Goldberg Coins and Collectibles

Sale 78

January Pre-Long Beach Sale 17.5% BP

Seated Liberty Quarter Dollars

Lot	Photo	Description	Realized
Lot 1093		1840-O. No Drapery PCGS graded Genuine XF Details. Cleaning. Nice even grey toning (PCGS # 5393) . Estimated Value $60 - 70. View details and enlarged photos Check results on similar lots	Realized $282
Lot 1094		1853. Arrows and rays. PCGS graded AU-58. PQ. Light golden toning. Much luster retained in the fields. This is a desirable one-year Type. The long 100+ year slide toward silverless coins began with the "subsidiary" issues of 1853 -- half dimes, dimes, quarter dollars, and half dollars. Because the Silver Dollar's weight was set by law as the standard for the monetary UNIT or DOLLAR, it remained at the statuary weight. This created an anomoly that lasted down to the present. Four quarter dollars, such as this 1853 Arrows and Rays, have slightly less silver content than one Silver Dollar. But the Coinage Act of 1853, which authorized this, did ease the silver coin shortage. Thereafter, small change was abundant until the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 (PCGS # 5426) . Estimated Value $650 - 700. View details and enlarged photos Check results on similar lots	Realized $764
Lot 1095		1859. NGC graded Proof 67 Cameo. A fully white Gem Cameo Proof. Perhaps the finest known cameo. Only 800 struck. The Mint switched to a smaller date punch for the Seated Quarters in 1859, the first time this was done since 1842. In the former year, Mint officials began making Proof coinage for sale to collectors, with a delivery of 800 Quarters. Sales lagged, however, and not all 1858-dated issues were sold. As with the other similarly dated silver denominations, the Proof 1859 Seated Quarter was likely melted in significant numbers as unsold at year's end as well. Few auctions in recent times have offered a Superb Gem representative of this issue. They are elusive in the extreme. Both sides display scintillating, silvery radiance over deeply mirrored surfaces. What both sides also have in common are pinpoint striking detail and smooth, virtually pristine surface. A top-end early Proof from the No Motto group (1838-66) in the long-running Seated Liberty Quarter series that spanned more than half a century. Pop 1; none finer at NGC. Estimated Value $13,000 - 15,000. View details and enlarged photos	Realized $17,038
Lot 1096		1867. NGC graded Proof 65. Lovely golden toning on both sides. Only 625 struck. An astonishing gem considering the period from which it comes, and a coin of the best possible order whose satiny frosted devices play host to robust detail from the double-blow given by the specially made Proof dies. A wonderful Gem Proof. Pop 23; 17 finer at NGC. Historic Note: If President Millard Fillmore (1850-53) couldn't read Latin, Andrew Johnson (President, 1865-69) was lucky to be able to read at all, proclaimed rivals in his day. Johnson never went to any kind of school; his wife taught him to read. He is often held up as an example of a failed presidency. Instead, he seems to have made one of the best deals for the American people ever -- buying Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million. Who has added so much since? What other President has actually made the nation richer, rather than poorer? Johnson did the nation a great service. Still, he gets little respect and practically no thanks. They ought to honor him on a coin made from melted down Alaskan gold nuggets. Estimated Value $2,200 - 2,300. View details and enlarged photos	Realized $2,409
Lot 1097		1867. PCGS graded Proof 63 Cameo. Mostly white coin, fields glittering, devices choice and well struck. A desirable issue since the circulation strike is also very scarce. Only 625 Proofs struck. Pop 8; 19 finer, 7 in 64, 7 in 65, 4 in 66, 1 in 66+. (PCGS # 85566) . Estimated Value $750 - 800. View details and enlarged photos Check results on similar lots	Realized $911
Lot 1098		1870 PCGS graded Genuine Unc Details. Cleaning. Only 86,400 minted. Nicely toned with light to moderate hairlines (PCGS # 5476) . Estimated Value $200 - 225. View details and enlarged photos Check results on similar lots	Realized $617
Lot 1099		1890. NGC graded Proof 69 Star Cameo. A blazing white cameo Gem Proof. The finest graded for this date. Only 590 struck. NGC has certified a fair number of high-end Proof Seated Liberty Quarter Dollars as multiple complete Proof Set collections were sold in the early 1990s. Most of those pieces were toned in one fashion or another, some of them downright gorgeous. Proof 67 and (to some extent) Proof 68 grades abounded. Still, the net result was a small addition to the totality of surviving Proof Seated Quarters. Only the present 1890 has received a Star designation and a Proof 69 grade from NGC for this year. For a long time, nowhere certified above PR68. Thus, this beautiful Proof 69 can stake a claim to the honor of single finest certified by the service of its year. A highly glossy Gem that has moonbeam white frosted devices against mirror fields whose watery depth and brilliance seems to stretch to the horizon and beyond. Far in advance as the luster goes, so too are the designs: detailed, fully struck in all areas with pinpoint definition on the stars, date, Liberty and eagle, plus bold lettering in all reverse legends. Again, it goes without saying that the surfaces are immaculate. The coin looks as though it had been struck 15 minutes ago and handed to a wide-eyed coin grader for placement in this NGC encapsulation! Obvious to us, the coin was handled with the proverbial gloved hands. It is sure to find a new home in a fastidiously maintained collection, where it shall remain for generations to come. Pop 1; none finer at NGC. Historic Notes: The 1890s were sometimes referred to as the "Mauve Decade," because William Henry Perkin's aniline dye allowed the widespread use of that colour in fashion, and also as the "Gay Nineties", under the then-current usage of the word "gay" which referred simply to merriment and frivolity, without the connotations in present-day usage. The phrase, "The Gay Nineties," was not introduced until 1926. The Sherman Silver Purchase Act was enacted in 1890 as a United States federal law. While not authorizing the free and unlimited coinage of silver that the Free Silver supporters wanted, it increased the amount of silver the government was required to purchase every month. The Sherman Silver Purchase Act, which superceded the Bland-Allison Act of 1878, had been passed in response to the growing complaints of farmers. Farmers had immense debts that could not be paid off due to a series of droughts, and they urged the government to pass the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in order to boost the economy. However, this eventually led to inflation and contributed to the Panic of 1893. Estimated Value $10,000 - 12,000. View details and enlarged photos	Realized $30,550