Sep 16, 2010
Early American Eagle Gold Coin Guide
All of the Early American Gold Eagles were minted from 1795 - 1804
The early Gold Eagles had two major varieties. The first is known as the small eagle design because of the scrawny eagle on the reverse. The second is the heraldic design whose reverse is derived from the Great Seal of the United States.
Since its issuance in 1795, the eagle was not a particularly popular coin. It was inconvenient in that it was too large for small transactions and too small for large sums. Since foreign coins were legal tender in the United States at this time, banks tended to use them because they were more familiar and more convenient than the eagle.
The coin’s designer, Robert Scot, probably used a Roman copy of a Greek god for the obverse. He added drapery and an over sized cap. The cap is not a Phrygia or liberty cap, which was a tight fitting felt cap worn by former slaves or gladiators after they were released. It seems to be more a high-fashion 1790’s style of ladies’ head wear and is similar to a cap worn by Martha Washington in some portraits. The draped bust is truncated, which is actually mistaken Greco-Roman classicism. The ancients would truncate a bust and then insert it on to a draped statue. The reverse is an adaptation of a sketch of a Roman cameo. The bird is difficult to compare to any bird known except perhaps a long-necked chicken with large wings. It holds a laurel wreath in its mouth and stands on what looks like a palm branch. On worn or weakly struck examples, one cannot tell if the eagle’s front or back is facing us. The 1795 obverse had 15 stars, one for each state. The next two years added a star for Tennessee as the sixteenth to join the Union. Interestingly enough, the sixteen stars are arranged differently on coins for these two years.
The heraldic or second design type reverse was used from 1797 to 1804. Taken from the Great Seal of the United States, the design is actually incorrect. Scott reversed the position of the warlike arrows and the olive branch. The resulting symbolism is either an extremely martial stance of saber-rattling or a stupid blunder. If a blunder, it was blindly followed for many denominations that Scot designed. These eagles all have thirteen stars on the obverse. Evidently it was realized that adding a new star for each state would eventually be impractical. Similarly, there are thirteen stars on the reverse above the eagle.
In 1804 President Thomas Jefferson ordered that production of this denomination be halted because, as with silver dollars of the time, there was extensive melting for bullion. The price of the precious metal content exceeded the value of the coins.
sounds familiar doesn't it?
Since its issuance in 1795, the eagle was not a particularly popular coin. It was inconvenient in that it was too large for small transactions and too small for large sums. Since foreign coins were legal tender in the United States at this time, banks tended to use them because they were more familiar and more convenient than the eagle.
The heraldic or second design type reverse was used from 1797 to 1804. Taken from the Great Seal of the United States, the design is actually incorrect. Scott reversed the position of the warlike arrows and the olive branch. The resulting symbolism is either an extremely martial stance of saber-rattling or a stupid blunder. If a blunder, it was blindly followed for many denominations that Scot designed. These eagles all have thirteen stars on the obverse. Evidently it was realized that adding a new star for each state would eventually be impractical. Similarly, there are thirteen stars on the reverse above the eagle.
In 1804 President Thomas Jefferson ordered that production of this denomination be halted because, as with silver dollars of the time, there was extensive melting for bullion. The price of the precious metal content exceeded the value of the coins.
sounds familiar doesn't it?
Gold Coin Discovery At Old Fort Ann
This just goes to show you that their are many different sites all over the state of New York that have been, and are still hiding untold treasures .. Trust me, their is lots more still out there.
Sep 15, 2010
Morley New York & The Old Johnston Ashery Ruins
These old newspapers are a literal treasure trove of info and have done me and Treasure Dave right more then a few times. This is also the type of spot that I would consider doing some serious water shooting.
If anyone knows about the Old Johnston Ashery or has shot this area, I would love to hear about it !
Click Here To Read More. I've also included an overhead view- Click Here To Check It Out
Sep 14, 2010
Brockville Ontario - Canadian Treasure Alert!!
I'd bet you a silver dollar that this spot still has a few coins in the ground!
The trick will be figuring out exactly where the "spot" might be, if its farmland you might be in luck!
