Old Cent Whist

Penny Whimsy was written in the 1940's, but has been republished with corrections several times. The link below is for the 1990 version.  Don't be too put off at the price; I was able to find a used copy for less than $60.

Mine was cheap because it had been owned by Bowers and Merena and scribbled in here and there by a fellow named John Pack.  Book collectors don't like scribbling.

I don't mind scribbling at all, especially when it might be useful notes from a professional. It was just brackets and circling, though.

The book covers Large Cents from 1793 to 1814. I don't even own a single example of that type any longer, but I still like having this book, especially at such a low price. 

At the end of the book, Sheldon describes the game of Old Cent Whist.  As he tells it, some advanced collectors would sometimes gather with their collections and, starting with the first variety of 1793, bring out their coins one by one. Having the variety counted as one point, having it in the best condition counted as another.

Obviously few of us could play that game with old large cents today and perhaps not with anything except generic type coins.  

Buy this book at Amazon and help me support this site!

Clue for the second 2014 Silver Eagle Giveaway:  He had connections with Sheldon

Note:  All my coins are in a safe deposit box.  I keep nothing in my home. 

Contests and giveaways: http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html

The draped bust half cents

I have great affection for all of the "little sisters" - the half cents.  They are all low mintage, usually in the hundreds of thousands, sometimes in the tens, and rarely breaking a million. That's just original mintage; the estimated survival numbers are often very low. 

I like the Draped Bust design of 1800-1808 the best. It's a copy of the 1796-1807 Large Cent design, but I think it's much prettier in its diminutive form.

Image Courtesy of: Heritage Auction Galleries, Ha.com

The smaller size makes Liberty seem sweeter and the reverse wreath is more delicate, at least to my eyes.

Before 1803, many of these were struck on cut down planchets of rejected large cents and sometimes the large cent design is actually visible. Many will show die misalignment like my 1806:

That's so common in these early coins that it carries no extra value and often won't even be mentioned unless really pronounced.

The true rarity of these coins is evidenced by the fact that the 1806 pictured above is considered rather common for the series, yet the original mintage of all varieties of 1806 was only 356,000 and it is estimated that only a few thousand survive today.  A few hoards of draped bust half cents have been discovered, but only of a few hundred pieces, so they barely deserve the name.

If you are interested in these under appreciated coins, I recommend getting a copy of "Walter Breen's Encyclopedia of United States Half Cents, 1793-1857".  It's out of print, but copies do turn up on Amazon.

Note:  All my coins are in a safe deposit box.  I keep nothing in my home. 

Contests and giveaways: http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html

The Secret History of the First U.S. Mint: How Frank H. Stewart Destroyed, And Then Saved A National Treasure

This is a large, 8-1/2 x 11 book. That makes it wonderful for the hundreds of full color illustrations and photos, but the large size and the nearly 2.5 pound weight do make it somewhat uncomfortable to read.

I do recommend this book to those interested in numismatic history. An Amazon reviewer asserts that it is not devoted to numismatics, and it is true if you emphasize "devoted", but there are plenty of numismatic tidbits to be found and many pictures of the coins that are part of the story. Stewart's own collection is shown and discussed at length also.  There is a great deal of numismatic interest in this book.

That said, the authors do take their title seriously. This is the history of the first Mint; the land upon which it was built and the ownership of each parcel before and the Mint's operation, the details of each building, including which came first and the confusion that various other chroniclers have contributed, the people involved (primarily Frank Huling Stewart) and what happened to the buildings after the Mint itself moved on to larger quarters.

There are times when all the minutia gets both confusing and boring, but the depth of research and documentation is impressive and admirable.  As the authors explain, this work was originally intended to be a short article in the Numismatist but their research kept leading them deeper and deeper.

Any U.S. coins you may own dated before 1833 (excluding restrikes) were produced at this first Mint. For a good part of its history, men and horses provided all the energy needed; a 10 horsepower steam engine did not come until 1816, but even that was only used for drawing, rolling and some planchet cutting. Human muscle power still struck the coins until the second Mint in 1833.

This is a book worth owning if you enjoy coins and history.

Buy this book at Amazon and help me support this site!

Clue for the second 2014 Silver Eagle Giveaway:  Definitely a striking fellow

Note:  All my coins are in a safe deposit box.  I keep nothing in my home. 

Contests and giveaways: http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html

2014 Kennedy Commemorative

In August the U.S. Mint will be offering 50th anniversary Kennedy half dollars.

Given the recent debacles at the Mint, it will be interesting to see whether there are many orders and how well the mint handles them.

There will be three sets available: a four coin .900 set (one from each mint), a two coin clad set Philadelphia and Denver, and a 3/4 ounce .999 gold version.

I had decided to swear off buying anything from the Mint, but I will have to make an exception for this. I will buy the four coin set as I think that will be the most important to collectors. I'll ignore the clad and the gold.

Unfortunately, the four coin set apparently will be offered in four different finishes, a ploy to increase sales. I don't like reverse proofs, but that will be one of the coins, so if I want the others, that comes with them.

