The
Amazing
Story of
the Greatest
High
Quality
Gold Coin
Discovery
in History!
The
Amazing
Story of
the Greatest
High
Quality
Gold Coin
Discovery
in History!
By David Hall
David Hall's North American Trading
Gold...
that incredible metal. Worshipped by the Ancients, coveted to this day.
Even in our high technology world, gold remains the ultimate store of
value...the most universally recognized form of money in the world.
It
may be a sad commentary on our times, but there is more money spent each
year searching for gold than is spent searching for a cure for cancer and
heart disease. The gold mining companies that do most of the searching have
their shares traded on the Toronto and Vancouver stock exchanges. There
are over 3,000 gold mining companies listed on the Canadian stock exchanges.
The average daily volume is about 50,000,000 shares. That's right, every
day the investors of the world buy fifty million shares of companies that
do nothing more than look for gold.
And
what do the gold mining companies do with all the money they raise on the
stock exchanges? They search for gold in Canada, Alaska, Indonesia, South
American, South Africa, and anywhere else there's even a remote chance they
may find the elusive hiding places of the king of all precious metals. Just
take a moment and ponder the cultural attitudes toward gold that exist,
not just in the Western World, but in the Far East, South America, the Middle
East, indeed, the entire civilized world.
Gold Coins
Gold
has been made into coins for 2,500 years. Coins are the most easily traded,
convenient, and "trustworthy" form of gold. And throughout the
ages, the wealth of a country has been measured by its gold and symbolized
by its gold coins.
The
mining of gold coins represents power and independence. For a nation, it
is one of the supreme acts of sovereignty. That's why the British Crown
forbid its colonies to mint coins. They wanted to control the coins. They
wanted to control the gold.
GOLD
IS POWER! "He who owns the gold, makes the rules." The Nazi's
were well aware of the power of gold. In Nazi occupied Europe it was a capital
offense to possess more than seven grams of gold (about the weight of
a large wedding ring).
Because
of the importance of minting gold coins, our founding fathers pushed to
have coins minted by the then new United States of America. The coining
of silver and gold was an issue of great important to both George Washington
and Thomas Jefferson. In fact, it is rumored that Martha Washington donated
her silverware so that the first U.S. coin, the 1792 silver half dime, could
be struck.
The first U.S. gold coins were struck in 1795. There were two denominations
minted that year, the $5 "Half Eagle" and the $10 "Eagle."
Here's the various denominations and dates of issue for the United States
Gold coins that followed:
Walk Softly And Carry A Big Stick
Some
people consider Theodore Roosevelt our last great President. Whether he
was or wasn't may be open to debate, but nobody will dispute the fact that
Theodore Roosevelt was a man of strong opinions and a man who got things
done!
One
of the things that bothered Roosevelt in 1906 was the simple, uninspired
designs (some have used the word "banal") of the then circulating
U.S. coinage. He pushed hard for design changes for U.S. coinage. He started
with $10 and $20 gold pieces. Over the strenuous objections of Mint Engraver
Charles E. Barber, who had designed the "Barber" dimes, quarters
and halves, Roosevelt commissioned world renowned sculptor, Augustus St.
Gaudens to fulfill Roosevelt's long-time dream of "freeing our national
coinage from its unbearable dullness of design" and restoring it to
"some of the beauty and dignity of ancient Greek coins."
St.
Gaudens, although in ill health, produced a number of beautiful models,
from which President Roosevelt personally chose a standing Liberty for the
obverse and a flying eagle for the reverse. St. Gaudens' extremely high
relief first pattern (prototype) coins were so beautiful and so stunning
that art expert Cornelius Vermeule compared them to the Nike of Samothrace!
These prototypes are so rare and desirable that one of the 15 known examples
were sold by Bowers' and Merena in early 1997 for $660,000.
The
high relief coins were impractical for commercial purposes, so a low relief
adaptation of the original St. Gaudens' design was issued by the U.S. Mint
from 1907 to 1933. Between 1907 and 1928, the $20 St. Gaudens gold pieces
minted by the United States made up a significant part of our gold reserves
and also were one of the bullion coins of choice for settlement of international
banking transactions. Most of the 1929 to 1933 issues were melted at the
mint and today survivors from those years are ultra rarities.
Besides
the original high relief coins, there were two types of $20 St. Gaudens
minted between 1907 and 1933. The first type is the 1907 and 1908 "No
Motto." They were minted without the In God We Trust motto.
The second type is the 1908 to 1933 "With Motto." And that's another
story, and yet another controversy, in the history of the world's most famous
coin.
The "No Motto" Saints
Today,
the 1907 and 1908 "No Motto" Saints are severe condition rarities.
By "condition rarity," we mean that they are fairly available
in all grades up to MS63 (and even MS64), but in Gem MS65 condition, they
are rare, and in superb Gem MS66 condition, they are very rare.
