vividly toned pre-1933 gold coin, chances are good it has been enhanced. A good sign a coin is artificially toned is if it shows deep red, or what I call Cheeto™ orange toning. This is the product of a coin being chemically treated and then heated. After a period of time, the chemicals break down and become cartoonish in appearance. You’ll learn what natural color looks like for coins from each mint by viewing auction lots or by looking at the coins I sell on my website. Every mint has different looks and, as an example, the rich yellow-gold hue exhibited by a natural Charlotte half eagle is far different than the reddish-gold seen on a No Motto San Francisco eagle. DOES THE COIN HAVE POSITIVE OVERALL EYE APPEAL? Eye appeal is defined as the conglomeration of such important individual criteria such as originality, coloration, strike, surface preservation and color. There is a certain amount of subjectivity in eye appeal. I personally like coins with deep (but not dark) coloration as well as coins that are “luster bombs.” And as long as they are not conspicuously situated, marks don’t bother me all that much. Your tastes might be totally different. It is important for a number of reasons to buy coins with positive overall eye appeal. The most obvious is that coins which are pretty are easily resold. If I have a pretty example of a popular coin (say a nice MS64 High Relief) this will likely be an easier coin to sell than an MS65 or even an MS66 which has been dipped. As you become a better educated collector, you’ll learn that certain issues within your specialty are very elusive with good eye appeal. When you are offered a coin with the right “look” for you, it is important to give it strong consideration. IS THE COIN RARE? Thanks to 30+years of submissions at both PCGS and NGC, collectors are able to make determinations about a coin’s overall and high grade rarity. It should always be remembered that the populations of most higher grade scarce and rare US gold coins are significantly inflated by resubmissions. In some cases, this means that as many as 40-50% of the coins listed in the population figures represent duplications.  CAC’s information is a great source for determining the qualitative rarity of an issue (i.e., how many of the PCGS and NGC graded 1851-D half eagles in AU55 have been approved by CAC). I have had my eyes opened hundreds of times in the last decade+ by the numbers of coins that pass CAC’s strict standards; both in terms of being stunned by how few coins have been approved or amazed by how many have been approved. There are a number of ways to determine if a specific date is truly rare. One is mintage figures; if a specific US gold issue has an original mintage of

Heritage Sells the Mississippi Collection. Traditionally, the Heritage February Long Beach sale is small in comparison to most other coin auctions conducted by this firm. This is because Long Beach closely follows the FUN show held in January, which has become the biggest and best show and auction in the coin year. Given the choice of consigning to the vibrant FUN atmosphere as opposed to the moribund Long Beach gloom, most collectors and dealers wisely choose the Florida option. Upon receiving my Long Beach February 2025 sale catalog, I was stunned by its size and scope. A quick perusal showed close to 200 lots of Liberty Head double eagles, many from the Mississippi Collection. Except for the withdrawn 1854-O (and the rare Proof-only issues which had all been sold in the 2025 FUN auction), the set was complete and mostly in very high grades. I was especially interested in the rarer Type One issues as this is a weak area in the better-date gold market right now. Would the market—which was already saturated with higher grade Type Ones from Fairmont and the 2025 FUN sale—be able to absorb these new coins? My pre-sale guess was no, the market couldn’t, and that prices would be trend on the low side. Let’s look at some of the highlight coins and determine how my pre-sale prognostications were. LOT 3365: 1850-O $20, PCGS/CAC MS61 Very few collectors realize just how rare this date is in real Mint State. I know of just three or four, of which this specific coin was probably the nicest. Graded MS61 by PCGS and approved by CAC, it had last sold in the Heritage 6/2014, sale where it set a record for the date at $111,625. I expected this coin to sell in the $75,000-85,000 range, and was very surprised when it set a new price record at $132,000. (Note: all auction results include the 20% buyer’s premium.) Given the fact that this is a population 1/0 coin at both PCGS and CAC, the rarity of this coin in this grade plus the fact the coin itself was really nice make the record price a little more understandable as I reflect on the auction after it ended. Still, 132k is a lot of money for a coin which can be bought in nice AU55 for $15,000-20,000. LOT 3369: 1852 $20, PCGS/CAC MS64 The 1852 double eagle is very common in all circulated grades, and it is available from time to time