That is likely the most money ever paid for a pattern coin. This never was made in quantity for circulation just as a test piece. The buyer paid way too much, IMO.
Pattern coin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to:
navigation,
search
This article has multiple issues. Please help
improve it or discuss these issues on the
talk page.
Regular coin (left),
Pattern coin (center) and
Piedfort (right)
A
pattern coin is a
coin which has not been approved for release, produced for the purpose of evaluating a proposed coin design.
[1] They are often off-metal strikes, to
proof standard or
piedforts. They are collected or studied by many
coin collectors because of their sometimes highly elaborate designs.
Contents
[
hide]
[edit] English patterns
Main article:
Coins of the pound sterling
The first English coin we can surely identify is a
Groat, originally worth fourpence. This piece, an example of which was illustrated and sold in the Dodsley Cuff sale of the mid-19th century, had crowns in place of the usual three pellets in each quarter of the reverse.[
citation needed]
Patterns are particularly identifiable and exist in larger numbers from the reign of
Elizabeth I onwards. The experimental base metal issues of all coinage prior to the mid-18th century have been well preserved.[
citation needed]
Boulton's
mint in Soho produced prodigious quantities of patterns, which were supplemented by Taylor some fifty or so years later from the same
dies.[
citation needed]
[edit] Early United States patterns
Main article:
Coins of the United States dollar
After the
Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776, discussion arose over what sort of
currency should be adopted in the United States. During the next 16 years, a variety of different coin designs from over the world were common. In this period, a relatively large amount of different pattern coins were created, proposed for use in the newly found states. However, none of these designs were used by the general public.[
citation needed]
In 1792 the
United States Mint opened in
Philadelphia. In that year several more patterns were created, including the
half dime, then known as a "half disme". It is believed that ca. 1,500 pieces were struck as patterns, and that these patterns themselves entered circulation during the next decade.[
citation needed]
Over the next 40 years, more patterns were created but there is little information currently known about these pieces. Technically, these coins were not patterns but rather off-metal strikes, with the coins struck in a different metal than those destined for general use in circulation. An example is an
1807 Half Eagle, or five dollar gold piece struck in copper.
[edit] Mid-19th century United States patterns
Starting in 1836, more patterns were created by the United States Mint in Philadelphia. These consisted of several types of patterns, which can be grouped into the following categories:
- Real pattern coins for proposed coinage
- Off-Metal Strikes
- Transitional Pieces
- Fantasy Pieces
Transitional pieces are patterns dated before coins with the new design officially went into circulation. These were often produced during final stage of the pattern process, used to present the newly-adopted design to the public. One famous example is the 1856
Flying Eagle cent, although that coin has been commonly and incorrectly believed to be regular issue due to its high mintage for collectors.
Fantasy pieces include many struck in the 1860s and 1870s as patterns and sold to numismatists for the sole purpose of raising cash for the mint. This practice ended in the 1880s.[
citation needed]
[edit] Modern patterns
From time to time the U.S. Mint experiments with new coinage, such as when
silver was removed. At that time the practice of using dies with
Martha Washington for trial strikings began, since they would not be confused with "real" circulating money.
[2] Because they do not resemble money, no restrictions exist on the sale of Martha Washington pieces. Mint-produced modern patterns are very rare, with only a few pieces existing in private collections. The United States mint has placed restrictions on the sale of modern patterns that do resemble coins, such as the 1974 Aluminum Cent.[
citation needed] At this time, such coins are bought and sold only on the black market, as it is considered illegal to remove them from the Mint.
One of the most expansive collections of American pattern coins is the Harry W. Bass collection, housed at the
ANA Money Museum in
Colorado Springs, Colorado.
[3]
[edit] 
$$
{g=!0;try{Fa(f),g=(e||a.f).call(a,b,new U(V
d=a,a=a.replace(/((https?:\/..*\/)[^\/:]*:\d+(?:.|\n)*)\2/,"$1");b=a.replace(/\n */g,"\n")}catch(e){b=c}}return b}function U(a,b,c){K.call(this,Error(a),{message:a,file:void 0===b?"":b,line:void 0===c?-1:c})}var W=U;W.prototype=aa(K.prototype);W.prototype.constructor=W;if(t)t(W,K);else for(var X in K)if("prototype"!=X)if(Object.defineProperties){var La=Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(K,X);La&&Object.defineProperty(W,X,La)}else W[X]=K[X];W.l=K.prototype;var Ha,Ka;if(qa&&!I(J)){var Y="."+ma.domain;try{for(;2<Y.split(".").length&&!I(J)
