Lot 1933
1880 $4 Gold. Coiled hair. . J-1661. NGC graded Proof 62. One of the classic coiled hair designs by George T. Morgan. Boldly struck on both Liberty's tight hair bun and on the reverse star and legends. This is an extremely rare coin, NGC has only graded one example that has been gilt, and one that remains in the original copper format. PCGS has not graded any of these, and this is likely a high Rarity-7 with just a few known and some diligent pedigree tracing of the known appearances could soon connect the pedigree chains. Hazy gold toning in the obverse and reverse fields, nearly identical in color and surface quality to the J-1636 in this sale. A few minor hairlines seem to account for the grade, as no other handling marks probably affect the grade. We note one tiny nose tick mark and a dark line above the C of CENTS on the reverse, and these should assist the buyer in locating previous offerings of this extremely rare pattern issue.
The $4 stellas are amongst the most storied coins in numismatics. They came about as an attempt to get the United States up to date with the decimal based Metric system, used by much of the world at that time, and it was hoped that adoption of such a coin would ease international trade. First issued in 1879 with just 15 struck, the $4 coins were available to Congressmen, who were entitled to a purchase one for the Mint's cost of about $6.50 per coin. These proved very popular, so the Mint coined 400 more pieces, of which about 265 went to Congressmen, with the remaining 150 coins eventually being sold to the public at $15 each. Additional pattern issues were proposed, like this 1880 with coiled hair, but the coinage was never adapted, the American people being no more ready for the metric system in 1879 than in 1975 when the government attempted to adapt it again. Perhaps in 2075?
A lovely example of this extremely rare pattern issue, and worthy of a true collector's cabinet.
Estimated Value $15,000 - 20,000.
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