Incredible Piece of History Being Auctioned by Heritage

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

This coin was presented by the engraver to George Washington as a prototype for the first gold coin ever to be minted in America. Washington of course rejected it, as he did not believe a living president of a democratic nation should have his portrait on a coin. He liked it well enough, however, to carry it around as a pocket piece. Even though it exhibits wear it never circulated, it just jiggled in his pocket over a period of time.

When Washington died in 1799, he was no longer in possession of it. He must have given it to somebody else, but nobody knows to whom. The coin has been exhaustively researched by numerous scholars, and has been in Newman's collection for the past 75 years (he collected coins for 99 years).

I don't have any idea what it will sell for, but I am guessing $3 million, maybe more. And thanks Bob for the photos.

Oh my God, Barry. PSA will now have to add another qualifier for pocket jiggles on gem mint cards.

PSA 10PJ

How the PJ qualifier will affect market value is uncertain.

[barrysloate]

It's actually been graded a XF 45 by NGC, with no jiggle qualifiers.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Even the replicas of that coin look pretty good to me. The Wikipedia article is very interesting, some incredible history and some fortuitous timing.

[barrysloate]

One of the things that advanced coin collectors are very interested in is the provenance of a coin, and this Washington Eagle has an illustrious one. We recently had a thread in the baseball card section about this very topic, and most who posted said they could care less if the previous owner's name was on the label. I think the objection was that no one wanted to pay more for a card because it was in some famous guy's collection. But provenance isn't about paying more, it's about tracing the history of an object and getting as much information as you can about it. In that respect coin collecting is a bit ahead of the baseball card hobby. Perhaps as card collecting matures, provenance will take on greater importance.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

One of the things that advanced coin collectors are very interested in is the provenance of a coin, and this Washington Eagle has an illustrious one. We recently had a thread in the baseball card section about this very topic, and most who posted said they could care less if the previous owner's name was on the label. I think the objection was that no one wanted to pay more for a card because it was in some famous guy's collection. But provenance isn't about paying more, it's about tracing the history of an object and getting as much information as you can about it. In that respect coin collecting is a bit ahead of the baseball card hobby. Perhaps as card collecting matures, provenance will take on greater importance.

The slab cleanses any and all concern about provenance. It may be more relevant for memorabilia and autographs where authenticators IMO are easily fooled.

[barrysloate]

The slab is pretty important in the coin hobby too. Some collectors study die varieties and learn about the coin's history, while others are in it to buy gem examples and resubmit them as many times as it takes to get a higher grade. So both hobbies kind of mirror each other. I agree the slab crowd couldn't care less about provenance, but those who want to learn find it important.

[RedsFan1941]

the slab crowd “couldn’t” care less