in Uncirculated grades trough MS62. A properly graded MS64 such as the Mississippi coin is very rare, and the current PCGS population of just five in this grade with two finer (MS64+ and MS65) makes this a true condition rarity. I was bidding for a client on this coin, and prior to sale we had discussed me going up $75,000 with a stretch if necessary. This coin set an auction record for the grade when I purchased it for $102,000. In its last appearance, back in 8/2012, it had sold for $82,250. However, with the $84,000 sale of an NGC/CAC example in the Stack’s Bowers 11/2023, I knew that this nice PCGS coin would bring at least 15% more. LOT 3374: 1853-O $20, NGC MS61 This is another overlooked Type One from New Orleans. It is exceedingly rare in Uncirculated with just two or three known. I didn’t like this coin in 2025 any better than I did when I passed on it in the 4/2014 and 1/2002 Heritage sales it had appeared in, and its price realized of just $43,200 shows me that no one else fell for the Old NGC “MS61” trick. This scrubby AU58 had sold for $64,625 in 2014, and I strongly doubt we will see it bringing that kind of money any time soon. As I would find throughout the sale, coins with problems or coins that were blatantly overgraded performed poorly while nice coins did considerably better.  LOT 3384: 1856-O $20, PCGS AU58 It had been well over a decade since a comparably high-grade 1856-O double eagle had sold at auction, and I was extremely interested to see what this coin would bring. Given that there were two APRs of over $1,000,000 for inferior quality 1870-CC double eagles in the last three years, I thought this coin had the potential to bring $500,000-600,000++. It’s hard to call a half million dollar coin undervalued, but in the World of Double Eagles, the 1856-O is exactly that. Not only was the Mississippi example reasonably cosmetic for the issue (I called it a solid AU55 coin), but it is demonstrably rarer than the 1870-CC, both in terms of overall and high grade rarity. But the fact that the 1870-CC is a first-year-of-issue trophy coin from the most desirable Western mint, it has raced past the 1854-O and 1856-O double eagles—both in popularity and price. The coin opened at $512,500 and it sold for a hammer price of $575,000, or $690,000 including the 20% auction fees. I think this coin was an excellent deal as according to some very basic value comparisons, a decent PCGS AU58 should be an easy-peezy $1 million dollar+ item. To the buyer: contact me for a lot more insider information on this issue and this specific coin. LOT 3389: 1857-O $20, NGC MS62PL As I performed my due diligence on this coin, I recalled that it had sold for a ton back in its 4/2014 auction appearance. When I saw that the number was $176,250, I gulped and stated to no one in particular “this coin will bring $50k less than what it brought a decade+ ago.” I was perhaps a bit too enthusiastic in my pre-sale comments regarding the size of the loss as it was “only” $44,250, and this coin sold for a stronger-than-expected $132,000. I hated it as an MS62, but liked it as an MS60. And you could lose the PL designation; I’d be fine with that. Here was another coin that proved that Type One

Introduction After almost 50 auctions between June, 2018, and April, 2025, involving some 6,800 coins, the Stack’s Bowers Galleries (SBG) Fairmont sales have officially ended. Among these auctions have been 29 sales that included at least 50 coins with the “Fairmont Collection” pedigree. There have been 13 Fairmont-only sessions, including the initial June, 2018, sale of double eagles, the August, 2020, sale of half eagles, and 11 “named-set” auctions that included half eagles, eagles, and double eagles. A single stray $3 coin and one $5 Territorial were sold. No gold dollars or quarter eagles have appeared among the Fairmont coins. I wrote the first of this series of articles in late 2023, midway through the named-set Fairmont auctions, and followed it with eight more. It now seems appropriate that I write a final piece updating and summarizing these articles. This recapitulation will broadly follow the sequence of the series. For the most part, I will not repeat in lengthy detail material that has appeared previously; rather, I will simply provide highlights and pointers. The Pedigreed Fairmonts At the present time, the Fairmont Collection comprises about 8,300 US gold coins, graded by the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) and bearing “The Fairmont Collection” pedigree on their holders. Accordingly, I refer to these as the “pedigreed” Fairmont coins. By searching SBG auction records, the PCGS “Cert Verification” database, plus several dealer inventories, I have built a database for the pedigreed Fairmont coins that I believe to be more-or-less complete. My list of pedigreed Fairmonts continues to grow, slowly. For example, in early May, JM Bullion, a corporate affiliate of SBG, offered for sale some pedigreed Fairmont Liberty T3 $20s, and, in consequence, I added 