Karen B. writes: I have a Spanish real minted in 1807 of 90% silver. On the face are the words Carolus IIII DET Gratia (or something close) and a picture of what looks to be the reigning queen of that period. On the back are the words Hispan: ETIND * REX * M * 8R * T * H. These words circle the outer edge of the coin and encircle what appears to be a Spanish crest with a bugle on either side. I know this is an 8 real piece. It is packaged in card board display case with a printed history of the Spanish reals and how these were Americas first silver dollars. You can see evidence where merchants along the way have made “tick” or “scratch” marks to test the purity of the coin. All features and words are visible and legible and in general I would rate this coin fair to good condition. Any assistance with finding a marketable price for this coin will be greatly appreciated. Thank you
Your coin is a 1807 Mexico (colonial) Portrait 8 Reales, Assayer TH. The coin features a bust of King Charles IV of Spain. The abbreviated Latin legends are CAROLUS IIII DEI.GRATIA and continuing on the reverse HISPAN. ET IND. REX or in English, Charles IV by the Grace of G-d, King of Spain and the Indies.
The reverse shows a crowned shield with alternating castles and lions (representing Castile and Leon in Spain). The Pillars of Hercules are on either side.
This long running series was minted all over Latin American and in Spain and was, at the time, the world standard for money. Actually, the “Milled Dollar” or as it was known later the “Pillar Dollar” precedes the Portrait issues by a good number of years. It is true that the United States monetary system was modeled on the Pillar and Portrait 8 reales and in fact these coins were sanctioned as legal tender by the U.S. Congress until 1858.
These coins are hardly rare, especially in average circulated condition and are usually available in quantity. Rare dates and varieties are exceptions. There are several varieties of the Mexico 1807 8 Reales with the 1807/6 the most desirable. Condition is paramount as collectors want the highest possible quality for their collections. Coins with test marks, chop marks or evidence of filing or cleaning bring far less than undamaged pieces.
General values for this particular coin run from $25 -$700 depending on variety and grade.
The question of how much coins weigh used to be one of the most important coin questions you could ask.
At one time coins were minted in precious metal and the value of the coin depended directly on the weight of precious metal, regardless of the denomination of the coin. If a coin was shaved, filed or damaged in some way, the coin was worth less than its face value.
Today coins are tokens and are minted in base metal. But the importance of weight still exists, if for only as one of the ways of determining the coin’s authenticity.
It is startling to discover that many people think that coins are struck on randomly created flans with no regard for weight or depth. So, on to your questions. Below are the official weights of contemporary U.S. coins:
S.F. writes: Hi! I am quite the novice at this, & noticed your website. What do the MS61, 62, etc. codes mean on the pricing guide & why is the same year coin not worth anything in all the other MS categories but in the highest MS number it is? Then when I click on the MS categories above these I get more prices, a price for every coin. Could you please explain this? Thank-you.
“MS” means Mint State and refers to coins that are in new condition. The definition of Mint State is a coin with no trace of wear and with all the original mint luster. Coins are minted at high speed and dumped into a hopper and later are packaged in canvas bags. They invariably acquire contact marks from impact from other coins. Coins that have lots of bag marks or other detracting blemishes might qualify for the low end of Mint State, MS60-63. Nicer coins might grade MS64-65. Superior pieces grade between MS66-69. MS70 is perfection and rarely, if ever, achieved even if you caught the coin from the press. Collectors, especially of United States Coins, prize coins in high mint state grades. Demand exceeds supply and therefore the higher grades bring higher prices.
Linda F. writes: I recently saw a capped bust half date 1824, graded by ANACS and listed as O-103 or Overton 103. What exactly does this mean?
In the early history of United States coinage, the making of dies was an imperfect art. Coins in a specific year were minted by more than one die; this is still true today. Back then, dies might show highly discernable differences such as doubling, die cracks, variations of date position (dates were stuck into the dies by hand) and other identifiable characteristics.
