Start Your Collection
Learning coin terminology and acquiring basic collecting knowledge are important first steps for those entering the numismatic hobby.
NUMISMATIC & COIN COLLECTING BASICS - COIN WORLD
Getting started in numismatics
Young or old, affluent or not, all sorts of people find coin collecting an accessible hobby. Many famous collectors started as children or young adults, and this is also the kind of hobby and vocation that gets passed to generations within families and shared with friends. Because studying numismatics also involves learning about history, politics, art and much more, this hobby has educational value. Of course, coin collectors also find this hobby exciting and sometimes, profitable. The first step for novice coin collectors usually includes learning the language of coin collecting. Special terms describe a coin's condition, type and appearance. Mastery of basic terms opens the door to gaining more knowledge.
Learning coin terminology and acquiring basic collecting knowledge are important first steps for those entering the numismatic hobby.
From the U.S. Mint’s first facilities, to the discovery of the Saddle Ridge Hoard, read about the historical places, people and events that have shaped numismatics.
Bullion investing and coin collecting go hand in hand. Learn all about the basics of investing and the many different bullion coins available.
What’s so special about the Morgan dollar? How many different types of Lincoln cents have there been? Get familiar with all U.S. coins, past and present.
Making coins come alive
The very first American colonists had little need for coins in the wilderness. They bartered with trade goods, Native American wampumand tobacco. As civilization grew, the British did not always give the Americans permission to mint their own coins, but the colonists found alternative sources of coins and on occasion, struck coins without royal authority. For example, the Massachusetts Bay Colony set up its own mint in Boston in 1652 during a period when England lacked a king and continued striking 1652-dated silver coins for decades. Thus, early examples of U.S. Colonial coins were born. In April of 1792, the U.S. Mint was established in Philadelphia, the nation's capital at the time.
Numismatics, the studying of coins, and the collecting of coins both stand apart from investing in coins for their bullion value. Still, the bullion value of most collectible coins still needs to get considered. Even today, the U.S. Mint and mints of other nations’ produce bullion coins that are different from regular coins intended for currency. Through much of history, coins derived most of their value from their metal content. While people used coins as currency for thousands of years, the practice might have been closer to trading small bits of copper, silver, gold and other precious metals. However, as gold and silver rose in value, the intrinsic worth of the precious metals in the coins began to exceed their face value. In the U.S., for example, the replacement of 90 percent silver coins with base metal coins began in 1965.
Learning about U.S. coins means learning about the history of the country. Very often, decisions about a coin's content, value and design were made because of political, economic or social events of the time that they were minted. In some cases, political figures or mint executives even made decisions because of favoritism, nepotism or personal competitions — and learning these details makes old coins come alive.
Assistant U.S. Mint Engraver Christian Gobrecht was faced with the enviable task in 1839 to produce new designs for the $5 gold half eagle.
It was apparent that Chief Engraver William Kneass, who had suffered a debilitating stroke, would not be able to resume his duties at the Philadelphia Mint. Gobrecht was called upon to fill his shoes, albeit without benefit of title or additional remuneration.
Mint Director Robert M. Patterson preferred the new coin designs to be uniform with that of the $10 gold eagle of December 1838; thus, a Coronet Head rendition of Liberty appeared on the 1839 half eagles as a replacement for the Classic Head portrait.
No fewer than five different U.S. Mint production facilities would strike the denomination: Philadelphia, San Francisco, Charlotte (N.C.), New Orleans (La.), and Dahlonega (Ga.).
COIN VALUES: See how much your Coronet $5 half eagle is worth today
Mintages vary widely over the 70 years the design was produced – the 1877 with the lowest at 1,132 pieces, to a high of 3,648,000 for the 1901-S, with tens to even hundreds of thousands produced for more dates.
The head of Liberty was slightly changed on the Coronet half eagle in 1840 and the diameter was enlarged. Dates and letters were enlarged for coins dated 1842 and 1843. All dies were completely hubbed except for the dates and Mint marks, which had to be punched in by hand. The hesitance of Engraver James B. Longacre to perform this hand-punching (for most of 1844 to 1848 his sole duty as engraver after Gobrecht's death) resulted in numerous repunched or blundered dies, giving today's specialists much to study.
The first year, 1839, the Mint marks appeared on the obverse, just above the date. Subsequent years saw the Mint mark moved to the reverse.
The reverse design was identical to Kneass' Classic Head half eagle, except that the denomination inscription was changed from 5 D. to FIVE D.
The Branch Mint at San Francisco opened for business in 1854, the first year that the five operating Mints would all produce $5 gold coins. The period 1854 to 1857 is the only time all five Mints struck coins. After 1857, it was never done again.
The seizure of the Dahlonega, Charlotte and New Orleans Mints by state and Confederate forces in 1861 put a crimp in coining operations, although rebel authorities produced a number of coins at Dahlonega (unknown mintage) and Charlotte (887) that year while the facilities were not under federal control.
None of the three facilities would coin $5 gold pieces after 1861. Nine years later, the Carson City Mint opened and joined the ranks of Mint facilities producing gold coins.
The Mint Act of March 3, 1865 – authorizing coinage of Shield 5-cent coins and the issue of certain categories of interest-bearing Treasury notes – also included a provision that all coins large enough to include the motto IN GOD WE TRUST should do so. Mint officials took this provision to include the three highest gold denominations.
The motto began appearing on the gold half eagles in 1866 after Mint Director Henry R. Linderman approved the placement on a ribbon above the eagle's head on the reverse. The 1866-S coins struck at San Francisco with dies sans the motto had been produced before the new dies had arrived.
According to Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, rarities in the Coronet half eagle series are mostly either low-mintage Branch Mint issues before the Civil War, or low-mintage Philadelphia issues during it, while specie payments were suspended and little bullion reached the Mint.
"Except for 1873, even Philadelphia coins are rare prior to 1878," Breen writes. "Until that year, specie payments were still suspended, gold was hoarded, and paper currency circulated instead, with the same goods or services on a two-tier pricing system: Prices were always quoted higher in greenbacks than in gold.
"Mintages in 1873 were large because the Treasury deposited quantities of worn-out and obsolete gold pieces for recoinage. Some dates are more often seen in Proof state (generally impaired) than as business strikes, totally 1869, 1875, 1876 and possibly 1877."
Gobrecht's designs slipped into history when Bela Lyon Pratt's work appeared in 1908 as part of President Theodore Roosevelt's plan to improve the nation's coinage.
Keep reading from our "Know Your U.S. Coins" series:
Cents and half cents:
2- and 3-cent coins:
Nickels:
Dimes and half dimes:
Quarters:
Half dollars:
Dollars:
Gold coins: