One of the rarest, and in our opinion the most valuable, U.S. coin is coming up for sale after having been off the market for close to ten years. PCGS has just issued a press release, which we've provided below. It will certainly be one of the most anticipated sales in auction history!

From PCGS:

(Santa Ana, California) – Professional Coin Grading Service (www.PCGS.com) was selected by Sotheby’s in New York to officially certify and grade the 1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle, a gold coin once owned by King Farouk of Egypt that will soon be offered for sale. PCGS has graded the gold coin MS65 and its current owner, shoe designer Stuart Weitzman, is offering it along with a handful of other exceptional rarities at a Sotheby’s auction to be held in New York on June 8, 2021.

“We are excited and proud to be given the opportunity to formally certify the 1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle," says PCGS President Brett Charville. “This coin is a true gem! Breaking the world record in 2002 for being the most valuable coin ever sold, this specimen has a story unlike any other United States rarity.”

The first delivery of 1933 Double Eagles to the Philadelphia Mint cashier was made about 10 days after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated. In one of his first acts, Roosevelt declared an effective end to the nation’s adherence to the gold standard, banned the payout of gold coins, and began the recall of all U.S. gold coins, which were eventually melted.

According to the Mint’s records the entire mintage of 445,500 double eagles struck in 1933 was accounted for, and all were to be melted except for two sent to the Smithsonian. In 1937, a number appeared for sale privately; in 1944 a Secret Service investigation determined that they had been stolen from the Mint and were seized from their owners.

One was purchased by King Farouk. It became part of his fabulous collection and was beyond their reach. Sociopolitical turmoil led to King Farouk’s fall; he was exiled, and the new government dispersed his collection of coins through Sotheby’s. The 1933 Double Eagle was withdrawn from the auction and its whereabouts were unknown for decades until British coin dealer Stephon Fenton surrendered the coin to United States authorities in 1996.

The coin hung in legal limbo for several years, leaving the rarity to be stored in a Secret Service vault at the World Trade Center in New York City. Just before the terrorist attacks destroyed the World Trade Center in 2001, the legal status of the 1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle specimen hailing from King Farouk was resolved and the coin was subsequently removed from the ill-fated New York City landmark. The coin was offered for sale by Sotheby’s/Stack’s in 2002, taking a world-record $7.59 million.

Nearly two decades later, the specimen remains the only legally obtainable example of the 1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle, with two specimens held at the Smithsonian Institution and all known others currently in custody of the United States government, which confiscated a handful of other specimens that came to light in recent years. The unique specimen being offered by Sotheby’s is expected to take between $10 million and $15 million.

Due to the unique circumstances and rarity of the 1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle, PCGS is taking the unusual step of, at the auctioneer’s request, grading and certifying, but not holdering this rarity in PCGS’ tamper-evident holder. The winning bidder of the coin may submit it to PCGS for holdering to provide state-of-the-art security at no additional charge.

Previously, PCGS has only reserved non-holder certification to just one other rarity, which is the Walton specimen of the 1913 Liberty Nickel graded PCGS PR63. Those interested in examining a high-resolution image of the unique PCGS MS65 1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle can view it via PCGS Cert Verification. More information about the sale of the 1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle and other items up for bid at the Sotheby’s Three Treasures – Collected by Stuart Weitzman live auction, can be found at the Sotheby’s website.

The following was written by Brian.

We folks in the hobby know that the precious metal content of our circulation strike coins contain less and less precious metal (particularly silver and copper) as the dates of those coins get more modern. It’s just a cold fact that over time, the intrinsic value of our coins has decreased.

Roosevelt and Mercury Dimes, Washington Quarters, and Walking Liberty, Franklin and Kennedy Half-Dollars minted in 1964 and earlier are 90% silver (just finding a 90% silver coin anywhere outside a coin shop these days is finding a needle in a haystack).

Between the years 1965 and 1976, two major U.S. coins contained 40% silver. The term “40% silver” is a way for investors, collectors, and buyers to refer to Kennedy Half-Dollars minted 1965–1970, and 1976, and Eisenhower Silver Dollars minted 1971-1974, and 1976. 

All regular coins dated 1965 or later are clad coins and contain no silver at all. That 1983 Washington quarter in your pocket (unless it is an extremely rare mint error, which I assure you, it isn’t) has no intrinsic value. It is in effect, a physical bitcoin. And pretty much nobody cares. 

For US cents, the alloy remained 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc until 1982, when the composition was changed to 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5 percent copper (copper-plated zinc). I’m pretty sure not many outside the hobby even noticed.

So…where’s the outrage?

Well, nobody has seemed to bat an eye at these changes when they happened and this is due in part to the ancient Roman theory that if it looks the same, it must be the same in value. No need to alarm the citizens, right?

The Romans employed a technique of ‘silvering’ coins; essentially brushing on a light coat of heated silver onto a non-silver coin – all in an effort not to stir the commoners. And it worked. Silvered coins were indeed just made to look silver. As previously mentioned, they did contain some silver but in small enough proportions that it was not obvious so the 1% to 5% silver containing coins were plated to look like their ancestors that bore a pure silver content.   

People of the day expected a coin to contain the required amount of the precious metal but inflation made a solid silver coin too high in value to be a useful denomination.

Today we see the same thing, but like I said all along, nobody really cares.

As a follow-up from our January 26th blog post, the fresh roll of 1909 VDB Lincolns are back from grading and now listed on our website. Check out the "reveal video" below.

Click the player below to listen to our 30-second radio spot on WBZ News. If you catch it on the air, let us know!

The following was written by Brian.

The die-sinker. Just what in the world is a die-sinker? Sounds German. Or perhaps it is a fishing lure of some kind? Hit man? Torture device? Well, it’s none of the aforementioned. A die-sinker is a person who engraves dies used to punch or stamp designs onto coins or medals.

Surely, if you enjoy numismatics, you have stumbled upon a token or two in your day. Thanks to the die-sinkers, there are thousands of interesting and historic tokens and medals available for collection and enjoyment.  

One of the most prominent die-sinkers of the 19^th century was a Cincinnati businessman named James Murdock Jr.  As a young man, Murdock emigrated from Ireland to the United States, working under the tutelage of another prominent Cincinnati die-sinker named John Stanton. Murdock would eventually purchase and run Stanton’s business as well as others.

Here’s an example of one of Murdock’s Civil War Tokens.

Here is another image of some of Murdock’s Civil War ‘storecards’ (used mostly by tradespersons and valued generally at 1 cent). The top center is Murdock’s advertising obverse and pictured around them are 5 stock dies.

It is known that during the Civil War and post war, collectors of these tokens could purchase them directly from the die sinker companies. This is where it gets interesting as many collectors would convince the die-sinkers to create custom tokens using dies not intended for each other (a practice known as ‘muling’). In addition to different dies, sinkers would often be persuaded to use different metals such as silver, aluminum and copper. This, in effect, resulted in some real rarities.

In addition to tokens, Murdock is credited with creating the first ‘bag-tag’ (a metal luggage tag used on the railroads). In fact, Murdock did so much more. His advertisement in the September 23, 1922, issue of The Cincinnati Enquirer listed the company’s products as “Steel Stamps, Stencils, Metal Specialties, Name and Number Plates, Metal Checks, Burning Brands, Log-Branding Hammers, Embossing Dies.” A regular Murdock for hire, this guy excelled at most everything that presented an opportunity across many industries – including seals. This neat image below is from the ANA magazine.