The following was written by Frank.
Coin Curiosities - the 1964-D Peace Dollar
The 1964-D Peace Dollar has remained a numismatic mystery for nearly 60 years. In 1921, the United States revived production of the Morgan Dollar, this would be the first time since 1904 that the United States minted silver dollars. Partway through 1921, the United States decided that they wanted a new silver dollar design. The Peace Dollar was the new design chosen, which represented peacetime after World War One. All 1,006,473 1921 Peace Dollars were struck in the last week of December 1921. 1921 Peace Dollars have a much higher relief than coins issued from 1922-1935. The more pronounced a coin’s relief is, the more pressure is needed to strike the coin fully. Because of all the pressure exerted on the dies, the dies oftentimes broke and needed replacement. Fully struck 1921 Peace Dollars demand a premium over weakly struck examples. The relief was lowered for the next year of production, which remained the same throughout 1935.
The United States faced a massive coin shortage in 1964. This was due to the public hoarding silver coinage, the intrinsic value of these coins were worth more than their face value. The United States was also low on silver reserves. Anyone could order $1,000 bags of silver dollars during this time period, the government needed to replenish it’s supply. In August of 1964, Congress approved legislation allowing the production of 45 million silver dollars to be struck. There was a debate at the time to strike Morgan or Peace Dollars, and the Mint ultimately decided to go with the Peace Dollar design. The Peace Dollar design wasn’t as popular with coin collectors at the time as Morgan Dollars, so there wasn’t as much concern about hoarding the new coins. The Peace Dollar hubs were destroyed in 1937, so the Mint had to create new hubs from scratch.
It would not be until May of 1965 that production of these Peace Dollars began. The Denver Mint produced 316,076 Peace Dollars for circulation, and 20 trial coins in May of 1965. There was an uproar in Congress once the Denver Mint reported to them about the striking of the coins. Congress demanded production of the coins be halted immediately, and the Mint obliged. The Mint reportedly melted every single 1964-D Peace Dollar by weighing out the entire mintage to make sure no coins were stolen. The Mint was a very unreliable source of information during this time period, they falsely reported that no 1964-D Peace Dollars were ever minted. A Mint employee could have easily swapped out a few new coins for some older pieces. 18 of the 20 trial pieces were reportedly melted. The other 2 were reported to be in the Treasury vaults and melted in 1970.
If a genuine 1964-D Peace Dollar surfaces in the United States, it would likely be illegal to own and the coins would probably be seized by the United States government. In 2013, PCGS offered a $10,000 reward just to look at a genuine example. Unfortunately for the hobby, there has never been a 1964-D publicly reported to exist. There have been rumors circulating since the 1970s that some coins existed, but none have ever seen the spotlight. If/when a 1964-D Peace Dollar does surface, it will make national headlines and will be one of the most significant numismatic discoveries of the century. It’s hard to predict what such a coin would bring in a public auction setting, but it would likely bring many millions of dollars.
The following was written by Chris.
When the U.S. Mint released the new Sacagawea Dollar in 2000, they did a promotion to announce the new coin with General Mills, the maker of Cheerios. The Sac Dollar was placed in 5,500 boxes of Cheerios, while a Lincoln Cent was placed in 10 million boxes of the cereal.
In 2005, astute numismatist Tom Delorey discovered that the reverse on these Dollars appeared to be different from those released for circulation. The tailfeathers are noticeably more enhanced than on the regular issue. In the image below, you’ll note the sharp detail of the feathers on the top coin, the Cheerios “pattern” Dollar.
Images from NGCcoin.com
It’s important to note that not all of the Sacagawea Dollars that came in the Cheerios boxes have the special reverse. You never see them anymore, but if you were to come across a sealed Cheerios Sacagawea Dollar, how would you know if it had the enhanced tailfeathers? Mr. Delorey discovered a diagnostic on the obverse. Underneath the mintmark, coming out from her coat, are die polish lines. These are not found on the obverses of the regular issue Cheerios Dollars. The coin on the left is Cheerios issue.
Images from PCGSCoinFacts
Are these valuable? While the number of these in existence is unknown, the answer is a definite YES. MS67 examples regularly sell for over $5,000, while MS68 coins have brought north of $12k before. That’s quite some find in a cereal box. Sure beats the crappy little plastic toys I would fervently seek in the boxes of cereal I ate when I was kid.
Believe it or not, you can still occasionally find unopened boxes of Cheerios from 2000. The image of this box is from an eBay auction in 2022. The box brought over $500!
The Cheerios Sacagawea Dollar is certainly one of the most interesting finds in modern numismatics, which explains why it made its way to number 12 in the book The 100 Greatest Modern Coins. Eat up!
After two years of development, our new inventory system recently went live. While this is mostly a huge deal for us here at Northeast, it will provide our customers with a more robust user experience in terms of viewing past order history, checking current balances on invoices, retrieving old invoices, and viewing shipping information. If you have any questions about how to access this information, please email me at chris@northeastcoin.com.
The following was written by Chris.
On May 7th 1915, a German submarine (U20) sunk the British liner Lusitania. Nearly 1,200 passengers and crew were killed. This occurred during a period of unrestricted submarine warfare. After the attack, the United States demanded that Germany cease these types of hostilities, and the Germans complied. However, the Germans resumed such activities in 1917, and ultimately the United States joined the Allies in the war.
