Coin Collecting - Silver (and non-silver) Dollars Part 1

See Coin Collecting and Genealogy for the first of this series.

Note:  Everything is in a safe deposit box.  I keep nothing in my home. 

I'll start with the modern bullion issues.  These are silver, have been minted since 1986 and are .999 fine (99.9% silver), which is actually more than the circulating silver coins of fifty years ago.

This "First strike" nomenclature as seen here is perhaps a bit of a marketing gimmick. In order to get that designation, coins must be submitted to PCGS (the premier coin grading service) within the first 30 days of the Mint's release or in a mint sealed box with a postmark indicating same.   Obviously that puts some upper limit on the number of these  that can exist. It also says that the dies were newer rather than older, but it doesn't say anything about actual quality.

The "MS70" says this specific coin is as good as it can get.  The scale runs from 1 to 70, with 1 being a terribly worn piece and 70 being something like this. The quantity of MS70 examples is limited by reality, especially with large coins like this - the slightest ding while being handled can knock it right out of that 70 grade.

Damage after packaging is less likely, but can happen: fire, floods, chemical contamination (these holders are not air or water tight), so the expectation is that these will become more difficult to obtain over time.  

Keep this in mind when buying high grade coins: just because the holder says it was graded at 69 or 70 doesn't mean it still is! 

Also realize that .999 silver is more reactive than .900 - it will tarnish more easily. Many of the beautiful MS70 coins put away now will not be bright in later years.  Some will still be pretty, but others will not be.

The value of previous year examples like this has risen significantly, but the real question is whether there will be long term demand for a non-circulating coin. Those who think that there will be point to Peace and Morgan silver dollars, which haven't been produced for circulation for almost 100 years and are very popular among collectors.  However, many who remember these coins from their childhood are still living today; people of a younger age may have less fascination with them. Modern "circulating" dollar issues are also a bit questionable, because they don't circulate to any great degree either. The hope was that they would, because coins last much longer than paper money. They take up much more space, though, even at the smaller size like this Sacagawea Dollar coin below. 

"Presidential" dollars (2007 to date) are the most recent attempt, illustrated here by James Madison.

I've never seen one of these in circulation and suspect that future generations will treat these (and perhaps the Sacagawea Dollars, too) as more like Commemoratives to be collected by specialists only. Whether that means that they will be worth more or less remains to be seen.


There are some more rare issues that are missing edge lettering, but as you are unlikely to find these in circulation and most banks don't seem to bother with them, you aren't likely to find any of those.


There is a long series of modern commemorative dollars starting in 1983.  These cover everything from the Olympics (1983) to the Girls Scouts (2013), with more to come. I don't collect any of them, though eventually I'll probably add a representative example.

Another issue faces all coinage: the day is not all that far away when all money will be digital. Will a generation that grew up without ever using money have any interest in any of this?

I'm sure some still will, but most of us started collecting  because we could find dates in our (or our parents) pocket change.  Sure, some people collect things that can only be bought, not found, but I suspect that's a tiny number, and it's usually not things as common as coinage.  As the old timers pass away, large collections will pass into the hands of perhaps very uninterested people. 

Long term, I'd expect the value of all coins to go down - though there may be a bubble as digital money first takes over.

But that's all still at least decades away. Let's keep moving looking at dollars.

Susan B. Anthony dollars were made from 1979 to 1999.  These were the first attempt at a smaller dollar and both the color and the hexagonal shape were supposed to make these easy to distinguish from quarters, but it wasn't enough and few circulated.

The Mint is really in a hard place here.  Smaller coins get confused and larger coins are disliked for bulkiness. 

If these coins did circulate, the 1979 "Wide Rim" carries a premium price.  

But they really don't.  Some get spent because kids may get a few as gifts, but the shopkeepers hardly ever offer them as change because customers prefer bills and perhaps because they don't have a slot for them in their change drawer. Back to the bank they go, to await the next doting grandparent who wants some.

That's pretty much true for half dollars, too, though I do still get a few in change.

It's interesting to note that this same situation existed for Morgan and Peace silver dollars when I was a boy. Children got them as gifts and the stores would quickly turn them into the banks.

Half dollars still circulated well until thirty years ago and then dropped out of sight in most places.  I rarely see them now, but the ones I do see generally show some wear, so they must kick around a bit.  Some places use them deliberately as attention getters; there might be someone doing the same with dollar coins, but I haven't heard of it.

