The sun., 1908-12-20
LONG Lost AMERICAN COINS
VARIETIES NOT BEFORE KNOWN
TURN UP FOR SALE.
New Record Prices for the Issues OF Pri.
vate NIints-A Rare Ingot Made at
SacPRmento-Trade Dollar Of lSSA
Brings e3sO-AIOrmOn Gold Coins.

nFInBb B1bO-mOrm0n OOiu GOins
A number OF rare American coins
sonne Of which never were heard OF be-
fore. came into general notice in the last
year and brought extraordinary premiums
when offered for sale When the cata-
logue Of the coin collection Of b. Os-
borne 0'Hagen >of London reached thit
country last summer American oolleo-
tors were agreeably. surprised to find In
1t q specimen Of the very scarce ten dollar
piece dated is4e and issued by the Gin
oinnati Mining and Trading Company Of
California.
A specimen of this coin had not been
offered for sale in years. and the O'Hagen
piece brought more than 90, 100 when sold
! at Sotheby's. The same ooin was offered
later at a sale In this country and brought
50. 900, the record for all the coins struck
by private persons in California.
The sale Of this coin brought to light
another specimen owned by resident
OF Cincinnati, which was disposed Of for
large sum to Virgil NJ. Brand Of Chicago.
the possessor Of one Of the largest coin
collections in the world.
Altogether there are now four Of these
ten dollar gold pieces definitely located
two above mentioned, q specimen in the
mint collection at Philadelphia and a
fourth in the collection Of Andrew M.
Zabriskie OF this city.
Another rarity to make it's appear
ance for the first time at public sale was
five dollar gold piece struck in Colo
RADIO during the days Of the Pixies Peak
gold excitement. A firm Of jewellers,
j. j. Conway 4 Co., was responsible
for the manufacture Of this coin, and
the plant was located in Georgia Gulch.
The firm is supposed TO have been estab-
lished in business at Parkville, one OF
the mining camps that sprang up Ike
magic in 1851. There is no way Of find
ing out how many OF these coins were
struck, but they are now 20 rare that tho
many who make speciality of the private
coins struck in Colorado have doubted
/ the existence of the Conway five dollar
piece.
The coin brought $500 at sale held
in Philadelphia. the record premium
for coin issued by a private person In
the United States.
The design Is quite simple, on the OBJ
verse being the name Of the firm. while
the reverse shows a large figure -5' in
| the centre OF the field. with the words,
pixies Peak Five Dollars around the
border. There is only one other known
specimen, which is in the collection Of the
Philadelphia mint.
Still third piece OF money. belonging
| to the same series OF privately struck
coins, to be sold this year was a golden
insot issued by the State Assayer OF Cali
fornia, f. d. Kohler. in 1850. This proved
to be variety hitherto unknown. and had
the value Of 1885 stamped upon its face.
| II was customary in 1850 for the miners
to take their raw gold to the State Assay ny
! il would be melted. refined and cast into
ingots, with the value In dollars and cents
| Gtamped upon it by the assayer. These
inzots then passed throughout California
for all purposes Of regular currency.
The parent State Assay Office was situ-
manufactured by this office have been the
only ones hitherto known, but the new
variety shows the letters SAC" on the
diverse In addition to the usual inscrip-
tions, indicating that II had been made
at branch OF the State Assay 0ffice.
located at Sacramento. which operated
for number OF months in 1850.
This piece had remained in the posses
sion Of a family. the head Of which had
been Forty-niner. and the ingot was a
part Of the gold he had extracted from the
! gold bearing sands OF the districts OF
Dutch Flats and Gold Run when those
places were in the height OF their career.
This unique ingot went to the collection
of Mr.. Brand, who also owns an ingot OF
| the San Francisco State Assay Office OF
the value of s45.34. for which he paid
81 .o5o. The only other specimen known
Of this ingot money is $50 piece in the
mint collection OF the San Francisco mint,
although some years ago a State Assay
Ofice ingot OF the value OF S4o!07 was in
the mint collection at Philadelphia. but
was stolen when two thieves broke into
one OF the cabinets.
A specimen OF the much talked OF trade
dollar Of 1884 came into public notice
the regular issue Of trade dollars had been
discontinued in 1878, still proof specimens
were made for collectors after that time.
The trade dollars for circulation were
all struck at the mints OF San Francisco
and Carson City from 1878 TO 1878 inclu-
q limited number Of proofs OF these coins
| for collectors and this custom was fol-
lowed until 1888 IL was generally sup
posed that this represented the very
last year Of issue. but five specimens
dated 1884 came from the collection OF
a Philadelphian this year: One OF them
was recently put up at the Green sale
In Chicago and brought $3.50, the highest
figure ever paid for United States silver
dollar Of regular issue with the exception
of those dated 179i and 1904.
silver coin whose existence has been
regarded with a good deal OF doubt came
into the possession of II. o. Granberg
Of Oshkosh. Wis. this year. The coin
il a half dollar Of 1883 which does not
show the arrow points at either side OF
the date nor the radiations on the reverse
as borne by the other half dollars OF the
year.
The rare coin was struck at the New
Orleans mint and bears the mint letter
aO.r 1t Is the only specimen OF which
there is any record and Is regarded as
the rarest OF the United States half dol
lars Mr.. Granberg also came into pos
session of what is said to be the finest
specimen Of the 1904 silver dollar In ex-
istence. The coin Is as sharp In outline |
as II II had just come from the coming
For the first time in many years there
was offered In 1908 specimen OF
the five dollar gold piece OF the Bechtler
mint of North Carolina OF the early '30s
that weighed $50 grains. This coin
is much different from the other varieties
of the pieces Of the same denomination
struck at the plant Of Christopher Bechtler.
Ii brought $7e5 when offered for sale, this
high premium bringing into the market
several others. with the result that at
least eight Of these pieces are now def
MI. Granberg this year came into