1. Double Dimes – and the Amazing Find at the Carson City Mint John Frost Director of Education

2. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Founded during 1973 in Bal Harbour, Florida Kam Ahwash and John McCloskey past presidents 600+ members who enjoy seated coinage Liberty Seated coinage experts Research, education and social interactions Dues are $20 per year. ~ 20 Regional Meeting events per year Page 2 2014 – 2015 Officers Gerry Fortin, President Len Augsburger, Vice President Craig Eberhart, Secretary/Treasurer Bill Bugert, Publications Editor

3. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Award-winning Publications Gobrecht Journal Published 3 times per year Bill Bugert, Editor Detailed Research, Collecting Notes, Club Member Stories All Color – November 2014 E-Gobrecht Published Monthly Bill Bugert, Editor Club News, Auction Results. Short Articles, Monthly Columns Quick and Easy Publishing

4. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Regional Meetings Social opportunities ~20 events annually nationwide – FUN, ANA, Baltimore, Long Beach, Manchester NH, CSNS, Denver, Bay State, Ohio State Show, CONA Page 4

5. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Hall of Fame, Publishing Awards Hall of Fame recognition HoF Committee annual review and voting LSCC HoF Members: Kamal Ahwash, John McCloskey, Al Blythe, Randy Wiley, Brian Greer, Gerry Fortin, Jim O’Donnell, Eugene Gardner Annual publishing awards Ahwash Award – Best Gobrecht Journal article as voted by membership E-Gobrecht Editor’s Award – Key contribution to monthly newsletter Page 5

6. John Frost Double Dimes – and the Amazing Find at the Carson City Mint

7. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Topics History and design The series Collecting double dimes Errors and Exonumia Surprise find at the Carson City Mint A tale of discovery Page 7

8. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Original proposal and later attempts Thomas Jefferson as Chairman of the Currency Committee, proposed a Fifth or 20-cent coin as part of our national coinage The Fifth, later called Double Disme, was debated along with the Quarter Dollar Ultimately the Quarter was chosen A second attempt to create the Double Dime occurred in 1806, along with a billon two-cent piece, and rejected A third attempt was made in 1850, to attempt replacing the circulating Spanish Reale, and also rejected This brings us to 1873… Page 8

9. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Coins minted by U.S. Mint at start of 1873 Look at how many slots in your cash register you needed back then! – One cent – Two cents – Silver three cents – Nickel three cents – Silver half dime – Nickel five cents – Dime – Quarter – Half dollar – Silver dollar – Gold dollar – 2 ½ dollars – 3 dollars – 5 dollars – 10 dollars – 20 dollars – Trade dollar Page 9

10. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Why was the double dime created? Nevada Senator John Percival Jones The excuse – Shortage of change out west, after the demise of the half dime in 1873 – Short-changing in transactions – They didn’t make or use nickels out west The real reason – Silver lobby wanted to increase the amount of silver purchased by the U.S. Government (the Mint) – Senator Jones, who made the short-changing claims, was a silver mine owner! Page 10

11. Liberty Seated Collectors Club The design Numerous patterns created in 1874 and 1875 Page 11

12. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Double dimes 1875-1878 Minted for circulation for only 2 years Plus 2 more years as proof-only issue Biggest flop in U.S coinage history… you be the judge Irony: this series actually caused a short-changing problem! Page 12

13. Liberty Seated Collectors Club The legendary 1876-CC One of our most famous rarities Often thought of with the1804 dollar, 1894-S dime 10,000 ordered and minted, but never released Some left mint as souvenirs, assay coins, or keepsakes All still on hand ordered melted in early 1877 Fewer than 20 known Page 13

14. Liberty Seated Collectors Club 1875-S Branch Mint Proof Likely created as presentation pieces for dignitaries to commemorate the new denomination Possibly 7-9 known, mostly impaired Page 14

15. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Series at a glance – a short set The 1876-CC aside, the series consists of 6 coins 1875-PMintage: 39,700 1875-CCMintage: 133,290 1875-SMintage: 1,155,000 1876-PMintage: 15,900 1877-PMintage: 350 Proofs only 1878-PMintage: 600 Proofs only A very reasonable set to complete Page 15

16. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Collecting 20-cent pieces Most collect this series by Type: 1875 38,500 1875-CC 131,000 1875-S1,155,000 1876 14,640 The majority choose the common 1875-S Others like the CC mintmark, thus choosing 1875-CC Some like the low-mintage P-mint coins that are much scarcer (and cost less than the 1875-CC!) Page 16

17. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Collecting 20-cent pieces Proof (by type, or collect the set of proofs): 1875 2,790 1876 1,270 1877 350 1878 600 If choosing one, each picked for different reasons 1875 is the first year 1876 is the centennial year 1877 is the key date 1878 is the final year All proofs exist circulated, and many are impaired/cleaned Page 17

18. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Varieties 6 misplaced dates 4 repunched mintmarks 2 doubled dies 28 die marriages 27 excluding 1876-CC Major die cracks, cud Page 18

19. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Repunched mintmarks Four repunched S/S mintmarks are known One obvious, and the rest are very minor 1875-S, S/S or $ variety Page 19

20. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Misplaced dates At least 6 obverses have digits “misplaced” in the denticles below the date Page 20

21. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Die markers Date and mintmark positions, die scratches, gouges, lines, repunched mintmarks and misplaced date digits Page 21

22. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Die marriages By studying details of thousands of coins, we can identify distinctly different obverse and reverse dies A combination of a specific obverse die with a specific reverse die is called a marriage DateObversesReversesMarriages 1875-P222 1875-CC245 1875-S111016 1876-P212 1876-CC111 1877111 1878111 Page 22

23. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Errors – all rare Clips, broadstruck, off-center, double-struck, laminations, and more! Page 23

24. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Exonumia – all very scarce to rare Love tokens, counterstamps, elongates, cufflinks and buttons, “potty” coins Page 24

25. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Amazing Find at the Carson City Mint

26. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Carson City Mint – Now the Nevada State Museum In 1999, the Nevada State Museum was expanding… While digging, they discovered a pit… Page 26

27. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Excavation – a pit full of dies! Page 27

28. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Excavator knew about coins Page 28

29. Liberty Seated Collectors Club The excavation Page 29

30. Liberty Seated Collectors Club He knew what he was looking at! Page 30

31. Liberty Seated Collectors Club CC Mint visit – July 2013 Examined cancelled dies discovered discarded in pit They talked about their “secret process” to restore the dies… A six-month soak in… Page 31

32. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Carson City Mint visit Page 32

33. Liberty Seated Collectors Club The goodies! Page 33

34. Liberty Seated Collectors Club The goodies! Page 34

35. Liberty Seated Collectors Club CC Mint visit – July 2013 Examined four cancelled 20C dies discovered in pit Two were completely effaced The other two dies did not match any of the known coins Page 35

36. Liberty Seated Collectors Club A tale of discovery August 2013 ANA in Chicago/Rosemont Student asked “How many die pairs for the 1875-CC?” “2 of course” “Nope, 3. I think this is a different die! I think the mintmark is in a different place” He was right Close CC Wide CC The new one! Page 36

37. Liberty Seated Collectors Club The “new” 1875-CC Reverse The coin first got his attention not because of the mintmark position… It was severe die cracks that caught his eye This seems to be a rare variety Page 37

38. Liberty Seated Collectors Club September 2013 – While working on the book… I was writing up the new reverse 75-CC die I was also remembering my visit to Carson City I thought back to the CC dies that I had seen in July Page 38

39. Liberty Seated Collectors Club September 2013 – Re-examined the die We have a newly-discovered reverse to consider Could the die possibly match the new reverse??? This coin was struck by this die! Conclusive! Page 39

40. Liberty Seated Collectors Club If ever in the area… Page 40

41. Liberty Seated Collectors Club V isit Carson City and the Museum The staff is incredibly helpful! Page 41 They strike medals on Press 1 the last Friday of each month

42. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Comprehensive reference New book www.doubledimes.com 179 pages, spiral bound Web book available at no cost Nearly 400 photos Excellent for use at coin shows Page 42

43. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Double Dime Summit – July 2013 Over 650 20-cent pieces examined over 7 days 1875-S: Identified 11 obverse and 10 reverse dies in 16 marriages (1 with re-marriage) Amazing findings of 1875-S/S “$” marriage Page 43

44. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Summary 20-cent coins were born of politics and were a failure waiting to happen, from the very beginning They form a most unusual part of our coinage history The series is short and underappreciated, but contains one of the truly legendary U.S. coins of all time The “complete” set consists of just 6 coins, and none of those collectible coins is a complete budget buster Building a complete 27-coin die marriage set is doable Finally, a good reference is available to help you do it 20-cent coins play an interesting role in the dies discovered in Carson City Page 44

45. www.LSCCweb.org Thank you! Any questions?