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 Replies: 41 / Views: 10,626 |
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New Member
United States
3 Posts |
 1864 Seated Liberty half dollar No Motto Philadelphia A fire destroyed the Boston Masonic Temple (The Winthrop House) on April 6, 1864. Much of the silver in the temple melted and ran into itself. After the fire the masons recovered the silver presented it to the U.S mint Philadelphia to coin into seated liberty half-dollars. These coins were also engraved by the US Mint Philadelphia for the masons for remembrance and fund-raising to build a new Temple. Mark B. Hotz wrote an article in "The Numismatist" February, 1993, entitled "The Mystery of the Boston Masonic Temple Half Dollars". He concludes that only a very small quantity were ever produced, himself owning one and seeing only one other example. http://www.exonumia.com/Sale10/masonic.htm(MA) Boston: Masonic Temple Fire - US MINT ISSUE - FIRST COMMEMORATIVE COIN. From a 29 Sept. 1864 newspaper: '... The US Mint released the new 1864's to the Masons, made from their own silver'. 'Made from Jewels burned in the Masonic Temple Boston on choice Fine 1864 Seated Half-dollar. A rare, previously unknown US MINT ISSUE, from melted silver coined into half-dollars, and engraved for fund-raising. 'KT' is Knights Templar. This should probably be listed in the Red Book! RARE and highly desirable. Brunk Plate, p. 116. Ex-Lot 1564, Emery and Nichols collection, Bowers and Merena, Nov. 1984. Rulau lists only 6 specimens, all different varieties. American Journal of Numismatics, July 1871-July 1872 http://books.google.com/books?id=4X...ouse&f=falseThe picture on the top is from "the numismatist 1993". My example has a "KT" engraved on the left hand side of lady liberty, but everything else is the same. "KT" stands for knights templar. I believe it to be a proof strike. Beautiful uncirculated condition with no blemishes. Any ball-park idea on what this might be worth would be appreciated. Edited by Metacomet
11/15/2010 01:03 am
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
Oh Man, I have no idea what something like that would be worth. there may be a couple of people on here that may have a better idea but I don't have a clue. Welcome to the forum and if you can take a picture of yours we would love to see it
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
The ONLY way you could have any idea of what that coin would be worth is to auction it. Problem. Although you get your money, you loose your coin.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5825 Posts |
Definitely get it certify by third party grading service. And take pictures before it, I would and perhaps other would love to see it!
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Valued Member
United States
469 Posts |
Now that is a very interesting piece of US history. I have to believe that for the right collector it would be priceless or very expensive to say the least. I don't know how you could put a price on it without putting it in an auction as sel suggested. I could see collectors in NY memorabilia, Civil War, Masonic, and special Mint issues.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
The problem is, how do you etablish that the engraving was done at the mint? Because if it wasn't, and I seriously doubt the mint would have done so, then it is just a post strike engraving that could have been done on any coin.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
 Unless you can find specific references in the Mint Archives, there is no way to prove it was engraved by the Mint. As far as I know, the only 19th century alterations the US Mint made to a coin were the 1848 $2 1/2 CAL gold coins marked countermarked with CAL on the reverse to celebrate the first shipment of California gold to the Philadelphia Mint. Without archival evidence of mint engraving, this item would hold very little interest for serious numismatists because it would be viewed as a damaged coin. However, Masonophiles would still be interested in it and it would probably see at least several hundred dollars at auction. The auction listing provided seems to be a bit hyped, this is obviously NOT the first US Mint issued commemorative(that would be the previously mentioned CAL gold coin) nor is there any reason why this would deserve a RedBook listing  The AJN link from 1871/2 is also inaccurate, it mentions that those were the only half dollars struck that year but the problem is that 379,100 business strikes and 470 proofs were struck in 1864 at the Philadelphia Mint. Edited by biokemist6
11/15/2010 1:25 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2120 Posts |
I would just like to say,
Bravo Metacomet.
You took the time to learn about this coin yourself and with your introduction to the forum have alerted many people to something that many of us would have otherwise never heard of.
Thank you for sharing this piece of history.
Sadly, I think this is one of those, "one of kind" things, that you only see up for auction every so often.
I definitely agree with getting it graded, authenticated and slabbed by a grading service (PCGS imo).
Please keep us updated on the course of action you take, or any more info you find out.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2757 Posts |
Very nice - I learned something new today! Lets hope the Chinese counterfeiters don't get wind of these coins, there will quickly be 1,000 copies out there.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Quote:
I definitely agree with getting it graded, authenticated and slabbed by a grading service (PCGS imo). At best PCGS would send it back in a Genuine slab as damaged. NGC probably the same, in a details slab. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4989 Posts |
Found an 1984-1985 reference indicating 6 known specimens and a sale price of $187. Value today? Hard to say given this is not a noteworthy or sought after collectible. My guess is it would fetch $400-$600 at auction.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4989 Posts |
For reference, a "0" 1864 with AU details goes for about $280 so 2x to 3x face seems quite reasonable for an issue with possible, but scantly documented, historic significance.
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Valued Member
United States
455 Posts |
Thank you for sharing your historical information on the 1864 NT half dollars. Your topic proved to be very interesting.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
757 Posts |
even more interesting would be what were the masons doing in 64. 1864 was a crazy year.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
Quote:
Found an 1984-1985 reference indicating 6 known specimens and a sale price of $187 What were other Seated halves of the same date selling for then? if we knew that we could estimate how much of a premium (if any) the engraving gave the coin back then. Of course it would be nothing but an estimate and nothing concrete but would give a somewhat idea |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
1984 - 85 Graysheet for Seated Liberty no motto halves was $110 for AU, $450 for MS.
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Replies: 41 / Views: 10,626 |
Posted 11/15/2010 01:48 am