That leaves the issue of orders.

I've said this before: I think first day orders should be limited to one order per address.  Perhaps that should run for two or three days and then (if not sold out) raised to say four per address, but  not let anyone who ordered singles order again quite yet.   If not sold out after another week, open the gates to unlimited and no restrictions from previous orders,

If you are a collector, you would have a better chance of getting at least one of the issue. If you want to take a chance to get more, hold off and wait.

Dealers would still hire people to buy these coins, but they'd have to decide whether to get fewer right away or take a chance on being able to order later.  Whatever their decision, collectors would have a better chance of getting their coins.

Note: All my coins are in a safe deposit box. I keep nothing in my home.

Contests and giveaways: http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html

Robert Bashlow Restrikes

Robert S. Bashlow was a New York coin dealer who is famous for his restrikes of numerous coins. I can remember seeing his ads in coin magazines in the 1960's, particularly the one for the Continental Dollar in the August 1962 Numismatic Scrapbook.  I wasn't interested in his earlier Confederate Cent restrike, but I was tempted by the Continental Dollar.  I don't know why I finally decided against it - the $2.50 price was certainly not an issue.

So, fifty plus years later, I paid $195.00 for this one.

Bashlow also restruck other coins. In addition to the 1861 Confederate Cent and this Continental Dollar, he did restrikes of 1616 Sommer Islands, J.J. Conway $5 gold and the 1861 Confederate States Half Dollar.   There was also an 1814 dime, but those were seized and destroyed along with the die.

If he did others, I don't recall them and can't find them searching Google or eBay.

Robert Socrates Bashlow died in a hotel fire in 1979 at the age of 40. Apparently, he was musical prodigy as a child, and had a connection to both Walter Breen and William Sheldon.

He wrote a book on avoiding the draft and was known for practical jokes and hoaxes in addition to dabbling in pornography.

Note:  All my coins are in a safe deposit box.  I keep nothing in my home. 

Contests and giveaways: http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html

The Henning Counterfeit Nickels

In 1954, a fellow named Francis Leroy Henning counterfeited several hundred thousand nickels dated 1939, 1944, 1946, 1947 and 1953.  That may seem like an odd coin counterfeit, but it wasn't quite as insane as it sounds because a nickel then had the same purchasing power as fifty cents or more would have today. Henning assumed that nobody would notice his fakes as they were only nickels.

He made a mistake in choosing 1944, though, because he wasn't aware that date should have a large mintmark on the reverse, even for Philadelphia minted coins (which carried no mintmark at that time). Henning's counterfeits had no mintmark.

If you find a 1944 nickel without a mintmark, it's a Henning counterfeit. Interestingly, although the FBI siezed what they could when they arrested Henning, they seem to be uninterested in these coins when they appear for sale today.

A diagnostic for Henning nickels of any date is a messed up "R" on the reverse.

However, Henning claimed to have made 6 reverse dies and 6 obverse dies. Not all have that screwy "R".   Some other clues are that a Henning may be overweight (significantly more than 5 grams), though not all are. Henning nickels are porous looking, lacking detail and may lack full rims. Some have raised dots inside the "M" of "UNUM"

Supposedly Henning branched out to other dates because when he took some of his first efforts to the bank, a teller commented that it was odd that all the dates were the same. Having the extra expense of more dies may have upset his profit margins; after conviction he is said to have claimed that he actually lost money overall.

He may have made a half million of these. When he learned that the FBI suspected him, he supposedly dumped his dies and some 200,000 coins in a river. The FBI only recovered 14,000.  Henning paid a $5,000 fine ($40,000 or so in today's money) and was sentenced to three years in prison (and apparently three more for counterfeiting five dollar bills!).

If he did make six obverse dies and they were different dates, we only know of five, so it is possible that another year could be discovered.  Any 1956 nickel you own might have been made from blanks seized at the time of his arrest, melted and reused by the Mint.

COUNTERFEITING CIRCULATING COINS

Dwight H. Stuckey The Counterfeit 1944 Jefferson Nickel
Henning Counterfeit Nickel
Henning Nickels
Definitive Tests for Henning Nickels

Note:  All my coins are in a safe deposit box.  I keep nothing in my home. 

Contests and giveaways: http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html

Daniel Carr's 1975 Quarter

Like all of Daniel's Fantasy issues, these were over struck on real coins; in this case real silver Washington Quarters.

A total of 831 pieces were minted, some with a Bicentennial reverse and some with the normal reverse seen here.  For this particular die combination, 176 were produced.  You can see the various possibilities at  “1933” and “1975” Washington Quarters – Production Blog.

I don't see this particular piece attracting much interest over time. There's really nothing special about 1975 other than that no real quarters were made that have that date.  Many collectors wouldn't even realize that it is not a genuine coin!

Clue for the second 2014 Silver Eagle Giveaway:  The rain in Spain wouldn't have saved him.

Note:  All my coins are in a safe deposit box.  I keep nothing in my home. 

Contests and giveaways: http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html