The sun., 1903-12-27
EARLY AMERICAN COIN.
TEN-DOLLAR GOLD PIECE THAT
WAS ISSUED IN 1875.
How II DIFFERS From Modern Coin OF the
Same minstion-HandsOmest OF
American Gold Pteces-A BOer Gold
"Pund" Piece Considered Rare Find.
From the Washin1ton Post,

A local nunismatst has recently secured
two remarkable coins. an American ten-dollar
gold piece OF 1905 and gold -pund' piece OF
the late lamented Transvaal republic.
The Transvaal piece Is interesting. The
Boer Government began the coinage OF these
gold "one pund. or pound pieces. In the year
1892, about the time OF the discovery OF the
Witwatersrand gold field. fact which Is OF
itself quite interesting. when one recolects
that the first twenty dollar gold piece coined
by our own Government was In isAa, when
the yellow metal was discovered in California.
They continued the coinage OF these until
the latter port Of the year 1898. and the coin
owned by the local collector is Of that year.
1t bears on the face a wonderfully fine like
ness tbust) Of President Paul Krueger. and on
the back the arm OF the Transvaal republic
over the motto Of Right Makes Might, in
the Taal. or South African Dutch language.
The arms OF tee Boer Common wealth. which
are said to have been In part designed or
suggested by Krueser himself. consist OF
shield. halved. with the upper diVision quar-
tered. Stamped in the lower hall is one OF
the large wagons used by the voor trekkers
when. nearly a century ago. they left Cape
Colony. and. turning their backs upon every
thing British. migrated to the high veldt Of
the Orange and Vaal rivers: while in the upper
left hand quartering is lion couchant, which
Kruger is said to have re 0arded as the symbol
peculiar of his power In the right quartering
Is stamped the form of one of ,iic old voor-
trekkers. scanning the horizon ol his new
found home beyond the Vaal. while over
all this. and surmounting the shield. IL the
form of the peculiar little "batteeur" tstrker)
eagle Of South Africa. stamped in sharp.
high relief. At the close of the South African
war the British troops took possession Of all
the coins OF this denomination they could
lay hands upon shipping them OF to the mint
At Cape Town to be melted down and recast
into real Eng ngllsh pounds. and. as a result.
only limited number of them fell into the
hands of collectors and numismatists. Even
at the present time the Cape Government
is gathering up. melting down and restamp-
ing all coins OF this character. in consequence
OF which they are bringing high prices. The
face value of this Transvaal "pund" is A.s5.
and they are selling, both here and in Eng
and for sl2 and sl5 and never less than $40.
The American $40 gold piece Of l705 is
much more interesting. Some people en-
tcrtain the mistaken notion that tho American
Government began the coinage Of gold and
silver curr ency in 1870; but this is a mistake
for at that time and for some years after the
currency OF this country consisted entirely
OF scrip. The frs. copper pennies were coined
in 1909: the first silver in 1904. and in the year
following the first gold coins $40 pieces
we're struck BY the american Government;
To-day these coins are exceedingly rare and
worth their face value several times over.
They are exactly the same SIZE as Inodern
tempted to believe that they contain moro
gold than the modern go gold coins. but a
careful 60, comparison Of ne two soon th reyshi'
as the other The difference lies in the fact
whereas % the first com, H minted in i7s5. Is ex-
cecdingly thin. The latter bears on its face
a bust Of the Goddess of Liberty. altogether
lily.e ha1 lad htpkn mt Nrlt-
snuh-nosed, and her Phrygian cap is Of such
frau '; wearing a snnbonnet than she does
like The il. genius Of nsGn Ss
thirteen stars representing the states Of the
then infant republic. on the back OF this
holding in its taons an olive branch and In its
beak a wreath OF laurel That is all The
sFs 90 ike sck "a
or n hy-up-the-creek than i did like the
monarch OF the air. that in 1897 new issue
obese Goddess Of Liberty on the face. but a
genuine eagle on the back The latter is the
fsss Of @ s
shield. with the stars and Stripes; in It's left
claw n sheaf Of arrows and in the right
an eagle must have been pretty bad for the
people Of 1895 lwho wore powdered wigs and
ook SNUFF to have found f%t With it, and
in this matter they did very well. indeed and
the spread eagle of 1907. Will. outstIetched
inum i scroll, which resulted from their efforts.
has endured from that day to this. In the
psee the bs stars Tea Rssa
until the year 1866 that the motto In God
beneath her the thirteen stars, upon the Americon
gold and silver coins
Until .ls.o.. when gold was discovered in
coined no gold pieces higher than $40; but
along toward the, latter part of lsAa one
Of Experiment only this single twenty
dollar gold coin, md none others, was at that
time struck. and it - is to-day the only isaa H
mint at Philadelphia. and although collec-
tors have offered large sums for it the Govern
has he cutie ysa1 Rrogsy euses 10 wh
the Government turned out n large number
Of double eagles. which IT has kept up ever
the owner Of the two coins. who is quite an
authority on such matters said:
cepons rs whh people With resSd
to describe iii of them fully. so will simply
iS iSnns' sa dRG tRns Gn Joy % be-
gan the coinage Of q gold pieces in ls4s.
cs kept ros onr. @ the ysfb5 bes" ss
They sell for double face value, and are be-
coming rare. In 1854 three.dollnr, gold coins
UP until 1850. when it was discontinued. and
now they are also worth double their f1ce
value. fhe $3.50 gold pieces. however.
which were first issued in the year 1906 io-
lowing the appearance OF the first American
gold coins. In the shape of ten-dollar pieces,
have been coined ever since. and, together
with the five. ten, and twenty-dollar pieces.
constitute the gold coins which are being now
iSsued by the Government.
Thus IL happens that the $40 piece and
the 81 so token are the two oldest gold coins
of the American Government. and, what IL
more, they have been continuously issued
ever since, However. despite the fact that
any one with gold certificate can go to any
bank in America and cash it in for 81 SO
gold pieces, there are hundreds OF people
here In Washington who imagine the Govern
ment has ceased coming $3.50 pieces: that
they are extremely rare. and that premium
IL being paid for them, ] have had well
dressed good look ing. intelligent people.
who ought to know better, come to me time
and again during the past year. offering to
dispose Of a handful OF these coins for the
premium and face which they imagined
such coins were bringing When tell them
that such tokens are being coined right along
they think / am misrepresenting matters,
Now. the fun of IT, all is that several local
pawnbrokers and dealers in valuables have
been laboring under the same mistaken
notion. and have been actually paying Il
premium on such coins and trying to sell them
ut double their face value In some way
they have gotten the 81 gold piece. WHICH
was last coined in 1850, irixed up with the
81 80 token, and are paying premium on the
latter. which are common enough. when
4, t., ehn for,, IN nya Ntris, n