What Is Up With This Gold Dollar?

I see nothing wrong with it. Remember, each date was stamped by hand into the dies, and each date's stamps produced individually. This did_not_happen on a production line. Each individual stamp was handmade.

Register at Heritage Auctions (ha.com). It's free. No commitment, no credit card number needed. That gives you access to the single finest archive of high-resolution coin images on the Internet, and with this head start nobody's going to catch them. They have almost 18,000 records of $1 Gold sales alone. Look there first, before you post questions like this here. Not because I want you to stop asking questions, but because I want you to learn how to answer questions here. This is (among other things) one of my secret weapons.

A quick perusal of Heritage results - I, personally, had never seen an 1862 $1 Gold until you posted this thread - indicates that this date configuration isn't uncommon. And with that huge archive to search, you can draw broader conclusions about issues.

As Dave said, nothing wrong with the date and I completely agree with his idea of transitioning from asking questions to answering them as I've just made that leap myself (I think)

Great resource Dave!

Dave --

I have always been a person who asks alot of questions..."why" and "how" have been a major part of my vocabulary all the way back to when I was in diapers! I drove many a teacher crazy, asking so many questions. Not surprisingly, I ended up becoming a scientist... ;)

Anyway, I try to be cognizant of my tendency to drive people nuts, and stay "aware" enough such that I don't wear out my welcome. That being said, even the post where I said I'd try to cut back on the questions, contained more questions... !!

Steve

I don't know about all that; all I know is, it's astonishing how much people on this forum know about coins; starting this late in life, I can't see me ever achieving that type of knowledge about coins.

Speaking of coins...remember that 1853 Half Dime that I posted, which I dug at that old church site? We hunted a civil war-era military site today, and my hunting partner dug, ironically, an 1853 Half Dime -- one that is in just as good, if not better condition (except for a scratch on the reverse) as mine. Here's a picture of his -- all he did was pour a little water on it before the picture was taken (which didn't wash away all the "red clay" residue...)



Steve

Dave -- I'm 43, so maybe there's hope! ;) I understand the "obsession" thing -- that's me, as well. Problem is, I can't get TOO obsessed with numismatics, as my wife would tell you I have ENOUGH obsessions already (metal detecting, being one of them... )

Yeah, the silver coins we dig here really are not corroded at all. It's just that whole "toning" thing...here's a dug 1891 Seated quarter, which I've posted before.





It's been judged as XF to near AU; it is what one looks like coming out of the ground, after you get the red dirt off...they aren't corroded, but they don't -- as you all have explained to me -- look like what an 1800s coin SHOULD look like. Even one in XF condition, and even if we are careful not to "clean" it, aside from water, (as was the case with this quarter), it would still likely be graded as "environmental damage." I always thought that "environmental damage" had to mean corroding or pitting or scratches or something like that...but I guess "lack of proper toning that should exist on a 125- to 150-year old coin" IS still considered "environmental damage."

Still, that being said, finding them one-by-one, in the ground, may not be the best way to collect coins, and they collection may never be worth what it otherwise would, but it's sure a fun, challenging, and "different" way to amass a "collection..." :)

Steve

I am about halfway through that thread...I've never read it beyond just knowing that the guy found that coin...

FASCINATING thread, lots of great info, and I'm so happy for that guy. He found what all detectorists dream of -- a real treasure of a find. It also gives hope, from a numismatic perspective, that IF you can find something rare enough, even the "lack of proper toning" or "environmental damage" doesn't completely kill the value...

Thanks for reminding me of that thread, Dave...I'm going to finish reading it now...

Steve

First, in truth, I think he got beat badly by that auction. The coin hammered at half what I'd have cheerfully bid on it, understanding that I'm bidding with imaginary money.

It's the luck of the draw - it was a good auction. A big, important, signature auction which darned well should have drawn the whales from the woodwork. It was, IMO, the best-possible scenario for the liquidation of that coin. Yet he still got beat. I have no explanation for that. To answer your specific question, no, I don't think a "nicer" looking coin would have done any better in that auction. For whatever obtuse reason, the deep pockets who should have been slavering over such a rarity weren't there. No, I don't think it would have hammered for the $18k which the previous "AU Details" example did at Heritage - that coin could have passed for "righteous" and was extraordinary. But I strongly feel the coin linked here went for less than half its' worth.

Your experience with digging is outside the norm. One would expect far more degradation than you and your peers are experiencing from the coins you find. Your climate and soil composition lend itself far better than does soil on the other side of the Rockies or the Mississippi. Were I a detectorist (I'm not) or someone with any desire to see Oklahoma again (no, not after being stationed at Ft. Sill ), I'd already have reservations for an extended vacation there.