In 1879, greedy miners and railroad magnates conspired to make it cheaper to ship silver from the Comstock Lode to the San Francisco Mint for coinage, rather than depositing the bullion at the nearby Carson City facility. These actions resulted in a severe shortage of bullion at the Nevada coinage factory. Accordingly, the Carson City…
From a mintage of 425,400 pieces, the 1889-S Liberty eagle is not too difficult to locate in lower circulated grades but Choice examples are rare. Writing all the way back in 2006, Jeff Garrett and Ron Guth remarked: “MS-64 examples are very rare and the finest certified example is a single PCGS MS-65 coin, which…
While the Civil War effectively ended the circulation of gold and silver coinage up and down the East Coast, hard money remained in the channels of Western commerce throughout that fraught period in American history. The San Francisco Mint struck 9,500 half eagles in 1862, nearly all of which ended up in circulation. Probably three…
Despite objections from President Theodore Roosevelt, Congress mandated that the motto IN GOD WE TRUST be added to the Saint-Gaudens double eagle and other U.S. coinage. While Roosevelt felt the motto distracted from the Saint-Gaudens design, he yielded to public outcry and Congressional will. All of the 1908 With Motto twenties (Philadelphia, Denver, and San…
The San Francisco Mint began coinage operations in 1854, occupying the same building that previously housed the U.S. Assay Office of Gold, which produced the iconic $50 octagonal “slugs” of the Gold Rush period. Coinage during the first several months though was stunted due to a lack of parting acids needed for ore refinement. The…
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