(A complete version of this article appeared in
The Numismatist in 2005.)
A DIFFICULT BEGINNING
The discovery of gold in California resulted in the coinage act of March 3, 1849, creating two new denominations, the gold dollar, and the gold double eagle. Chief Engraver James B. Longacre began work on the dies. Both Walter Breen (
Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins) and Don Taxay (
The U.S. Mint and Coinage) claim that Longacre had no skill at making coin dies. Q. David Bowers cited their opinions in his 1979
History of United States Coinage as Illustrated by the Garrett Collection. However, in his more recent work,
A Guide Book of Double Eagle Gold Coins, Bowers (citing R. W. Julian) rescues Longacre’s reputation. Blame for the blunders at the Mint now rests with chief coiner, Franklin Peale.
It was Peale who rejected Longacre’s first double eagle dies, completed December 22, 1849, with the help of Peter F. Cross, and tried two days later. Peale complained to Robert M. Patterson, director of the Mint:
“I am compelled to inform you that the impression upon the new die for the double eagle cannot be brought up by the usual coining process. The depth of the head of the obverse is such, that the steel will not sustain the degree of pressure necessary for a perfect impression.”
However, according to Taxay, this unique 1849 double eagle was inspected at the Smithsonian Institute by Walter Breen and was judged excellent.
The coin of 1849 is considered a proof. It is also considered unique. Writing in his
Encyclopedia of United Stated and Colonial Proof Coins, Breen identifies another, perhaps passed to 19th century dealers John W. Hazeltine and Stephen Nagy, by Secretary of the Treasury William M. Merideth, though it has never appeared in a public sale.
The U.S. Mint officially struck, recorded, and sold the first proof double eagles in 1859. Of the 80 made, perhaps seven are known today. Breen cites the listing of one 1850 proof at the sale of the Longacre estate in 1870. Supposedly, B. Max Mehl sold another in 1949. A proof $20 was struck for a special presentation set honoring the German city of Bremen in 1854. The existence of these, and rumors of others created before 1858, must remain controversial, even when not denied outright.
UNCERTAIN SAINTS
President Theodore Roosevelt asked Augustus Saint-Gaudens to create a complete set of circulating coinage that would rival the beauty of the coins of the ancient Greeks. Roosevelt had in mind the gold staters of Alexander the Great featuring the personification of Nike (Victory). In fact, Saint-Gaudens had such a design ready. His monument to General William Sherman, placed at the entrance to Central Park in 1903, featured a striding Nike. This statue was perhaps inspired by, if not copied from, a Nike excavated at the temple of Zeus at Olympia in 1875. (See “The True Origin of America’s Greatest Numismatic Art,” by Harlan J. Berk, in
The Celator, June 1993.)
Chief engraver Charles E. Barber complained that only multiple strikes, each of 172 tons of force by a hydraulic press, could bring up the high relief of the new double eagle. Apparently at least 22 of these “exceedingly high relief” coins, receiving perhaps nine blows each, went into Barber’s personal collection, where he considered them “patterns” rather than “proofs.” That point is significant.
Mint records do not reveal the existence of any proof coins from 1907. However, based on the fact that every coin was struck multiple times, Breen called all 11,250 Roman numeral issues “proofs.” In addition, Breen identified other, special proofs: “…true Proofs do exist, and these appear to have received six or seven blows from the dies rather than the normal five. …Proofs evidently were made on several occasions for presentation purposes, from more than one pairs of dies used for this issue, with two distinct edge collars, and in several different finishes.” Q. David Bowers also catalogs them as proofs, while encouraging the collector to make that decision based on independent research and judgment.
According to J. P. Martin of the Independent Coin Grading Service, the 12 to 15 known extremely high relief proof double eagles are readily identifiable as having been struck from dies that were different than those used for the high relief business strikes. Michael Fahey of the ANACS grading service also does not consider mere high relief coins to be proofs. Fahey points to the lack of Mint documentation when he says, “These were not intended to be proofs.” On the other hand, Numismatic Guaranty Corporation does certify high relief Saints as proofs.
Whatever the case in 1907, in 1908, in order to facilitate mass production, Barber sank new dies with lower relief. The Mint recorded the production of 101 Proofs.
