Coins 1870-99

Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Coin  US gold coins  Silver dollar  Cent and dime

for sale by Heritage

1870 San Francisco Cornerstone

Officials decide and the factory must apply. Twice in the history of the US coinage, a non-existing item was required and a solution was found.

In 1834 the 1 dollar and 1 eagle coins had not been authorized in production since 1804. The proof strikes of 1804 coins made in Philadelphia for the voyage of Roberts are some of the most famous US federal coins, second to the unique pre production 1794 dollar and to the unique non-illegal 1933 double eagle.

In May 1870 the construction of a new building is begun for the San Francisco Mint. The ceremony includes the sealing of a time capsule casket for hoarding inside the cornerstone. That set must gather "one of each denomination of the several coins of the United States of America, all struck off at the San Francisco Branch Mint in the year 1870."

Four of these denominations had not yet been minted. The special strike of the 3 dollar coins is known by only one surviving specimen. A hurried production is made of the 1 dollar silver coin of which 9 examples are surviving. The quarter dollar is still elusive.

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​Half Dime
2023 SOLD for $ 3.1M by Heritage

There is no record of a 1870 half dime at the San Francisco mint, although the dies had been available in due time.

Only one of them was minted and possibly no other was ever struck beside the cornerstone coin. It surfaced in Chicago in 1978. It was authenticated by SEM inspection as a coin of regular strike with no pollution.

This unique coin with a semi proof finish is graded MS 64 by PCGS plus a CAC endorsement. This great uncirculated condition assesses that this coin of unsignificant value had been hoarded by somebody for some reason. It leads to the assumption that the San Francisco chief coiner had it minted beside the cornerstone coin for presentation to his stepson who had a newborn in that year.

The 1870-S half dime was sold for $ 3.1M by Heritage on January 11, 2023, lot 3341. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.

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​Three Dollars
2023 SOLD for $ 5.5M by Heritage

The strike of the four 1870 denominations that were not yet minted at the time of the decision for the treasure casket is typical of a hurry.

​It was observed during the preparation phase that the dies for the three dollar and one dollar gold coins had their S mint identification omitted by the Philadelphia Mint. New reverse dies were required by San Francisco. The chief coiner decided to strike the 3 dollar cornerstone coin with the incomplete die and punch the S. Nevertheless the delivery from Philadelphia arrived in due time. San Francisco got the authorization to release the unique 3 dollar as is and minted the 1 dollar gold with the new dies.

A 1870-S $ 3 coin surfaced in 1907. The building of the Mint had not been damaged by the 1906 earthquake and it was supposed that the casket was still out of reach in the cornerstone. No record could explain the new coin, supposed to be clandestine.

The additional  coin has the numerals 893 scratched on the reverse plus the trace of a jewelry mount on the observe. It was decidedly not the cornerstone coin which was obviously pristine.

​An assumption is that the San Francisco chief coiner minted it for pressntation to his wife in a necklace. The scratch assesses that he did not do it for collection or proffit. The meaning of the numeral is not known.The unique available 1870-S dime has a similar assumption with a presentation by the same coiner to greet a newborn.

The unique available $ 3 was avidly chased by the collectors. Louis Eliasberg passed it in 1944 and 1945 for a too high required price. He was so close to achieve a full collection of US regular types, mint marks and variants that he changed his mind and purchased it for an unprecedented $ 11,550 in 1946. The unique 1870-S half dime did not surface in Eliasberg's life time.

In the auction of the Eliasberg collection by Bowers and Ruddy in October 1982, a record price of $ 687,500 was separately achieved by both the 1870-S $ 3 and the 1822 half eagle.

The 1870-S $ 3, graded SP50 by PCGS, was sold for $ 5.5M by Heritage on January 5, 2023, lot 9013.

1873 Carson City Dime
2023 SOLD for $ 3.6M by Heritage

Carson City was founded in 1858 under good auspices. In the following year, deposits of gold and silver were discovered in its vicinity. When Nevada was separated from Utah, Carson City became its capital. It is still in this position.

A mint was operated there from 1870 to 1893. The coins are identified by the letters CC.

An industrial activity in such an inaccessible region of the Wild West may seem surprising, especially as the population of this tiny capital did not exceed 4,000 inhabitants during this period. However, separating the years, 111 CC coin variants were created, covering seven values from the dime (10 cents) to the double eagle (20 dollars).

The 1870-CC double eagle was a low mintage of 3,789 pieces of which about 40 are surviving. Most of the strike was soft. 