The
reason for this is the "No Motto" Saints were struck in lower
relief and with less pressure than the 1908 to 1933 "With Motto"
Saints. This striking problem was very obvious at the time. In fact, the
dies were actually reworked at the mint when the "With Mottos"
were struck in order to bring up the relief a little. Strike, of course,
is a major component of grade. Additionally, because of the very low relief,
the 1907 and 1908 "No Motto" $20 St. Gaudens attract marks and
nicks much more readily, due to their wide flat surfaces.
The
result of this striking weakness for the "No Motto" Saints is
that they are almost always found in low grade. To find a well struck, virtually
mark-free, Gem is an unusual occurrence. As a pricing factor, the 1908 "No
Motto" Saints go for the exact same price as the "With Motto"
Saints in all grades up to and including MS64. Gem MS65 1908 "No Motto"
Saints are currently selling for a small premium over the "With Motto."
Until recently, superb Gem MS66 1908 "No Motto" Saints were selling
for about fifty percent over the price of MS66 1908 "With Motto"
Saints.
The Incredible Wells Fargo Nevada Gold Coin Discovery
The
Wells Fargo Nevada Gold Coin discovery includes approximately 20,000 1908
"No Motto" $20 St. Gaudens. It is a totally mind-boggling number
of coins. But what's even more incredible is the quality of the coins.
This
spectacular ground of coins was acquired intact in approximately 1917. We
believe this amazing, high quality gold coin hoard remained untouched until
the early 1970s. Then, at that time, the coins were inventoried and resealed
in bags, to again remain untouched for decades. The coins were moved again
in about 1996. They were stored in the vaults of a Wells Fargo bank in Nevada
and sold in 1997.
The Amazing Quality
"The
Wells Fargo Nevada Gold 1908 "No Motto" $20 Saints are the finest
large group of United States gold coins to ever come through the doors of
PCGS. The quality is amazing. I'm a little jaded, since, as Director of
Grading and President of PCGS, I see the world's finest coins on a daily
basis. But the Wells Fargo Nevada Gold "No Motto" Saints blew
my mind!" -- Rick Montgomery,
President, Professional Coin Grading Service.
Here's
the nearly unbelievable part of the Wells Fargo Nevada Gold Coin discovery
1908 "No Motto" Saints. Because PCGS had only graded 4.3% of the
1908 Saints submitted in an eleven year period, MS65 and only 0.3% MS66,
if you were to examine 20,000 1908 "No Motto" $20 St. Gaudens,
you would expect to find 700 or 800, maybe even 1,000 coins that graded
MS65. And you'd expect to find 50 or 60 coins that were superb Gem MS66
quality. But that's not the case with the Wells Fargo Nevada Gold discovery
1908 "No Motto" Saints.
The
Wells Fargo Nevada Gold Coin discovery contains approximately 5,000 coins
that grade PCGS MS66! I tell you, when I saw these coins, I couldn't believe
my eyes. It's almost impossible to describe.
There
are three things that set these coins apart from all other 1908 "No
Motto" Saints. First, these coins are all extremely well struck. Every
detail of the eagle's feathers are 100% fully evident. Miss Liberty has
all of her skirt lines totally visible and there is no flatness in the breast
or face area.
The
second thing that sets these amazing coins apart is their lack of marks.
As I mentioned earlier, U.S. gold twenties are large coins that easily attract
marks. Additionally, due to their flat relief, the "No Motto"
type is usually the most marked-up of all Saints. But the Wells Fargo Nevada
Gold Coin discovery 1908 "No Motto" Saints are virtually mark-free.
There is not a single major mark on any of these fabulous coins.
The
third thing that is totally incredible about these coins is the luster.
In coin dealer lingo, a really flashy, full luster coin is referred to as
a "blazer." These coins literally define the term. I mean, I was
reaching for my sunglasses when I was looking at them.
How
rare are "No Motto" Saints in this original superb Gem condition?
Frankly, until the Wells Fargo Nevada Gold Coin discovery, I only saw one
or two pieces every three or four months. My theory is that these incredible
coins were the first batch of coins struck from a new pair of dies. They
must have somehow been put away in the year of issue and stored very carefully
thereafter.
You
just never see large groups that look like this. In fact, in my 38 years
as a rare coin dealer, this is the first and only group of superb Gem 1908
"No Motto" Saints I've ever seen.
Editor's
Note: David Hall is President of
David Hall's North American Trading, "Home of the World's Finest
Coins," 1936 E. Deere Ave., Ste. 102, Santa Ana, CA 92705. Bull
& Bear readers can receive a FREE 16 page, full color, beautifully illustrated
brochure with the amazing story of the greatest high quality gold coin discovery
in history by writing to the above address or calling 1-800-359-4255.
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