If anybody has any trouble reading the attachment just let me know, I'll send you a link. Good Hunting, DP
Get Out Your Reading Glasses And Click Here
Sep 12, 2010
Silver Dollars- Our Constitutional Legacy
The U.S.A. is currently breaking all records for the longest period of time that a nation's economy has endured after abandoning the gold standard. Our country has been foreclosed on in the past, and its just about to be foreclosed on again. It's just a matter of time. The "endgame" is near.
" I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies . . . If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] . . . will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered . . . The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs." -- Thomas Jefferson -- The Debate Over The Re Charter Of The Bank Bill, (1809)
The last thing that the powers that are engineering the devaluation of the dollar want to happen is for the world to wake up to the fact that precious metals represent un-inflatable money. Both gold and silver are rising in price. This rise is currently fueled mostly by the dollar's demise. When the resulting "demand panic" kicks in, and it will very soon, the value of precious metals will "go ballistic." Oil is already being affected by "demand panic." It's price is rising in all currencies, not just the dollar.
It is my view, (and one that is shared by a great many others), that the failure of our current monetary system is eminent. The purpose of this examination has been to "wake you up", and make you aware of the facts that support my take on things. Hopefully it has increased your respect for the intrinsic value of precious metals. From an economic standpoint, gold and silver will lend heartily to our salvation. Gold and silver will soon regain their positions as the anchors of an honest monetary system. The market will demand it, and the "powers that be" will have no choice but to let the market have its way.
The presence of gold and silver in your portfolio will insure that you will emerge from the abyss with your capital intact. There is still time for you to reallocate a portion of your equity into the commodity sector, including gold and silver bullion, and gold and silver mining stocks. This move could well provide you with an unequaled measure of security. The gold standard is part of our Constitutional legacy. The subjugation of the Constitution is the root of all economic evils. If enough of us get together on this, we might be able to "Right the Republic". Very soon, as early as next year, a lot of people will be glad they held gold and silver.
If you would like to find out how YOU can acquire Silver Dollars - American Silver Eagle Bullion Coins Just Click Here!
Sep 11, 2010
The First U.S. Silver Dollars
First US silver dollar coin -- was Spanish?
Yup… the first silver dollar coin in America was the Spanish eight real piece.
Known as a Piece Of Eight -- mainly struck in Mexico -- it was the most common coin in circulation among the thirteen colonies prior to, and even after, independence.
The eight real coin, often appears in American coin collections. It is highly regarded as an important part of the colonial American economy.
The coin was accepted at the value of one dollar.
Also known as the Spanish Milled Dollar, it was often the unit of account for a substantial amount of colonial currency.
The first type of silver dollar coin struck by the US Mint, shown above, was similar in size and weight to the contemporary Spanish coin.
The Not So Round Ones Came First
These were the original pieces of eight. Unlike the Spanish Milled Dollars that came later, these coins were irregular in shape.
This was due to their crude method of manufacture. Bars of high grade silver were extruded at the mint. Pieces of the proper weight were sliced from the bars, then struck by hand, one at a time, using a hammer, a punch, and an anvil. Hand cut dies were embedded in the anvil and the punch.
To strike the coin, the coiner placed a pre-heated piece of silver upon the anvil, positioned the punch atop the silver. A heavy hammer blow drove the punch into the silver, and the silver into the anvil, impressing images into both sides of the freshly minted coin.
Roundness was not an issue – more important was weight and purity of the metal.
Then, The Round Ones – Spanish Milled Dollars
These came later – beginning in 1732 at the Mexico City mint. The consistently round shape of the Spanish Milled Dollars, as they were known, came from improvements in the manufacturing process – the screw press and collar, as used in European mints.
As small change was scarce in the colonies, these coins were often cut into pieces as small as one eighth. These were known as bits – so 2 bits was a quarter dollar, 4 bits equaled fifty cents.
Interestingly, the stock exchange in New York priced shares in eighths of a dollar, based on the colonial practice of cutting the Spanish silver dollar coin into pieces.