​An example graded AU58 by NGC was reported as stolen in 2011 soon after its discovery and is not currently referred by NGC. 

A lightly abraded coin in an uncommonly sharp strike was recently graded AU55 by PCGS. It was sold for $ 1.44M by Stack's Bowers on November 19, 2024, lot 3198. Please watch the 'Coin In Motion' shared by the auction house. A coin graded AU53 by PCGS was sold for $ 1.62M by Heritage on November 11, 2021, lot 3099.

​Two subsequent variants are known of the 1873-CC dime : without and with two small arrows on the obverse, one on the left and one on the right of the date. Made mandatory after March 1873, these arrows are a somehow confidential code which attests for a change in the normalization concerning the silver weight of the coin.

The 1873-CC dime without arrows was struck in a single run of 12,400 pieces which was melted when the modification was made applicable.

It is known as a unique surviving example that had possibly escaped the group prepared for the Assay Commission. This specimen is graded MS65 by PCGS in a fine strike. A die crack is seen through the CC mark. 

It is indeed not possible to build a full collection unless you own this specific coin. On November 7, 1950, it enabled the completion of the Eliasberg Collection, which went to include all regular U.S. variants. Another owner gathered all the CC varieties and sold his collection in separate lots at Stack's Bowers on August 9, 2012.

Over the years, the price of this unique 1873-CC no arrows dime has always increased : $ 550K from Eliasberg's son in 1996, 630K in 1999, 890K in 2004, $ 1.88M in 2012. Please watch the video shared before the 2012 sale by Stack's Bowers. It was sold for $ 3.6M by Heritage on January 12, 2023, lot 3671.

It is estimated that about one hundred 1873-CC with arrows dimes are surviving. The finest of three confirmed mint state survivors, graded MS65 by PCGS, was sold for $ 550K by Heritage on August 24, 2022, lot 3542.

1874 Bickford Ubique
2022 SOLD for $ 1.98M by Heritage

Dana Bickford was the inventor of the automatic knitting machine. Based in New York City, he made a trip in Europe in 1873 for exporting his machines. At that time the European currencies were standardized since a few years by the Latin Monetary Union.

Back to home, Bickford proposed a system of international currency based on the US dollar to the Director of the Mint, Henry Linderman. The reverse of a gold coin would be inscribed in its center with the weight of 16.72 grams and the .900 fineness corresponding to an eagle coin. A crown of six cartouches would display its value of exactly 10 dollars plus its trade value in Sterling, Marken, Kronen, Gulden and Francs. The word 'Ubique' (everywhere) referred to its international purpose.

Linderman was enthusiast for this project which was referred in an article by The Philadelphia Inquirer on January 1, 1874. Dies were prepared at the date of 1874 with the new head of a pretty youthful Liberty on the obverse. Some patterns were struck in copper, aluminum and nickel, with reeded and plain edges.

The trials in gold were not referred anywhere until two specimens were revealed in 1913 by the arch-collector William Woodin in the wake of the scandal of the marketing of the half union $ 50 pattern coins. It will appear much later that the most important pattern coins from 1874 to 1877 had escaped the collection of the Mint through the industry of its Chief Coiner A. Louden Snowden with the excuse of saving them from melting..

The two gold coins have the reeded edge. These eagles have the diameter of a double eagle with a half thinner planchet.

Both were sold by Heritage. One of them, graded PR65+ Cameo by PCGS, was sold for $ 1.98M on January 13, 2022, lot 3834. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The other specimen, graded PR65 Deep Cameo by PCGS, was sold for $ 1.27M on January 7, 2010, lot 2373.

Stella
​Intro

The balance of a bimetallic system is weakened in the long term because it depends on the relative abundance of the two metals. The coinage act of 1873 is the attempt of a reaction by the US congress forced by low silver price to consider the adoption of the gold standard. The consequences of the repeal of silver had not been anticipated and the monetary crisis goes to a crash.

The Latin Monetary Union, created in 1865 by France, Belgium, Italy and Switzerland, had succeeded in standardizing the currencies. Several countries had joined in, creating a true monetary Europe. In 1879 some economists worry about the risk of marginalization of the United States in international trade.

The 20 francs Napoléon is worth about 4 dollars. A new currency of that value could replace the three dollar and the half-eagle coins. It will be named the stella. A quintuple stella will exactly match the double eagle.