19 pedigreed Fairmont double eagles to my database. However, for this article, I decided to freeze the numbers as of early April, 2025 – a few more coins do not change things much. In any case, unless SBG decides to release an inventory of the Fairmont coins, we will never know for sure exactly how many there are. The numbers that I provide here are perhaps best regarded as lower bounds – as the above example illustrates, it is almost certain that I have not yet found the records for all the pedigreed Fairmonts, and I probably never will. That said, the table below presents the demographics for the pedigreed Fairmonts, excluding the $3 piece and the $5 Territorial, as I knew them in early April. As of April, 2025, 82% of the pedigreed Fairmonts have been sold in SBG auctions. The table below presents these numbers, expressed as percentages of the known totals. Obviously, a substantial number of pedigreed Fairmonts, perhaps about 1,500 coins, have not been sold in SBG’s auctions. Some of these coins have been distributed outside the auctions through dealers and marketers such as JM Bullion. Doug has obtained and sold some. Some have been sold privately. Even Heritage has auctioned at least one pedigreed Fairmont as a first-time sale. However, the evidence currently suggests that these sales do not account for most of the 1,500 coins, and I suspect that many of them remain unsold today. The 1,500 coins are not evenly distributed across the three denominations. Relatively few are double eagles. Among the half eagles and the eagles, a significant number comprise just two issues, the remainders from 300 1901 $5s and 300 1901 $10s that were submitted to PCGS, perhaps in early 2018, almost all of which were graded MS-63. A few of these 600 coins have entered the marketplace, but I think most of them have not. Among the half eagles, it appears that essentially all the Classic Head coins in the Fairmont hoard were graded with the pedigree. It also appears that essentially all the coins for a few of the common dates among the No-Motto Liberties, notably 1844-O, 1845, 1846 (large date), and 1848, were also graded with the pedigree. Somewhat more than 200 of these coins, generally those with lower grades, have never passed through the SBG auctions, and are included among the 1,500 coins. There are about 60 1892-CC pedigreed Fairmont $10s among the 1,500 coins. The remainder are scattered across the spectrum. Most are relatively common dates, although there are a few from the scarcer issues. I am aware of no rarities among the 1,500 coins. Despite the word “collection,” the Fairmont Collection is not a purpose-built collection in the usual sense of the word – rather, it is part of a hoard. It is now evident that the pedigreed Fairmonts, as defined above, comprise only about 2% of a much larger parent population of perhaps 400,000 coins, encompassing the best coins from this parent population in terms of both rarity and condition. Because the pedigreed Fairmonts are the choicest from the hoard, it is not surprising that a relatively large fraction of them have received CAC approval. The table below presents the numbers, expressed as percentages of the 6,800 pedigreed Fairmonts sold in the SBG auctions, for which SBG has provided images of the coins in their holders. Of course, is only by inspecting the holder that one can determine for certain whether or not a given coin has been awarded a CAC sticker; interrogating the CAC database by PCGS Cert Number is insufficient. What strikes my eye in scanning this table is that CAC was noticeably harder on the double eagles than the half eagles and eagles, and was also picky about the $5 Indians and the San Francisco $10 Indians, relative to the Liberties. In contrast, there was little distinction between the $20 Saints and the Liberties. Whether this is telling us something about CAC’s approval standards, or the pedigreed Fairmonts, or perhaps a bit of both, is not a question I can answer. One of the surprises of the Fairmont sales has been the appearance of a number of proofs, often lightly circulated. By my count, there were 53 of these (as identified by PCGS – SBG argues that there

The Dahlonega Mint opened in 1838 as a result of the North Georgia gold rush. The difficulty of transporting gold ore to Philadelphia for deposits and/or coinage made this former backwater a viable location for the production of coinage. The mint was opened until 1861 when the outbreak of the Civil War closed all three southern facilities. If I had to select the Most Popular Branch Mint it would likely be Dahlonega (although Carson City could make this boast as well). Dahlonega gold coins have become an avidly-sought after area of the market with collectors from all over the country building sets; not just from the Atlanta area as was the case a few decades ago. Dahlonega gold coinage exists in four denominations (see below) and there are no impossible rarities as with most of the other southern mints. There are numerous ways by which to collect Dahlonega coins, ranging from casual to obsessive. In this article, we will look at some of the most basic ways to collect these coins and some clever methods which you might not have considered. 