The sinking of the Lusitania was a propaganda-inspiring event for both the Germans and the British. For instance, the Brits used it as a military recruitment tool.
German medalist Karl Goetz memorialized the event with a satirical medal. His belief was that the Germans had done their due diligence in warning the Americans, British, and the cruise line (Cunard) to the danger of sailing the ship from New York to its destination in Liverpool. The classification of the ship itself was questionable, as it was registered in the Admiralty fleet as an armed auxiliary cruiser. The Lusitania was indeed carrying munitions to Great Britain when it was torpedoed.
The medal Goetz issued features a skeleton on one side selling tickets to passengers from a Cunard ticket counter. A man is seen reading a paper with a headline that translates to “U-Boat Danger”. Above is a legend that translates to “Business Above All”. This speaks to Goetz’s opinion that the Germans had fairly warned of the potential risk, yet the cruise line chose to bring paying passengers on board and take the journey anyway.
On the other side, we see the sinking ship. The wording on top translates to “No Contraband Goods”, referring to the classification of the ship and its cargo. On the deck of the sinking liner are artillery and warplanes. The legend below translates to “The Liner Lusitania Sunk by a German Submarine”. It’s the date on the medal that turned it into a huge British propaganda tool.
Goetz first issued the medal with the date 5 Mai 1915 (May 5th). However, the ship was sunk on May 7th. The incorrect date was no more than an error on Goetz’s part, as he likely referred to a single and erroneous source for the information. He soon reissued the medal with the correct date, 7 Mai 1915 (May 7th), but the “damage” had been done.
The British viewed the May 5th date as proof that the sinking of the Lusitania was a premeditated act. This prompted the British government to issue their own medal with the incorrect date. 300,000 or so medals were struck and distributed.
All three versions are very popular among collectors today.
Original Goetz issue (Image from Spink)
Second Goetz Issue
British Issue (Image from PCGS CoinFacts)
The following was written by Frank.
Counterstamps are a history packed niche of numismatics. Counterstamped coins are coins that have been punched with a design or text after the minting process. Some are counterstamped either for advertisement purposes, or for verifying the coin's authenticity and precious metal content. Some coins are counterstamped for no apparent reason with generic letters or numbers; these are usually considered damaged coins and should not trade for a premium. I will be focusing on U.S. coins and foreign coins that circulated in the U.S. for this blog post. Counterstamped coins tell a great story, they tell you where and when a particular coin circulated and what it may have been used to purchase. Counterstamps are a perfect area of collecting for those who have an interest in history.
Before there were radios, televisions, and billboards, it was common practice for store owners to advertise their business by counterstamping coins with their business’ name, the products they sold, and their address. This was a fairly inexpensive method of advertising; all the store owner had to do was order a custom punch with their information, and counterstamp the coins they received for everyday transactions. Pictured below is a counterstamped 1858-O Seated Half Dollar advertising a saloon in Memphis, Tennessee.
An 1858-O Seated Liberty Half Dollar that reads “Ben. F. Wyant May Flower Saloon No 137 Main St Memphis-Tenn.”. Photo courtesy of Heritage Auctions.
Up until 1857, many different foreign coins circulated alongside U.S. coins. Many foreign coins were also counterstamped with the purpose of advertising. Pictured below is a Carlos III 2 Reales that reads “ADMIT TO WOOD’S MINSTRELS 444 BDWAY. N.Y.”. This particular coin was used as admission to a minstrel show during the early days of Broadway.
18th century Carlos III 2 Reales “Admit to Wood’s Minstrels 444 Bdway. N.Y.”
Coins were also counterstamped by merchants, silversmiths, and goldsmiths who would verify the authenticity and precious metal content of the coin; these are commonly known as “chopmarks”. It was important to verify these coins because they were supposed to have an intrinsic precious metal value, unlike the coins that we have today. Chopmarks are quite common on 8 Reales and United States Trade Dollars, as both of these denominations were used overseas for trade, mostly in Asia. Pictured below is an 1877 Trade Dollar decorated with many Asian chopmarks.
1877 Trade Dollar with various chopmarks. Photo courtesy of Heritage Auctions.
Ephraim Brasher was a well known goldsmith who lived in Manhattan during the late 1700s - early 1800s. He is most commonly known for being the designer of the infamous 1787 Brasher Doubloon. Brasher counterstamped a number of foreign gold coins, which confirmed that the coin is of proper weight and purity. Coins with Brasher’s mark were used with no concern because he was one of the finest goldsmiths of the era and was well respected. Pictured below is a 1760 British Half Guinea with Ephraim Brasher’s counterstamp, “EB”.
1760 British Half Guinea “EB” Counterstamp. Photo Courtesy of Heritage Auctions
Counterstamped coins offer a great history lesson and add a lot of “coolness factor” to their host coin. There weren’t as many advertising options during the 19th century. We might think it sounds silly to advertise with coins today, but during those days it made cents, oops, sense. We no longer need silver and goldsmiths to tell us the precious metal content of our coins anymore, we now have technology that tells us the exact purity of a coin.
