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In February of 1873, the San Francisco Branch Mint reportedly struck 700 Seated Liberty dollars, 5,000 Seated Liberty, No Arrows half dollars and 324,000 Seated Liberty half dimes. After all of these years, one of the last great mysteries of numismatics still remains. What happened to those 700 1873-S dollars and 5,000 1873-S No Arrows half dollars? 

On Feb. 12, 1873, the Mint Act was passed that, among other effects, would in part mark the end of the silver half dime and standard silver dollar; added weight to the half dollar; and paved the way for the Trade dollar. The legislation took effect on April 1. 

For a generation of numismatic researchers it was assumed that all of the 1873-S Seated Liberty dollars and half dollars were melted before they left the San Francisco Mint. However, documents stored at the Federal Archives in San Bruno, Calif., point to a different scenario with regard to the fate of the 700 1873-S Seated Liberty dollars. 

W. David Perkins knew he would become a professional numismatist at some time in his life and was well-prepared for the transition when it came. He is fortunate to have spent decades as a serious collector, researcher and author. Dave has also consulted with and cataloged for most of the leading numismatic auction firms.  

Early in his more than two decades at IBM, weekends afforded W. David Perkins — owner of W. David Perkins Numismatics in Centennial, Col. — the opportunity to visit New York City to view auction lots and attend sales.

The Lord St. Oswald 1795 Silver Dollars The 1964 Christie’s catalog of the Lord St. Oswald Collection contained three remarkable 1795 Silver Dollars, as follows: Lot 139 “U.S.A., DOLLAR, 1795 (Bolender no. 2) – planchet marks on both sides and some scratching in obverse field, otherwise in brilliant mint state, very rare.” Lot 139 sold for 460 British Pounds (the contemporary equivalent of $1,288) to the American firm of Stack’s, where it joined Norman Stack’s personal collection.

Fourteen Bryan Dollars pedigreed to the collection of early 20th century American Numismatic Association President Farran Zerbe have been certified by Numismatic Guaranty Corp.

Bryan Dollars are satirical medals struck by opponents of William Jennings Bryan, who ran unsuccessfully for president against William McKinley in 1896 and 1900.

The medals are among the approximately 16 different varieties cataloged by Fred Schornstein in Bryan Money and in So-Called Dollars by Harold E. Hibler and Charles V. Kappen. The NGC grading inserts encapsulated with each of the 14 Bryan Dollars in the auction bear the attribution numbers assigned in both references.

Coin collectors may not seem an especially reverent lot. Casual demeanor and good senses of humor are more commonplace than their opposites, from local coin shows to Manhattan auction galleries. The bourse floor is a leveler that puts experts and connoisseurs shoulder to shoulder with hobbyists of all levels. Proximity breeds familiarity, and most of today’s legendary collectors and experts are a coin-show handshake or an email away.

Our relationship to the great names of the past is more distant and less easily affirmed. We connect with the experts and collectors who have gone before us in three ways: the coins they owned or studied, the writings and photographs they left behind, and the still thriving numismatists of an earlier generation who knew them well. Their names are whispered. The books they wrote are prayerfully thumbed into disrepair or bound in rich leathers to preserve the words within. The coins they owned are cherished like talismans, their provenance extending a stamp of approval from the great beyond. Stories about their hijinks, or cabinets, or human foibles, are campfire tales wherever numismatists gather to break bread or find the bottom of a bottle.

Only the second known example of the JR-7 variety of 1796 Draped Bust, Small Eagle dime has been authenticated and graded by Numismatic Guaranty Corp.

Original images courtesy of Numismatic Guaranty Corp. Numismatic Guaranty Corp. has authenticated only the second known example of the JR-7 1796 Draped Bust, Small Eagle dime.

Sept. 2, while examining a collection of 18th through 20th century U.S. coins, likely assembled between the 1920s and 1940s, early dollar specialist and researcher W. David Perkins encountered an example of the 1799 Draped Bust, Heraldic Eagle with Shattered Reverse.

The coin is a result of production from the only known use of the die, in the BB-163 die marriage, according to Perkins. Perkins explains in the Sept. 7 issue of the JR Newsletter, a weekly electronic publication of the John Reich Collectors Society, that the BB-163's obverse, in contrast, was used with a succession of six reverse dies, producing coins from six 1799-dated die marriages.

The Kirk Gorman Capped Bust Dime Reference Collection to be offered by W. David Perkins, numismatist

W. David Perkins will be offering for sale the Kirk Gorman Reference Collection of Capped Bust Dimes 1809-1837 beginning at the January 2016 FUN Convention in Tampa, Florida. 

As in the early half dime and other sales Perkins has conducted in the past, the dimes will be sold in a combination sealed bid auction and fixed price list sale or sales at the January FUN and Summer ANA conventions.