Lot 692
1834. Large date, small letters. Overton-107, Rarity 1. NGC graded AU-53. Lightly toned with some mint luster remaining. Choice surfaces for what is often a well-abraded 19th Century Type. Pop 6; 19 finer at NGC for the variety.
Historic Notation: From 1829 to 1834, or so says Neil Carothers in his 1930 numismatic reference and must-have book "Fractional Money," the question of currency reform was constantly agitated. Forty years after the establishment of the mint the coinage system was a discreditable failure. There were three elements in the problem, the circulation of bank notes issued by a host of state banks of every degree of financial integrity, the disappearance of gold as the result of an adverse coinage ratio [15 to 1], and the continued circulation of a non-decimal foreign silver coinage [chiefly Spanish and Mexican] of degenerate condition. The bank note question and the problem of gold coinage were, perhaps, of the more fundamental importance, but the problem of the fractional currency was more immediately pressing and more intimately bound up with the customs and daily life of the people.
In June 1834 a coinage bill became law that altered the situation and did nothing to solve the problem of a shortage of small silver coins. This bill's effect lasted the greater part of two decades; until, that is, the gold discoveries of the California gold rush upset the gold to silver balance once more. The essential provision of the bill of 1834 reduced the weight of the standard gold dollar from 24.75 grains of fine metal to 23.2 grain. In effect, this changed the coinage ratio from 15 to 1 to 16.002 to 1. From a legal standpoint the law was a debasement of the currency by approximately 3 percent. From the standpoint of the fractional coinage it was an egregious blunder. By giving gold a higher value as coin than it could command in the arts Congress had deliberately provided for the cessation of silver coinage. It had virtually adopted the gold standard without any provision for a small change currency!
Estimated Value $300 - 325.
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| Realized $317 |