The US minister to Austria suggested to calibrate the weight of the currency with the metric system extensively used in Europe. The stella of US $ 4 shall correspond to 8 florins. In a great momentum of globalization, a five-pointed star replaces the eagle on the reverse while on the obverse the figure of liberty was selected in a competition between two engravers.

The choice fell on the Liberty with flowing hair designed by Charles Barber, the son of the recently deceased chief engraver. A few hundred coins were struck on the date of 1879 and presented to congressmen for promoting the proposed standard. 

The project was immediately rejected by Congress : to be easily exchanged with LMU coins, the stella should have been worth $ 3.88 ! They could have thought about it before.

Stellas were produced in three variants in addition to the flowing hair selected in 1879 : with flowing hair dated 1880, and according to George Morgan's rejected design with coiled hair in 1879 and 1880. These three releases have not been documented. They were perhaps only intended to please a few collectors.

The termination of the stella in 1880 responds to common sense. Multiplication by 4 is not natural in the circulation of currencies and the dollar and the florin have no reason to maintain a parity in the long term. In total, less than 500 stellas had been struck.
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A patent had been granted in May 1877 to William Wheeler Hubbell for a gold, silver and copper alloy named goloid to replace the 90% silver alloy of the 1 dollar coin. The officials were convinced and the first dollars in goloid had been struck in 1878. The mass of the piece is carved in the metric system (14.25 grams) beside the proportions : 1 G, 16.1 S, 1.9 C.

The stellas were prepared in 6 G, .3 S, .7 C (7 grams). At the top of the monetary range the $ 20 quintuple stella is weighing 35 grams with 86 % gold, 4 % silver and 10 % copper (inscribed 30 G 1.5 S 3.5 C) . It should be noted that the alloy of the stellas and quintuple stellas is too heavy in gold to be designated as a goloid.

The goloid patent stated an increased difficulty of counterfeiting. It was naïve : it was enough to remove the gold and increase the copper to obtain a cheaper piece impossible to distinguish from a real dollar coin. The government understands it in 1880 and stops altogether the goloid, the metric dollar and its multiples. The goloid will never more be used in a coinage.

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​1879 Quintuple
2016 SOLD for $ 1.88M by Legend

The double eagle is the common multiplier between the dollar and the stella since 5 stellas are worth 20 dollars. Tests were made also in 1879 by changing the wording without changing the picture.

The immediate failure of the stella makes it one of the rarest types in US numismatics with a population of only five pattern units.

The five specimens of quintuple stellas remain in mint condition, graded between PR 62 and PR 64+.
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Bob Simpson owned the two Deep Cameo specimens. He kept the best, graded PR 64+ by PCGS. The other, graded PR 64 Deep Cameo by PCGS also, was sold for $ 1.88M by Legend Rare Coin Auctions on May 19, 2016, lot 377.

​A quintuple stella graded PR 62 by PCGS was sold for $ 860K by Heritage in January 2007, lot 1594. Now upgraded PR 63 Cameo also by PCGS, it passed at Stack's Bowers on March 22, 2018, lot 2272 and at Heritage in Dallas on January 14, 2022, lot 4793.

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​1880 Coiled Hair
2013 SOLD for $ 2.6M by Bonhams

The coiled hair stellas prepared by George Morgan are limited to the unaccepted strikes of 1879 and very few additional samples made in the following year, tentatively because the designer did not accept his defeat. With a known population of nine, the 1880 coiled hair stella is among the rarest pieces in US numismatics. 

It is logical that the happy owners of a 1880 coiled hair stella gather around it the other three variants. On September 23, 2013, Bonhams dispersed the four One Stellas, each one graded PR67 by NGC.

The 1880 coiled hair in that sale is probably the best surviving specimen of all Stellas with its pleasant warm color and cameo surface, this term designating a genuine mirror-like effect without polishing. It was sold for $ 2.6M and is illustrated in the press release. It had been sold for $ 980K by Heritage on January 12, 2005.

The three other results were $ 1.04M for the 1879 coiled hair, $ 960K for the 1880 flowing hair and $ 280K for the less rare 1879 flowing hair.

Two other 1880 coiled hair are graded PR67 Cameo by NGC. ​The ex Eliasberg example was sold for $ 1.86M by Heritage on February 24, 2021, lot 3754. 

