| Description: |
Silver. Reeded edge. One of the most desirable of all Trade dollar patterns in existence,
with an almost unbroken provenance from the U.S. Mint into the 1980s. Brilliant silver
gray with light golden toning at the rims, heavily frosted central devices contrast
sharply with bold mirror fields. Double struck to bring up detail - very similar to some
of the silver dollar patterns dated 1870 and 1871, which may have been struck in this
later period, as most of the 1873 and 1875-dated dollar patterns were struck but once. The
eye appeal is superb, as the long string of famous collectors who owned this piece from
1909 to 1985 obviously took great care to be proper stewards. A few minor hairlines have
accumulated over the years, several tiny lintmarks serve as positive identifiers of this
specimen: one just inside the denticles at 3:00 on the obverse, another left of the three
leaf cluster above GOD on the reverse, one curling through the last A in AMERICA, another
above R of Grs on the reverse. A spot which appears significant in the 1985 photograph of
this piece on the obverse above the flags is very subtle in person, while a smaller one
above I of AMERICA is a plain identifier.
Abe Kosoff, who owned this piece for more than
two decades as part of an eight-piece set of 1876 Trade dollars in silver, wrote about his
set in a Coin World article in 1970: "In 1876, our centennial year, much thought was
given to our coinage. In fact, attempts were made to improve our silver dollars and our
double eagles, and the latter was changed slightly. In the silver dollar series, however,
we have evidence of several proposed changes." Indeed, the dies represented were
largely created through Mint Director Lindeman's interest in improving dollar designs, but
many mulings (such as the one with an aged No Motto reverse!) were produced for sport,
probably for himself or for eventual profiteering. This variety uses the lovely 1876
"Liberty by the Seashore" obverse with the Commercial dollar pattern die
produced in 1871 before the trade dollar series received the name it would stick with
through the duration of its production. Only two such pieces were struck, the other from
the famed Granberg Collection, variously graded over the last decade and a half as
Proof-61 (PCGS) or Proof-63 (NGC). Both were once owned by William Woodin, the former
Secretary of the Treasury under Roosevelt and co-author of the Adams-Woodin pattern book
(though Edgar Adams was the numismatic brain behind it, and Woodin's collection the
primary illustrative force). The bulk of Woodin's patterns, said to be several crates
full, came directly from the Mint's stockpile of undistributed pieces in one large
transaction in 1909. Woodin's friend Edgar Adams negotiated the sale of Woodin's cache of
patterns in 1911, with one lot going to Wisconsinite Granberg and the other ($150,000
worth at the time) to Waldo Newcomer of Baltimore. Of course, Woodin still kept thousands
of pieces, but it seems that this piece went to Newcomer in 1911, only to be sold to
F.C.C. Boyd in the late 1930s. Around 1945, Abe Kosoff negotiated the sale of Boyd's
patterns to King Farouk, the infamous Egyptian autocrat who devoted more time to his
collections than his citizenry, and Kosoff was in the auction room in Cairo when the
patterns were once again sold into the numismatic marketplace. Kosoff sold many pieces
from Farouk's collection to Omaha eye doctor J. Hewitt Judd, who picked up the
Adams-Woodin gauntlet with his new work on patterns which first appeared in 1959. Within a
decade, Kosoff had purchased the entire Judd Collection, and sold most of it at fixed
prices, keeping only a few particularly charming pieces for himself. Among his favorites
was his set of 1876 trade dollars, which he considered a national treasure - he consigned
the set to Q. David Bowers for sale in 1985. This piece has been the plate coin in Judd's
book for decades, and keeps that honored position in the new 8th edition.
When the chips
finally fall, one collector will become heir to a tradition that has included the author
of every major book on patterns published in the 20th century, a string of devotees that
includes a king, a Cabinet official, an ophthalmologist, a banker, and a coin dealer. A
specimen of this variety has not sold publicly since this exact coin last crossed the
block 18 years ago. For a modern collector who enjoys the rich history of patterns as much
as those men mentioned above, there are few greater prizes than the piece presently
offered.
NGC Census: 1; none finer.
It should be noted that the photo of this piece in
the 1985 Kosoff sale was actually shown under Lot 1099 though the lot was catalogued as
Lot 1100.
As detailed above, an historic and impressive provenance: The U.S. Mint in
Philadelphia to William Woodin, probably in 1909 among his "several crates,"
marketed via Edgar Adams to Waldo C. Newcomer in 1911, thence to New Yorker Frederick C.C.
Boyd, whose collection was sold circa 1945 to King Farouk of Egypt. From Sotheby's sale of
"The Palace Collection of Egypt," March 1954, Lot 1965; through Kosoff to J.
Hewitt Judd, to Abe Kosoff in the 1960s, into Kosoff's personal collection. Last sold
publicly in Auctions by Bowers and Merena's sale of Rare Coins from the Abe Kosoff Estate,
November 1985, Lot 1100. This was the plate coin in both the Pollock book and the Judd
book, up to and including the most recent edition. |
