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| Antiques |
Realm of the Coin
Dana Micucci
06/01/2004
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The most valuable specimens are from the period between 1795, when
the United States first minted gold coins, and 1834, when better minting
processes allowed the production of more technically uniform coins. “Gold coins
from the late 18th and early 19th centuries are the ones bringing million-dollar
prices, because fewer were made, fewer survived, and it is more difficult to
find them in great condition,” says Steve Ivy, cochairman of Dallas-based
Heritage, a numismatic auction firm. Dealers say that these coins have taken
flight in value, increasing by an estimated 30 percent to 40 percent over the
past year.
Valuations of pre-1933 U.S. gold coins have benefited somewhat
from the increase in the price of gold bullion, which has risen from $255 per
ounce to more than $400 per ounce in recent years. However, unlike readily
available modern U.S. gold coins minted since 1986—whose worth fluctuates with
the price of gold—the older coins usually do not lose their value during
downturns in the bullion market. Prices for relatively common pre-1933 gold
coins, called generics, do increase marginally, however, as the price of gold
bullion increases. In fact, prices for these pieces have increased roughly 12
percent more than gold bullion has, due to demand from investors.
King Farouk’s Find
Pre-1933 gold coins were minted in specific
denominations: $1, $2.50 (also called quarter eagles), $3, $4 (called stellas
because they sported a star on one side), $5 (half eagles), $10 (eagles) and $20
(double eagles). The eagle designations are a carryover from the 18th century,
when Alexander Hamilton first dubbed the $10 coin. The most exceptionally
designed, sublimely beautiful coin is deemed to be the $20 St. Gaudens, minted
from 1907 to 1933. President Theodore Roosevelt commissioned renowned sculptor
Augustus St. Gaudens to devise a coin equal in beauty to the classical ancient
coins he so admired. Displaying an elegantly robed Lady Liberty on the obverse
and an eagle on the reverse, the $20 St. Gaudens boasted a far more detailed,
dramatic composition than had ever been attempted in America. The earliest
high-relief examples have a sculptural monumentality that makes them especially
desirable.
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