A collection of the four stellas was dispersed by Heritage on April 23, 2015. The 1880 non-cameo coiled hair graded PR67 by NGC was sold for $ 1.82M, lot 5301, the 1879 coiled hair graded PR65 by PCGS for $ 880K, lot 5299, the 1880 flowing hair graded PR66 by PCGS for $ 520K, lot 5300, and the best of the 1879 flowing hair in that sale, graded PR67 cameo by NGC, for $ 305K, lot 5297.

1885 Trade Dollar
​Intro

In 1873 the government ceases the production of the silver dollar. A new silver coin is created in the same year to facilitate the trade with China and Far East. It bears a Trade Dollar inscription as well as its weight in grains and its purity.

In 1878 the drop in price of silver bullion generates speculation and the commercial applications of the Trade dollar are halted. Until 1883 a limited activity is maintained at the Philadelphia Mint for the use of collectors. The Trade dollar is abolished in 1887.

The production of 264 units in January 1884 is recorded in the archives of the Mint. In February the government forbids these pieces to be offered to the public and they are melted. The 1884 dies, however, were not destroyed until January 1885, as if the factory had been waiting for a government counter-order. There was a precedent, the 1878 muddle, when the production of circulation trade dollars was restarted on bad arguments after being banned.

The existence of 1884 and 1885 Trade dollars was not revealed in period. Ten 1884 Trade dollars appeared on the market from 1908 in the circle of John Haseltine, a dealer specializing in coins from the special operations of the Mint.

​Five 1885 trade dollars have survived. Physically, this coin is identical to the 1884 trade dollar except for the date. It was made in Philadelphia using factory production methods and cannot be a novodel.

They were not recorded at the Mint. Unknown to the factory cashier, they were probably test pieces for a production that was never authorized, which would explain the omission of internal records. Meanwhile the Democrat Grover Cleveland had become president, and the position of the Superintendent of the Philadelphia Mint, the Republican A. Louden Snowden, was becoming untenable. He resigned, or was forced to resign, in June 1885.

In 1908 the dealer John Haseltine announced at the ANA Convention the existence of the 1884 trade dollar, which some numismatists close to the factory had supposed. The 1885 trade dollar was still unsuspected at that time.

Snowden used to keep samples from plant operations during his superintendence. In 1909 he needed money and sold to the collector William Woodin through Haseltine the jewel of his treasure, the only two $ 50 gold coins made in 1877 for a project of union ($ 100) and half union ($ 50) in the context of the development of the gold standard. The project had been abandoned for reasons of technical feasibility.

The fact that the two half unions were still in private hands caused an uproar, and the sale was canceled after a legal action. Snowden took back the two pieces which were immediately returned to the Mint by donation or confiscation. After an amicable settlement, Snowden, unable to pay Woodin in cash, gave him his hoard in 1910.

This transaction was not the subject of an inventory but there is no doubt that the four 1884 trade dollars which had not belonged to Haseltine and the five 1885 trade dollars were part of the lot. All of these pieces were brought to the market by associates of Woodin between 1911 and 1915.

Produced in Philadelphia before the cancellation of the Trade dollars, the 1885 Trade dollar is classified as a regular coinage. It has the same rarity as the 1913 Liberty nickel.

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2019 SOLD for $ 3.96M by Heritage

The finest 1885 Trade dollar was sold for $ 910K in the sale of the Eliasberg collection by Bowers and Merena in April 1997. At  that time only the 1804 dollar and the 1913 nickel both from the same collection had exceeded $ 1M. Graded PR66 by NGC, it was sold for $ 3.96M by Heritage on January 10, 2019, lot 4553.

In the same grade the second best 1884 Trade dollar, which had also belonged to Eliasberg, was sold for $ 1.14M in the same 2019 sale, lot 4552.

Please watch the videos shared by the auction house for the 1885 (below) and for the 1884 (linked).

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2021 SOLD for $ 2.1M by Heritage

An 1885 Trade dollar graded PR64 by PCGS, was sold for $ 1.32M by Srack's Bowers ion March 19, 2020, lot 3216.

​A coin graded PR63+ Cameo by PCGS was sold for $ 2.1M by Heritage on January 20, 2021, lot 3030.

1894 Barber Dime
2016 SOLD for $ 2.16M by Heritage

The official records of the US Mint provide the data of production and release with the utmost accuracy, necessary to prevent embezzlement. There is no doubt that the total production of 10 cent silver dimes in San Francisco with the date of 1894 was limited to a minuscule quantity of 24.