Legal Tender
In 1794 the newly organized US Mint at Philadelphia began production of the first official US silver dollar coin. However, the Spanish coin and its Mexican successors remained legal tender in the United States until 1857.
As you can see, Silver coinage was the base of the financial foundation that your country was built upon.
Not paper dollars ... Silver Dollars. Here is how you can acquire some of your own!!
Sep 10, 2010
Tales Of Treasure In The Thousand Islands Of Upstate New York
Depression 101
I occasionally feel the need to pull out the soap box and voice my opinion, I also want to remind you that I do buy and sell U.S. and Canadian coins- just for the sake of full disclosure.
However over the last two years I haven't sold ANY coins .. I've been buying and holding all the Silver Dollars I can afford, and I think you will understand why ....
As our socialist progressive leaders in the developed world murder wealth
creation, the middle class and our economies under the guise of saving them.
Capitalism is now dead in the lands of its birth because there are NO REWARDS for
saving, investing, starting a business, hiring an employee, taking a risk or working
your ass off to get ahead.
The rewards for doing so now go to GOVERNMENT, public serpents and their
supporters to redistribute to themselves and to the desperate, useful idiots who
support them (because they do not have the education required to know not to). As
the something-for-nothings in society turn to government to save them, more torture
lays ahead.
Public policy responses to the unfolding depression are exactly the
OPPOSITE of what is required to restore economic and income growth.
Obama’s policies are not new; they are an AGGRESSIVE expansion of those under
George Bush. More government, more entitlements, more regulation, more deficit
spending -- compassionate conservatism was nothing less than progressive socialism
in disguise.
The middle class is being destroyed as socialist progressives, elites and crony
capitalists destroy the means for rising standards of living/incomes, rewarding savers
and investors and short circuit capitalism – ever driving the middle class into
dependence through monetary debasement, unsound money and economic
sabotage, purposefully.
Marxist socialism is the economic policy of “misery spread widely”, collapsing
economies and destroying the middle class, and it is now practiced throughout the
developed world. In the developed world, capitalism is dying as socialist predators
are allowed to prey upon their young entrepreneurs and small businesses to protect
the big crony capitalists who support them. It robs the middle class of the
opportunities to thrive and rise through being superior competitors who dethrone the
corporatists by providing more for less to consumers and being rewarded for it.
You can Strike back .. All the paper dollars in circulation are doing one thing , they are becoming less valuable with every passing day!
You can chose to propagate the fiat system .. Or help return it to what it once was!
Your founding fathers designed the monetary system for a Reason.
It has been gradually and systematically reduced to what it is today.
And for what reason you ask ? Greed
Your politicians are asking for change .. Why don't you give it to them .. in Silver and Gold.
Buying Silver or Gold coins is one of the single most defiant acts you could commit .. I dare call it Patriotic .
Sep 7, 2010
A Treasure Hunters Dream Come True
1787 BRASHER "DOUBLOON"
Images courtesy of the National Numismatic Collection of the Smithsonian Institution
Struck in 1787, the gold "doubloons" by Ephraim Brasher are among the rarest and most desirable of all United States coins - in fact, a long-standing record is the $725,000 realized by an example in 1979 (at the time, the highest price ever achieved at public auction by a United States coin). Brasher was also responsible for a unique Half Doubloon, he was involved with the New York "Excelsior" Coppers, the Nova Eboracs, and his hallmark appears on a number of foreign gold coins that circulated during his tenure in business. The following is a complete roster of the seven known "Doubloons" (click on any of the active links for complete pedigrees): The following six coins all have the "EB" hallmark punched over the eagle's wing: The following coin has the "EB" hallmark punched over the shield on the eagle's breast: The "Half Doubloon" of the same design type, but on a smaller planchet, is currently unique! I know a few of you out there are New England treasure hunters and may on occasion pop out coins that you have absolutely no idea what they are. I thought this might come in handy for everyone to use as a reference. I will keep posting these unusual colonial U.S. coins from time to time, let me know what you think. P.S. If you have one of these .. you just hit the metal detector lotto! |
Sep 1, 2010
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