NOT SOLD (BIDDING OVER)
0.00USD+ applicable fees & taxes.
This item WAS NOT SOLD. Auction date was 2002 Feb 19 @ 09:30UTC-8 : PST/AKDT
Quarter Dollars 1853 Arrows and Rays. NGC graded Mint State 64. <b>A needle-sharp coin with great "eye-appeal" even to one who has seen a number of super nice specimens over the years. This coin has everything going for it, from the aforementioned detail to conservative grade (the fields are quite lustrous) to resplendent original toning. Medium russet gold to old-gray patina graces the surface and puts it in the lead in its category, as we are sure you will agree. This nice 1853 traces to a consignment of fresh, original seated quarters and half dollars we received in our offices in early January 2002. The consignor can only have taken many years to acquire his specimens. For if truth be told, more and more nowadays we see cleaned and/or dipped seated coinage being offered as "original" -- with fewer and fewer nice, genuinely attractive items like this Arrows and Rays. Be on your guard, however, be prepared for some bidding pressure when this choice coin takes its turn on the auction block, since there will be others who recognize in it its beauty and value, others who will be willing to bid aggressively to obtain it!</b> During 1851-53, officials realized that no matter how much silver could be purchased for coinage, no silver coins were going to remain in circulation. Immense discoveries of gold in California had lowered the market ratio of gold in terms of silver. In the East, this situation was experienced as sharp rises in the price of silver reckoned in gold dollars, eventually to a point where bullion dealers found they could make "endless chain" profits by melting down silver coins bought for face value and reselling the bullion. All the mints' output of silver vanished into hoarders' hands, and most of it went to bullion dealers; less and less silver reached the Mint for coinage, reflected in the diminishing mintage of 1850-52. This chain of events could not be allowed to continue, as with the disappearance of silver coins there was no effective legal medium of exchange of lower value than gold dollars. Cents could be and often were refused by storekeepers, as they were not legal tender; and the vanished silver coins were replaced by a flood of irredeemable scrip, which could be refused by the same storekeepers who passed it out, and which could not be used for buying stamps or paying taxes. Mint Director George N. Eckert devised the plan of reducing the weight of silver coins to a figure which would eliminate bullion dealers' profits and thus discourage further melting. Somehow he managed to persuade a puzzled Congress that this tactic would work, and his plan became law by the Act of Feb. 21, 1853, which authorized coinage of quarters at 96 grains compared with the former 103-1/8. The new Arrows and Rays coins entered circulation about April, 1853 <p align="center">Superior Galleries was founded in 1929 and has been a leader in
the numismatic auction business since 1971.</p> <p align="center"><b>Consignments wanted for June 2 & 3, 2002 Pre-Long Beach Sale.</b></p> <p align="center"><b>Call Steve Deeds</b> at (800) 421-0754 ext 230.</p>
Auction Location:
United States
Previewing Details:
2/11-2/15 from 9am-5:30pm by appointment only; 2/16-2/17 from 9am-5:30pm no appointment necessary
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