That year was disrupted by the financial panic of 1893. Users wanted only gold, to the detriment of silver and paper money. Federal gold reserves were emptied and silver was piling up and depreciating. The demand for silver coins decreased, especially for fragmentary denominations.

Procedures were applied. The San Francisco plant had received in November and January the pairs of dies for the production of the 1894 dimes with a Barber-type figure. The production of dimes continued with the dies marked 1893 or earlier until the production of the 24 pieces on June 9, three weeks before the end of the fiscal year.

The book published in 1893 by Augustus Heaton, A Treatise on Coinage of the United States Branch Mints, stirred an immediate excitement. Collectors now take consideration of the production plant to gather consistent sets including previously unsuspected rarities.

Collectors contact the San Francisco branch in 1894 for acquiring complete series in mint state. Regarding the silver dime worth ten cents, a single response is made : San Francisco does not produce that value in 1894.

Thus the plant's records indicate that 24 dimes were delivered on June 9, 1894. This information goes unnoticed at first glance. The decision for a mass production has not been taken. They were no longer in the cashier's inventory in January 1895. The factory managers did not appreciate that they had created the top scarcity of the US regular coinage. 

On the next year, an official stated that he had to close the fiscal accounts of the silver stock and that the very small remaining volume could only be used for dimes.

The 24 units manufactured with the new tools have not benefited from the perfect setting usually applied when beginning an actual series. A few samples were sent to Philadelphia for destructive testing.

The hunt for this scarcity is launched in 1900 when Heaton reveals the existence of the 24 coins in a specialized magazine. It later became legendary when collectors told fancies on the fate of these coins of which only eight or nine units have surfaced. Surviving specimens had been struck with the same dies and their surface condition is consistent. The planchets and dies were not specially polished, showing that the operation was not designed for prestige.

The collector John H. Clapp owned two, presumably acquired new from a factory worker. One of them, graded PR66 by PCGS, is the finest of the group. Later owned by Eliasberg, it was sold by Heritage for $ 2M on January 7, 2016, lot 5317, and for $ 2.16M on January 15, 2025, lot 4307. Please watch the videos shared by the auction house. The image is shared from PCGS on Wikimedia.

The other ex Clapp-Eliasberg, graded PR65+ by PCGS, was sold for $ 1.44M by Stack's Bowers in December 2020, lot 1227.

Two of the nine surviving pieces appeared together in the late 1940s, bought by a dealer to an old woman. The purchaser generates a legend : the lady had three pieces when she was a girl but had innocently used one of them to buy an ice cream. This story has not been consolidated by direct testimony.

One of them, graded PR66 by NGC, was sold by Heritage for $ 1.5M on September 17, 2020, lot 10055. The other coin, graded PR63 by PCGS, was sold for $ 1.32M by Stack's Bowers on August 15, 2019, lot 5178. Numismatists sometimes enjoy charming tales : a circulated coin in Good 4 condition has been nicknamed The Ice Cream Specimen.

A coin graded PR64+ by PCGS was sold for $ 1.55M by Stack's in October 2007, lot 4921.
1894-S Barber dime

1898 Single 9 South African Pond
2025 SOLD for $ 2.16M by Heritage

The first strike of a gold pond by the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek is a low mintage in 1874 with the name and profile effigy of the then President Burgers and the date on obverse. Two variants exist, with coarse and fine beard. They had been milled in Birmingham, England from a design by Wyon. The designation of the coin is a Boer alteration of the UK pound.

The pond comes back in 1892. It is then the highest value of a full range of designations and metals from penny to pond with the effigy of another long bearded president, Kruger. The year was inscribed in the reverse of the Kruger coins.

In November 1898 the dies for the next year were seized by the British forces during their shipment to Pretoria. The Boer officials decided to have the next year inscribed on the obverse of the 1898 pond. A test was made with a 9 manually punched under the bust at the same place as the date on the Burgers coin.

The 9 was too large and that figure was superseded by a smaller 99 that did not intersect with the effigy. The unique coin with the single 9 was presented to the US Consul General at Pretoria. It was later owned by King Farouk. In 2010 a private sale was reported at ZAR 20M worth US $ 2.7M at that time.

​It was sold for $ 2.16M by Heritage on January 13, 2025, lot 31069. It is graded MS63 Prooflike by NGC. Please watch the videos shared by the auction house.

1898 was decidedly a maverick year in South African numismatics. The silver tickey worth 3 pence was not struck but an influential friend of Kruger named Sammy Marks had some coins struck in gold with its dies for a highly original presentation purpose.