Many collectors of early coins such as Bust half dollars enjoy determining which die combination minted their coins. Bust half dollar die varieties were organized into a catalog, in 1967, by Al. C. Overton called: Early Half Dollar Die Varieties 1794-1836.
Overton numbers are used to identify the dies that minted a specific coin. In this case the coin is an 1824 Obverse 10-variety 3.-Die crack from edge to curls between date and star 13. Full sharp double profile from forehead to chest.
Christy J. writes:Â A friend of mine recently brought a coin for me to look at that she had found in an old button box that had belonged to her grandmother. The coin does not appear to be gold, but it has the date of 1787 and the name Columbia, along with other writing. I have never seen anything like this before, although not being a collector this is not unusual. The coin is a little bit larger than a quarter, is irregularly shaped, as it is not a perfect circle, and the printing on the coin is not centered. The coin is rather thin. Do you have any ideas on where I can find any more information on this coin. None of the sites I have visited on the web have gone back to 1787.
Immunis Columbia (Immune Columbia) pieces are part of the late Colonial period. They are considered experimental pieces or patterns for proposed coinage for the United States. Several pieces exist that feature a seated figure of “Justice”. The 1787 type has an image of an eagle on the reverse. George Wyon is traditionally credited to have created the die work. Values depend on condition (grade). Range:$400-$3,000.
There is a single gold specimen in the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian. It was obtained from renowned collector Matthew  A. Stickney in exchange for an 1804 silver dollar.
KWJ asks” What is a clad quarter?
Quarters minted from 1965 to the present are struck on blanks that have the following composition:
Outer layer of copper-nickel alloy (.750 copper and .250 nickel) bonded to an inner core of pure copper. This sandwich of a CuNi layer on each side of the coin with the copper core in the center is called clad composition.
Dimes, quarters and dollars from 1965 and half dollars from 1971 to 1999 are struck on clad blanks. The new dollar coins that were issued beginning in January 2000 are the first to depart from this formula. See: United States Clad Coinage
Tom P. asks: Why do American coins such as the dime, quarter, half dollar, and silver dollar have reeded edges and the penny and nickel do not?
Reeded edges were incorporated into precious metal coins to prevent filing, that is removing a small amount of metal off a coin that cumulatively would be sold. Money used to be defined as precious metal in coin form. Reducing the weight of a coin would render the coin’s value less than its face value. By examining the reeded edge a prospective receiver of the coin could ascertain that a coin hadn’t been filed. This saved the trouble of weighing it. Cents and later nickels were convenience items that had little or no legal tender status, had no precious metal and therefore there was no reason for them to have a reeded edge.
Though today’s circulating coins have no precious metal content, the tradition of plain and reeded edge coinage continues.
Brian M. writes: I have a 1957 Douglas Dillon $1.00 silver certificate dollar bill. Can you tell me the estimated value of this bill. A recent coin show on t.v. stated the silver certificate was valued over $5000.00. Please advise, Brian.
Dillon’s signature appears on the 1957A and 1957B silver certificate and these are currently valued at face, that is one dollar, unless they are uncirculated in which case they would bring about $3-$4. I have never heard of a Dillon signature on a 1957 note without a series A or B letter next to the date. The 1957 note has the signatures of Priest-Anderson.
Generally the series letter changes if there is a change of Secretary or Treasurer or a minor or major design change. The signatures changed in about 1960 to Smith-Dillon making the series change to “1957A” and then again later to “1957B” with the change of signatures to Granaham-Dillon.
It might be possible to have an error where the signatures were changed but the series date remained the same for a short time, maybe one sheet’s worth until the printing was stopped and the error plates destroyed. I haven’t heard about such an error but I guess that is conceivable. Such a note would be worth a substantial premium if it was authentic. You would think that thousands or even millions of notes would exhibit this error, if it existed, and it would be documented somewhere. I will look for any reports about this note.
Possibly you can supply additional information such as:
How might such a note be created.
How was it determined that it was worth $5,000.