 Before the Susan B's came Eisenhower Dollars (1971-1978)

Like every later attempt, this was a dismal failure other than with collectors and use in casinos.

You may hear the terms "blue Ike" or "brown Ike". These refer to the colors used by the mint when they sold these: proof versions came in a brown box, the regular uncirculated silver pieces were in a blue envelope.  Those silver issues were 40% silver overall.

Circulation issues were supposed to be only clad (no silver at all), but about 30 1974-D and 15 1977-D made from 40% silver planchets are known.  Your chances of finding another are of course as close to zero as you can imagine, but should you ever be handed one of those dates, why not look?

I'm not a big fan of Ike Dollars. The design is attractive enough, but clad is ugly and it gets uglier as the coin gets larger. The 40% versions aren't bad because they aren't 40% throughout; the outer part is 80% silver and does look much better.

This concludes Part 1.  I'll cover "real" silver dollars (coins that really circulated) next time.

Coin Collecting and Genealogy Part III - Nickel Coins

See Coin Collecting and Genealogy for the first of this series.

Note:  Everything is in a safe deposit box.  I keep nothing in my home. 

Three Cent Nickel

Although I cannot remember the date, this replacement 3 cent piece is of the same condition as the original.

These coins were the first "nickels".  Most of us think of nickels as five cents, but those came later.  Three cents was the price of a postage stamp in these times, change was still scarce, so these were issued to help.









Shield Nickel




Again, I can't remember the date, but the one I bought will do.

I think the "With Rays" version of this is ugly.  I like this style better.

Liberty Head or "V Nickels"

 The initial issue of these in 1883 did not have "CENTS" on the reverse.  That's the version that was in the original collection and it was every bit as nice as this replacement. 

They say that people gold plated these and passed them as Five Dollar Gold pieces and therefor these are sometimes called "Racketeer nickels".

I doubt that happened often. People were familiar with gold coins and the weight difference would have been very noticeable.  Also, $5.00 was a fairly large amount of money then - at least $100 or more in today's money.  Few people take a hundred dollar bill today without looking at it and I'm sure most wouldn't have been fooled then.  See "JOSH TATUM RACKETEER NICKEL REFERENCES PRIOR TO 1968" also.




Additions

That was all there was in the original collection.  

Buffalo Nickels

As a young child, I found a very nice 1913 "Type 1" Buffalo. The one I bought is only slightly nicer.  

I've also added the last year of issue, 1938.

It was very easy to find Buffalo's in change when I was a boy.








Jefferson Nickels

Supposedly this is the "most collected" U.S. Coin.  It's nice that you can still find all but the most difficult dates in circulation.  I even got a very worn 40% silver "war nickel" in change recently.

When I was a boy, those silver nickels were very easy to find, even in high grades.  

Interestingly, many that I found then had lamination errors, where particularly the reverse would be peeling off.  Today, some collectors pay a premium for coins I threw back into circulation as "damaged"!

Coin Collecting and Genealogy Part II - Copper Coins

See Coin Collecting and Genealogy for the first of this series.

Note:  Everything is in a safe deposit box.  I keep nothing in my home. 

Large Cents

I feel that I should start here because these were the coins I was most interested in when I first examined the coins in that tin box. I had an instant attraction to them - the designs and the chocolate coloring and their weight.  I fell in love with Large Cents and Half Cents and I still feel that way today.

The only coin that I never sold was the 1855.  

There are actually several varieties for 1855 - the one here is not rare, although the total mintage for this year was only a million and a half coins.

I think I remember an 1851 in the set also, but that would be a duplicate of this type, so I might be wrong.  Regardless, I bought one because 1851 was HML's birth year.

I definitely remember an 1816, which was low grade and very dark. 1816 was the famous Year without a summer, a tough year for many, so it is fitting that this coin should be so beat up.

By the way, somebody recently pointed out to me that in 1816 no other U.S. coins were minted - just the large cent!

I don't remember anything prior to 1816.  That's good for my wallet; those coins get very expensive.

That leaves two other varieties, neither of which I can remember dates or grades.  I'll just buy decent examples and post the pictures here when I get them.

By the way, I apologize for the pictures.  They are not high quality and they vary in size when they should not.  Maybe someday I'll rig up some sort of stand to be consistent.

