Knights Templar 1864 Seated Liberty Half Dollar No Motto

He also says that his has KT on it for Knights Templar, but the Knights Templar and the Masons are two totally different groups. He says he thinks his is a proof striking, but he says it is in beautiful uncirculated condition. My take is that he may not know the difference between a proof and an Unc. I believe the others are business strikes so his piece is probably most likely also a business strike. (Note that this was his first post, and he hasn't been back, so we can't really judge his numismatic knowledge.)

I have little to no numismatic knowledge. I'm not a collector, this coin was in my father's safe. I'm not trying to offer assumptions as facts, I'm just sharing what I've come up with, which is nothing concrete. That is why I'm here and I really appreciate everyone's comments. Thank you so very much!

Everything I know is from second hand sources on the internet and "The Numismatist, Feb 1993". I'm in the process of confirming with the mint on the engraving.



*** Edited by Staff - Rescued Vaporized Photobucket Image. ***

Sorry about the quality, it's a scan

Contrary to what others have stated in the past, there is no evidence that these were engraved by the US Mint and are not what one might describe as "commemoratives".

The silver was deposited by the masons and was coined into half dollars per their request (as any other depositor could do at this time), then returned to them in coin form. It is more likely that they then paid an engraver to engrave the coins to sell as a conscription to raise funds for rebuilding the temple.

There are examples known with no name on the obverse, just "Boston Encampment", but most have a persons name engraved in the left obverse field. All but one known example has "Taken from the ruins of Masonic Temple / April 6' 1864" engraved on the reverse. I have been researching these items for several years and own several examples. At this point I have documented just under 20 examples. I am sure there are more out there.

As to value, that is hard to say with any certainty. They have sold from $100 to $1000 over the years. For the ones with a name on the obverse, most have sold for around $500 or so.

I would be happy to talk to you more about the coin, just let me know.

BN

well I can't say its PROOF.... AU? thats rediculous........
No way is this coin AU..........
but I can see the argument

I sent an email to World Exonumia inquiring about the 1999 auction. Rich Hartzog responded that the VF example sold for $495.

I believe that is a result of the scanner trying to compensate for the engraving on the coin. I bet in hand its not as shiny as it appears in these photo's but it is sunk in to the coin when all the other details are raised so the scanner doesn't really know how to project that in the photo. It is probably a little more shiny because it was engraved and moved metal around which could hinder the toning in those areas but I doubt it is as prominent as the photo shows

I'm thinking the coin pictured may be more like a $1,000 item given the premium that seems to have been paid for an F/VF example at auction. Condition seems really good from the scan.