1. The Three (or Four) Coin Basic Denomination Set The easiest way to collect Dahlonega gold is to acquire one example of each of the denominations which were produced at this mint. These are as follows: If the three dollar piece is eliminated, a very nice three-coin set of Dahlonega gold can be assembled for around $20,000-25,000. If this is too much money, it is possible to assemble the same set in the VF-EF range for around $11,000-13,000. 2. The 10-Coin Advanced Type Set There are no less than 10 major design types of Dahlonega gold coinage. Many collectors seek to complete a set which includes one of each of the following: The most popular grade range for a 10-coin advanced set of Dahlonega gold is EF to Choice AU. An Uncirculated set is possible, but it is very rare and expensive due to the 1855-D dollar and the 1854-D three dollars. A nicely matched set of EF coins costs approximately $150,000-175,000, with the Type Two gold dollar and the Three Dollar piece accounting for at least half of the total cost. A set with all the coins in AU grades costs approximately $225,000-250,000, but the overall cost would be greater if the majority of the coins were AU55 to AU58 and were CAC approved. A set with all the coins in Uncirculated is possible but it is extremely difficult to complete. It would run in the $500,000-700,000, range and could potentially be considerably more if very high grade (MS63 and finer) coins are featured. 3. Collecting by Denomination Every collector feels an affinity for a specific denomination. Each of the three primary denominations struck at the Dahlonega Mint have their pros and cons. The small size of the gold dollar is a turn-off to some collectors. It is hard to embrace the concept of spending thousands—or even tens of thousands—of dollars for a coin that is about the size of the average adult’s thumbnail. Also, the gold dollars from this mint are crude and they lack the “pretty” appearance which larger-sized, better-struck coins from this facility display. The very reasons that cause some people to dislike gold dollars are the exact reasons why others like them. They are so small and can be so crude that this gives them a certain charm. Sophisticated collectors like Dahlonega gold dollars due to their small mintage figures. Only one of the 13 issues has a mintage of more than 10,000, and five have mintages of 3,000 or less. The gold dollar series is the most expensive of the three primary denominations to collect on a coin-by-coin basis. A set of all 13 in nice EF grades will cost in excess of $175,000-200,000. In AU this set is a challenge but it is completable for less than $300,000. An Uncirculated set is also a realistic goal but four dates (1855-D, 1856-D, 1860-D, and 1861-D) are rare to very rare. The Dahlonega quarter eagle set is the most challenging of the three primary denominations from this mint. Assembling a set requires a good deal of patience and careful study of specific issues. Six dates are very scarce to rare (1840-1842 and 1854-1856) and even the “common” dates are not regularly seen with good strikes, choice surfaces, and natural color. An EF set is certainly a realistic goal and it could be completed for around $250,000-300,000. In AU grades, a Dahlonega quarter eagle set is very difficult to assemble, especially if quality and originality is an issue. A nice set will run in excess of $350,000. It is theoretically possible to assemble a set in Uncirculated but this would be a remarkable accomplishment (as far as I know, it has only been done two or three times), and it would be both costly and long in duration. The half eagle series is the most popular denomination from Dahlonega to collect. The coins are large in size and there are no impossible dates to acquire. Such a set consists of 26 different issues with two 1842-D (Small Date and Large Date) and two 1846-D (Normal Mintmark and D over D Mintmark). The two scarcest issues are the 1842-D Large Date and the 1861-D. The former is much undervalued despite its being essentially unavailable in any Uncirculated grade. The latter is very popular, and as a result it has become one of the more expensive issues from this mint. Assembling a nice, evenly matched EF set of Dahlonega half eagles is not difficult. It will require around $200,000-250,000 with around half of this amount being used on the two key issues. An AU set will be more challenging and some of the “common” issues will prove harder to locate than one might imagine. This set will cost around $300,000-350,000. An Uncirculated set is theoretically possible, but as with the quarter eagles from this mint, a few issues will be nearly impossible to locate. 4. A