Here's the 1851.  The major variety for that year is the 1851/81 (this is not that).   I used to have books on the minor varieties, but sold them long ago.   The 1855 is in slightly better condition than this, but it's still an attractive example.  Common dates like this run around $40.00 in this condition as I write this in early 2014.

By the way, NEVER, EVER try cleaning old coins to make them look better.  You are almost certain to destroy their value.  In the case of contaminants and green oxidation, there are things a professional can use, but do NOT try that at home!









Half Cents

I'm quite sure that there was at least one half cent in that box, but I do not remember date or condition. I bought this very nice one instead.  If I every do remember, I'll buy something else.

Update:

I kept remembering another half cent. No firm memory swims up, but something was bothering me, so I bought this:

My memory could be way off on that, though.  There is another design (Draped Bust, 1809-1844); it may have been one of those. However, I think I remember the "1/200" on the reverse, which disappeared starting in 1809.

Two Cent 

I know the coin in the box was an 1864 Large Motto.  Here is the 1864:

I remember that the one from the collection was high grade and had an interesting die break, though I cannot remember where.  I keep looking at these whenever they come up for sale, hoping to spot that break (a die break or chip causes a raised area on the coin).

This was the first U.S. Coin to display "In God We Trust".  People who insist that we should do what the founders wanted should take note: the founders didn't want this.

Tokens

These two tokens were part of the collection.  I had no trouble finding them on Ebay.

This political token was was made around 1834 by the Scovill Manufacturing Company in Waterbury, Connecticut.   It was political satire directed at Andrew Jackson's desire to abolish the Second_Bank_of_the_United_States.  “I take the responsibility” is what Jackson said when he transferred the Bank of the United States funds into 25 state banks.

On better examples you can see the letters LL.D on the donkey.

That was a poke at the honorary degree Harvard had awarded the poorly educated Jackson.

Jackson is partially blamed for causing the The Panic of 1837.






This token dates from 1837.  There are many like it.  Do you see the odd spelling of "Defense"?  Apparently that wasn't odd in 1837.   The phrase itself was quite common for the time.

The Panic of 1837 cause coin hoarding and a great shortage of change.  These tokens tried to fill the gap.








The building is the Merchant's Exchange building on Wall Street which burned in 1835.  That may be mentioned on the coin because the marble building was supposed to be fireproof!

Also present was the "Lord's Prayer" token mentioned in the introduction.

This last token is from 1901.  These types of medals are "So-called Dollars" because they are Silver Dollar size.  There are a lot of them and of course there are people who collect all of them.  In general, things like this fall into what's called "exonumia". 

Why my grandfather or his father had this, I do not know.  At http://www.so-calleddollars.com/  I learned that

Reverse of issue below is replica of famous Gold medal given General Washington by Resolution of Continental Congress March 25, 1776; only gold medal ever granted him by Federal Government. One hundred years later, just prior to both Centennial Celebration of Evacuation, Boston and to U.S. Centennial, Philadelphia--1876, 50 Boston citizens subscribed fund to purchase medal from Washington family who finally were induced to act due both "to losses sustained…during… Civil War…and (national) interest…of the centennial."

Purchasers immediately presented piece to City of Boston to be "preserved forever in the Boston Public Library." Medal is about 68mm. in size, 2 11/16mm. thick and weighs more than 7 oz.


These reproductions were distributed to Boston school children in 1901; struck by Whitehead & Hoag, Newark, NJ.

That being the case, young Beardsley was probably given this when he was 14 or so.  I'm not absolutely certain of that, though, because I don't know exactly when the family moved back to Boston.  I found this at AskArt:

Born in Worcester, MA on Nov. 19, 1861. Lawrence came to San Francisco in the 1880s and established a studio. One of his notable achievements was the fresco on the ceiling in the Flood Mansion (now the Pacific Union Club). At the turn of the century, he left San Francisco and returned in 1915 to achieve fame by his revolutionary color effects on the buildings and roofs of the PPIE. His Court of the Ages at the Expo was one of his best works. While in San Francisco he also did the interiors of the Public Library and the Granada Theatre. Lawrence died in Sharon, MA on Sept. 4, 1937.


My cousin Nick has the birthdate as 1851 - I don't know which is correct.

Machin's Mills

The oldest coin in the collection was dated 1787.  It was very worn, with the date barely visible, and had been cleaned, so it was really an ugly piece.

I did not recognize it for what it was.  I thought it was a British Half Penny.

