1839 $10 Type of 1840 MS(PCGS#8580)

August 2018 ANA U.S. Coins Auction Philadelphia, PA

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

1302

等级

XF45

价格

77,992

详细说明

Underrated 1839 Small Letters Eagle 1839 Liberty Head Eagle. Small Letters (a.k.a. Type of 1840). EF-45 (PCGS). A thoroughly appealing example of this often overlooked issue from the second year of the challenging Liberty Head eagle series of 1838 to 1907. Predominantly bold Choice EF detail greets the viewer from both sides, many of the finer elements of Liberty’s portrait and the eagle remaining sharp. The surfaces are bathed in warm medium gold patina with traces of original satin luster evident in the protected areas around and among the devices. A loupe reveals a series of interesting die file marks (as made) at the lower obverse border below the date, as well as light die cracks (again, as made) on the same side through stars 2 to 4 and 5 to 9. These features are common to the handful of 1839 Small Letters eagles that we have handled in recent years. A highly elusive issue even in impaired condition, a problem free example such as this represents a particularly important find for the advanced collector of Liberty Head gold coinage. The longest-running ten-dollar gold eagle series produced in the United States Mint, the Liberty Head eagle was struck without interruption from 1838 through early 1907. It is the first eagle produced since 1804, President Thomas Jefferson having halted production of both this denomination and the silver dollar that year since rising bullion prices made the coins highly susceptible to melting by speculators. From 1805 through 1837, the largest gold denomination that the United States Mint produced for commercial use was the five-dollar half eagle, which had actually been the most popular gold denomination with contemporary bullion depositors since the inception of both series in 1795. By 1838, however, two laws had been passed that made it possible for the Mint to resume eagle coinage. The first was the Act of June 28, 1834, which reduced the weight of standard U.S. gold coins and, in so doing, placed the nation’s monetary system on a gold standard. The second was the Act of January 18, 1837, a general overhaul of the nation’s coinage laws that, among other things, standardized the fineness of gold and silver coins at 900 thousandths. When eagle production finally resumed in 1838, the Mint settled upon the Liberty Head design of Christian Gobrecht. The obverse, which remained virtually unchanged through the 70-year lifespan of this series, features a left-facing portrait of Liberty, her hair tied in a bun at the back of her head. Liberty is wearing a coronet inscribed LIBERTY, 13 stars encircle the border, and the date is below the portrait. The initial portrait utilized in 1838 and early 1839 had deeper curvature to the truncation of the bust with Liberty’s hair pulled back over her ear. For unknown reasons the design was modified slightly in 1839 to create the Liberty Head motif that would remain in use through the series’ end in 1907. The basic reverse design also remained unchanged from 1838 to 1907, the focal feature an eagle with outstretched wings and a shield on its breast. The eagle clutches a group of three arrows in its left talon and an olive branch in its right talon. The legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is around the border and the denomination TEN D. is below the eagle. For those coins struck from 1838 through 1866 (San Francisco Mint only for the latter year) this is the reverse design in its entirety. The reverse was modified in 1866, however, with the addition of the motto IN GOD WE TRUST on a scroll above the eagle. This change was borne out of the Civil War, the death and destruction of that conflict sparking a religious revival in the United States. Although addition of the motto was contemplated as early as 1863, the first regular issue U.S. coin to display IN GOD WE TRUST was the two-cent piece, a new denomination introduced in 1864. The eagle followed suit in 1866, as did most other silver and gold denominations of sufficient size to accommodate this new design element. To distinguish them from their No Motto predecessors of 1838 to 1866, the Motto eagles of 1866 to 1907 are known as the Type II Liberty Head design. The second type of Liberty Head eagle produced in 1839, the Small Letters is distinguished from its Large Letters counterpart not only by the aforementioned differences in the design of Liberty’s portrait, but also in the size of the letters in the legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and the denomination TEN D. on the reverse. The 1839 Small Letters was produced to the extent of just 12,447 pieces, as opposed to the slightly more generous mintage of 25,801 coins for the 1839 Large Letters. The former is the rarer of the two issues in numismatic circles, although it is often overlooked by collectors focused on the brevity of the Large Letters design type of 1838 and early 1839. In fact, the experts at PCGS CoinFactsprovide an estimate of only 50 to 60 coins extant in all grades for the 1839 Small Letters. With market appearances understandably few and far between, the significance of the present offering should be obvious to the astute gold enthusiast. PCGS# 8580. NGC ID: 262F. Click here for certification details from PCGS.