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Sale 47
Pre-Long Beach Coin and Currency Auction
| Ohringer Collection Commemorative Gold Coins |
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| Lot |
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Description |
Realized |
Lot 4491 |
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1915-S Panama-Pacific Gold $50 Round. PCGS graded MS-62 PQ. Only 483 coins struck. Always in demand. Lightly toned. For the date, a lovely satiny pale golden toned example with smooth luster on both sides free of handling signs. Attractively struck as well, with just a hint of softness in the texture of the field luster whose diminishment from full vah-vah-voom! brilliance we assume limits the grade from being a few points higher.
Breen and Swiatek mention that "During the months of June, July and August, the gold fifties were coined… According to Slabaugh, after the first 62 round fifties were coined, the dies broke in striking the 63rd -- as did the remaining pairs of dies then on hand. Coinage had to be delayed until more dies arrived from Philadelphia.
"The authorizing act specified 3,000 fifties: 1,500 each of the octagonal and round types. Sales went well enough to convince the authorities to strike the entire authorization, with 9 extras reserved for assay of the octagonal type, 10 extras of the round. However, the high prices of these coins severely limited the numbers to be sold. According to Exposition price lists, a single $50 coin could be had for $100, but this price entitled the buyer to the half dollar, dollar and quarter eagle free of additional charge.
"The complete five-piece sets (including both fifties) cost $200 -- the buyer's choice of copper frame or leather case again free of extra cost. A complete double set, mounted to show both obverse and reverse, cost $400 for the ten pieces and their copper frame. This could be obtained in hinged or unhinged versions."
An historic offering of this coin weighing-in at a full two and one-half ounces, the largest gold piece both in size and denomination ever issued by the United States (PCGS # 7451) .
Estimated Value $55,000 - 60,000.
Ohringer Family Trust Holdings.
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| Realized
$63,250 |
Lot 4492 |
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1915-S Panama-Pacific Gold $50 Octagonal. PCGS graded MS-64 PQ. CAC Approved. Lovely natural toning on both sides. Choice for the grade. Only 645 struck. A lustrous virtual-gem that has soft, smooth luster and rich golden finish. Desirable with this exact strike, as well, even though we need to point out all examples show signs of careful manufacture since the minting ceremonies (plural) were viewed by the public and a roomful of dignitaries. This handsome specimen is a brilliant reminder of that occasion. It has sharpness everywhere and eye-appeal without limit!
At the ceremony initiating the striking of the $50 Octagonals, Mint Superintendent T.W.H. Shanahan struck the first octagonal coin. This went into a five-piece set (half dollar, dollar, quarter eagle and both fifties), which contained the #l specimens of the other denominations; the set was housed in a special gold presentation case made by Shreve & Co., and was presented to Charles C. Moore, president of the Exposition. In a public statement, Shanahan made the erroneous claim on striking the first piece that he was "about to strike the first 50-dollar coin ever issued under authority of law in the United States." He was unaware, like most numismatists until recent years, that the original octagonal fifties issued 1851-53 by Augustus Humbert, either as United States Assayer of Gold or as the United States Assay Office of Gold, were issued under authority of law, specifically the Act of September 30, 1850, and that it was under this authority that Humbert obtained his hubs from the Philadelphia Mint (the original dies being the work of Charles Cushing Wright under federal contract), and that the dies bore the inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA identically to those on coins from regular branch mints. Nevertheless, the 1915-S Panama-Pacific fifties are historic objet d'art of immense importance to American numismatics. Pop 115; 18 finer; 17 in 65; 1 in 66. (PCGS # 7452) .
Estimated Value $80,000 - 85,000.
Ohringer Family Trust Holdings.
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| Realized
$89,700 |
Lot 4493 |
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1915-S Panama-Pacific Gold $50 Octagonal. PCGS graded MS-63. Lightly toned and well struck. Only 645 pieces struck. One of several examples of this massive coin we offer bidders this time around. A satiny specimen with strong fundamental luster and choice surfaces throughout. Nicely struck, too, in fact totally so -- with such strikingly full devices on both side that special mention is merited. Indeed, the strike of the present coin easily rivals that of a higher-grade specimen.
During preparations for the Panama-Pacific Exposition's opening, the Philadelphia Mint shipped a 14-ton hydraulic press to the fairgrounds for the specific purpose of striking these large $50 gold pieces. (Research has not been able to ascertain how they managed it: probably the press went disassembled by ship.)
On June 15, the first octagonal pieces were struck at a ceremony which attracted VIps from all over the country. This had been arranged by Farran Zerbe, then possibly the best known numismatist in the country. Zerbe had the political influence to have himself put in charge of the Exposition's Coin and Medal Department, which was named in the authorizing act as responsible for distributing the commemorative coins. Zerbe set up his own collection (over 20,000 specimens after he included additions) in a trellised display area of the Palace of Liberal Arts on the Exposition grounds labeling it Zerbe's Unique Money of the World. It became one of the more popular displays, and the Panama-Pacific Commemorative coins, each with its own story appended, were probably seen by several million visitors between the Exposition's opening February 20 and its close on December 4, 1915. Pop 151; 133 finer, 115 in 64, 17 in 65, 1 in 66 (PCGS # 7452) .
Estimated Value $55,000 - 60,000.
Ohringer Family Trust Holdings.
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| Realized
$74,750 |
Lot 4494 |
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1915-S Panama-Pacific Gold $50 Octagonal. PCGS graded MS-62 PQ. Lovely rich golden toning on both sides. Only 645 pieces struck. Always in demand. Smooth-as-silk natural luster graces satiny and dynamic golden surfaces here. What also sparks our interest is the even hue of gold that mingles broadly with rich artistic devices. An attractive specimen that shows off its bold themes proudly.
The goddess Minerva or Athena wears the crested helmet found on numerous depictions of her in ancient Greek coinage; it is pushed back off her face, to signify peaceful intentions. According to the Breen-Swiatek history of these important $50 coins, "We have not found the exact Greek coin used as prototype of this head, though the crested helmet is of the Athenian type, and there are numerous silver coins of Velia and Corinth showing her in this type of helmet, sometimes wreathed as here, often with other devices on it. Most such types have a long tailpiece to the crest, which is omitted here." On her shield is MCMXV (1915), only the second use of Roman numerals for date in United States coinage history up to that time (the first was the various types of Saint-Gaudens double eagles of 1907). Why Athena or Minerva? She was the goddess of wisdom, skill, agriculture, horticulture, spinning and weaving, crop rotation, among other things, and she taught her followers to grow and use olives, whose oil was long indispensable in cooking and providing light by night. All these were important in early California (PCGS # 7452) .
Estimated Value $50,000 - 55,000.
Ohringer Family Trust Holdings.
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| Realized
$60,375 |
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