However, no British Half Penny's were made in 1787.  These were actually made illegally here in the colonies.  See Machin's Mills Imitation British Halfpence for more on these.  I'll just quote this:

The coinage mill was forty to fifty rods below the pond, on a canal dug for the purpose. The building was of wood, thirty by forty feet, and two stories high. The metal used was copper, obtained by melting up cannon and leaving out the zinc in the alloy. The copper was then run into moulds, and rolled into flat sheets of the thickness of the coin and from one to two feet wide. It was then punched with a screw, moved by a lever, so adjusted that half a revolution would press out a disk of the size of a coin. The blanks were then put into a cylinder and revolved with sand, saw dust and water. They were generally left revolving through the night; and the coiners circulated the story that the devil came by at night to work for them. They also sometimes worked in masks to create a terror in the neighborhood. 

Coins I added

I added these copper coins.  They were NOT represented in the original collection.

1871 Two cent with repunched date (1871/1871)

1948-D Lincoln (my birth year)

1910-D "Indian Cent" (fantasy piece)

The "Moonlight mint" produces a number of these limited edition fantasy coins (there were no Indian Head cents in 1910).  I'm surprised that this is legal, but apparently it is (though see 1964-D Peace Dollar) for arguments against such things.

This 1890 is real:

As a child in the fifties, I found a high grade 1909-VDB Lincoln in change.  That's not a "rare" coin, but it is the only year in which the designer's initials appear on the reverse (V.D.B., Victor D. Brenner).

People objected and the initials were placed under Lincoln's shoulder from then on.  The "S" (San Francisco mint) version of this is very rare and expensive.

Coin Collecting and Genealogy

Some of what follows is conjecture.  All of it is subject to the imperfections of my memory, but the whole of it is truth, at least as well as I know it.

The story starts with my paternal grandfather, Beardsley Lawrence, born in New Jersey in 1887.   As I promised genealogy in the title, I may as well get that out of the way first.  This is taken from my cousin Nick Dann's work:

Lawrence Line:

1. Thomas Lawrence (England) 

2. s. Joseph Lawrence (c1800 England – ) m. Sarah Bishop (c1784 England – ) 

3. s. Frederick Joseph Lawrence (1826 England – 1904) m. 06 Nov 1850 Eliza Jane Rogers (c1833 Massachusetts – ) – see Rogers Line 

4. s. Herbert Myron Lawrence (1851 Massachusetts – 1937) m. 16 Feb 1882 Anna Raymond Beardsley (1856 Wisconsin – 1949) – see Beardsley Line 

5. s. Beardsley Lawrence (1887 New Jersey – 1953) m. Helen Drake McDewell (1889 Boston  1984) – see McDewell Line 

6. s. Beardsley Lawrence (1914 Massachusetts – 1990) m. 06 Jun 1936 Harriette Azelie Herbert (1911 Massachusetts – 2007)

I think he has my mother's birth  wrong - I think it's 1910 and I need to check with my sister as to the exact date of her death, but it's the two Beardsley's and Herbert Myron who matter to this story.

As I was born in 1948, I obviously never knew HML.  I did meet BL senior just before he died. I remember only that he was a frail old man in a hospital bed and that he said something like "Pleased to meet you, young man".   That's not much.

Sometime later my father gave me an old cigar box full of coins.  This was a small tin box, perhaps 6" by 8" and an inch deep.  I've looked for it on Ebay hoping to recognize the style, but haven't seen it yet.  I can't tell you the brand, but I do think I'd recognize it.  It was pretty beat up, so I'd guess it was from the 30's or older.

The coins were much older.  Large cents and other coins from the 1800's and one very worn coin from 1787 or 1788 (more on that in a later post).  I do not remember anything from the twentieth century unless it was a "Peace Dollar" - well, there was a 1901 commemorative medal, but nothing else that I recall.  There were definitely a few late 1800's Morgan dollars.  There were no Indian Head cents and (strangely), no V nickels except one from 1883.

I do not remember my father telling me where these coins came from.  If I had any thought at all, I might have assumed that they had been his father's, but now I think that actually it may have been HML who collected them.  There are a few reasons why I think that:

First, although I did not realize it then, this was obviously an incomplete type set.  For those who don't know, a type set is one of each type.  For example, if we look at modern Lincoln cents, you'd have one or of the most modern cents with the Union shield, one or one each of the 2009 Bicentennial issues, one of the Lincoln Memorial type and one Wheat Ear (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_cent).  That's what was in the box.  It wasn't just a random pile of loose change; this was a collection.