Collecting New Orleans Eagles. In my admittedly biased opinion, I find the eagles produced at the New Orleans mint to be among the most interesting and collectible gold issues from the 19th century. Eagles were first made at the New Orleans mint in 1841—three years after this facility opened in 1838. These coins are part of the No Motto type which continued through 1866. However, no eagles of this design type were made after 1860, as the mint closed in 1861 due to the beginning of the Civil War. The mint reopened in 1879 and eagle coinage resumed through 1883. After a pause, it began again in 1888 and continued—with interruptions—until 1906 when it was discontinued. The coins dated 1879 through 1906 are part of the With Motto type. If you only collect Choice to Gem coins, the No Motto issues will not be appealing. Most of the 21 dates are very rare in Uncirculated, and virtually every issue is either unknown or exceedingly rare in MS63 or finer. The 11 late-date (1888 through 1906) eagles from New Orleans are all available in MS62 to MS63, and a few are collectible in MS64 and even MS65 grades. Here are a number of suggested collecting strategies for New Orleans eagles: One and Done While not appealing to me given my long-time love of this series, some collectors will only buy a single New Orleans eagle. If I were going to buy just one coin, I’d likely choose either a higher grade, scarcer, No Motto issue or a choice With Motto piece. Say your budget is $5,000. This will buy you a nice AU53 to AU55 example of a date such as the 1843-O, 1844-O, or 1845-O, or a date from the 1850s such as an 1850-O, 1853-O, or 1858-O. You could go in the opposite direction and purchase an MS63 With Motto 1901-O, 1903-O, or 1904-O. If your budget is $10,000, you can likely acquire an AU58 example of one of these dates. Or, you could buy an AU55 better date such as an 1846-O, 1849-O, 1852-O, 1855-O, or 1856-O. In the With Motto category, you could focus on a choice MS64 example of any of the three 20th century dates I mentioned above. Two Types Collecting New Orleans Eagles. This method is pretty straightforward as it consists of purchasing one example of each of the two design types. The comments I made above on the No Motto and With Motto types are applicable to this collecting methodology. Collecting by Decade Eagles were produced in New Orleans during seven different decades. These are as follows: 1840s, 1850s, 1860s (only one year, 1860), 1870s (also only one year, 1879), 1880s, 1890s, and 1900s. The two most challenging issues are the one-offs from 1860 and 1879. The 1860-O is the easier of the two to locate, although it is very rare in any Uncirculated grade. A nice AU55 coin should be available at less than $10,000. There were just 1,500 eagles dated 1879-O, and this is among the single most difficult eagles from this mint. You can expect to spend around $50,000 for a decent example. Collecting by Date There are 21 coins in a complete date set of No Motto eagles, and another 16 With Motto issues for a total of 37 coins. This includes the 1854-O Small Date and Large Date, but not the 1846/’5’-O. The key issues are the 1841-O, 1859-O, 1879-O, and the 1883-O. You’ll likely have to spend at least $300,000 on these four but—in my opinion—this is a good place to sink a bunch of cash into. Some pro buying tips; as follows: Assembling a Complete Year Set The New Orleans mint produced six different denominations. Wouldn’t it be cool to assemble a complete set with all dated the same year? To answer my own question, yes it would be a cool set. The problem is that the only year in which the three dollar was made at this mint was in 1854. The 1854-O double eagle represents a huge stumbling block for completing this set, as it is an extreme rarity worth upwards of $500,000. There are compromise solutions which may work for some collectors. In 1851, New Orleans made examples of five different denominations (gold dollar, quarter eagle, half eagle, eagle, and double eagle). Luckily, all five are reasonably available and nice AU55 to AU58 coins are within reach of collectors with a budget of up to $10k per. “It’s My Party, and I Can Buy What I Want To…” I get it. You’re a maverick and you do not do what you’re told ‘cause you know thangs. The last person you are going to listen to is a coin dealer. That said, you still want a big ‘ol Nawlins iggle. What should you buy? Obviously, it depends on your budget. If you’ve got around $5k, I’d suggest you buy a nice AU55 1851-O which is PCGS/CAC and has original color and surfaces. Suggestions for a $10k coin include a high-end AU58 No Motto issue would include said 1851-O, or a somewhat lower grade, better date, such as an 1849-O, 1852-O, 1855-O, 1856-O, or 1857-O. At $25k, you can buy some truly Big Boy coins like an MS61 1858-O or an 1860-O. And at $50k+, the sky’s the limit. Personally, I’d search for a sweet 1841-O, or even the key 1859-O in AU53 to AU55. Would you like to buy a significant New Orleans eagle or work on a set? Call Doug at (916) 655-7787 or message him at andrew@jfandozzirarecoins.com to discuss the many possibilities. Collecting New Orleans Eagles