1866-S $20 No Motto MS(PCGS#8945)

May 2019 Baltimore U.S. Coins Auction

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

1122

等级

XF40

价格

91,204

详细说明

Significant 1866-S No Motto Double Eagle Rarity 1866-S Liberty Head Double Eagle. No Motto. EF-40 (NGC). This is a lovely high grade circulated example of one of the scarcest, most conditionally challenging issues in the perennially popular Liberty Head double eagle series. Bright golden-honey patina blankets both sides, the peripheries further enhanced by wisps of iridescent champagne-pink. Glints of original luster remain to tempt the persistent viewer, the central design elements suitably bold and those around the peripheries more or less sharp. The story of the 1866-S No Motto double eagle starts five years earlier with the outbreak of hostilities after the separation from the Union of the Southern secessionist states. The nation's morale was severely wounded and as an appeal during this time of national crisis, Reverend M.R. Watkinson of Ridleyville, Pennsylvania petitioned Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase urging the placement of a motto acknowledging "Almighty God in some form in our coins." Approving of this request, Chase instructed the director of the Mint to create designs and prepare patterns with various versions of the motto that he could take to Congress. Congress also thought kindly of the change and on April 22, 1864, they passed a law that specified the addition of the motto IN GOD WE TRUST on the newly created two-cent coin. The following year, Congress then instructed that the motto be added to all gold coins of suitable size -- that is, half eagles and larger -- starting in 1866. The Philadelphia Mint began preparations in late 1865 for the change to the Motto reverse. The reverse dies were then shipped to San Francisco but because overland transit took over two months during that era, they did not arrive there until March. In the meantime, because the demand for coin, especially the double eagle, was strong on the West Coast, the San Francisco Mint went ahead with production of 1866 half dollars, half eagles, eagles, and double eagles using the older No Motto reverse dies on hand. Once the new dies arrived the old ones were swiftly retired, but not before somewhere around 120,000 No Motto double eagles were struck and released into circulation, where they remained for many years. his issue suffered a very high attrition rate and now the 1866-S No Motto double eagle is widely considered the second rarest San Francisco Mint issue of this denomination, ranking behind only the legendary 1861-S A.C. Paquet Reverse. The 200 or so known pieces are primarily in VF or EF condition, often with significant impairments or otherwise limited eye appeal. The issue is all but unknown in Mint State. As an aesthetically pleasing Choice EF, the opportunity that this coin represents for the discerning double eagle collector who demands both rarity and quality cannot be overstated. PCGS# 8945. NGC ID: 269W. Click here for certification details from NGC.