Second, as I mentioned above, I don't think there were any 20th century coins included except possibly one Peace Dollar.  If Beardsley Senior had been the collector, you'd think there would have been 20th century coins - possibly not, of course,  but it seems more reasonable to think that.

Finally, there were two other pieces.  One was a Columbian Half Dollar.  These were available at the 1893 World's Fair and might have been acquired there.  Beardsley would have been rather young, though of course he could have obtained it later.  The other exonumia piece has a date of 1832, but was actually minted in 1876 for the "Philadelphia Exposition"  and MAY have also re-struck at the 1893 World's Fair (I'm still researching that - there is conflicting information on the Web).  Either way, I think it more likely that HML was the collector.

Columbian Half Dollar

1832 Philadelphia Mint "Lord's Prayer" Token

I'd like to be able to tell you that the two pictures above are from that box of coins.  Unfortunately, they are not: they are both coins that I recently bought to replace those coins.  I'll tell you more about that in a moment, but here is a picture of the one coin that I do still have from that box:

1855 Large Cent












Everything else that was in that box I sold at one time or another.

Yes, that's awful and I regret it deeply.  If my father had told me more about their provenance (assuming he knew, of course), I would not have.  To me, these were just a pile of old coins. They did spark an interest in coin collecting, but I had no sentimental attachment to them.   It is only very recently that the suspicion that this was an actual collection of my great-grandfather (or his son) formed in my mind.

My Quest

Because I regret this loss, I have been rebuilding this collection.  My intent is to pass it and some other interesting coins on to my children.  Neither of them have children of their own, but I'm sure they will find someone else in the family to receive them.   If that person decides or needs to sell, so be it:  I did my part.   I'll be including a copy of this post along with other posts I plan to make detailing the contents of the collection.

Note:  Everything is in a safe deposit box.  I keep nothing in my home.

Replacing these coins is not as easy as it sounds. Because of the guilt and regret I feel, I want to be very precise in the replacements.  That is, I'm not just cruising Ebay and buying the first Half Cent I see.  I remember dates (mostly) and specific conditions and appearance and THAT is what I'm trying to replicate.

This leads to interesting conversations.  For example, as I write this I have been looking for an 1816 Large Cent.  It has to be low grade, dark and somewhat porous.  I've had several people offer me higher grade examples, sometimes at good prices and I've turned them down because I specifically need to match my memory of that coin.  Other collectors seem vaguely annoyed by that: "Don't you want to upgrade the condition?".

No, I do not.  I want to replicate what I sold as precisely as I can.  My memory may be inaccurate, so I'm willing to make some adjustment, but I'm not going to replace what was a well circulated coin with a pristine example or even with one nearly pristine.

In future posts, I'll detail what I've found so far and include as much numismatic and historical information as I can.

Copper Coins
Nickel Coins
Silver and Non Silver dollars Part 1

The value proposition for bread makers

As I mentioned in a comment at my last post,  I calculated that making bread costs me no more than $1.80 per loaf even buying ingredients in small quantities at high prices.  That figure includes 3 cents worth of electricity (measured with a Kill-A-Watt meter).

One commenter asked how I value my time - implying that store bought bread is less expensive if I added that cost in.  I replied that I enjoy making the bread, because it is relaxing and because I control the ingredients.

There are other reasons.  Our bread is always fresh now - we make what we need when we need it and I have not yet tossed any stale bread maker bread to the birds.  That was fairly common before I started making it myself, by the way.

We also don't run out of bread. When I got up this morning I saw that only four slices were left from the last loaf, so I made up another loaf which is baking as I write this.  If I didn't have the bread machine, we'd either go without or I'd have to run to the store.  Going to the store definitely takes more time than what it takes me to mix up the loaf and it costs gasoline and wear and tear also.  

All in all, I can't see this as anything but a win.

By the way, I got the bread slicing block from Amazon and really like it.

The recipe we finally settled on is a mix of "Bread flour" and whole wheat:

6 ounces whole wheat flour

8.5 ounces Bread Flour

1/2 cup McCanns Irish Oatmeal

1 teaspoon salt

10 ounce water

2 tablespoon honey or maple syrup

1/4 tablespoon butter

1.5 to 2 teaspoon yeast

Simple and very tasty toasted or for sandwiches.