2017-10-09 Mon

Numismatic experts had to re-examine 1904-O Coronet gold $ 10 eagle struck at the New Orleans Mint. It has been reclassified as a “Special Strike” by Professional Coin Grading Service.

The W.J. Brophy specimen was originally graded and encapsulated in the 1990s as a Mint State 68 presentation piece. The coin is now described as “SP-68.” The coin has not been re-slabbed, though, since it is housed in a Regency holder — a short-lived PCGS slab reserved for rarer coins. After an inspection, the PCGS changed the eagle’s status to SPECIAL STRIKE.

The coin is placed in a manila coin envelope that was the safe home for the coin for decades. A hand-written inscription on the coin envelope attributes the 1904-O Coronet eagle as the first $10 coin struck at the New Orleans Mint in 1904.

The total mintage of the coin is 108,950 pieces. It is the second most common New Orleans Mint eagle and is considered readily available in grades up to Mint State 62, according to Encyclopedia of U.S. Gold Coins 1795–1933 by Jeff Garrett and Ron Guth. The coin becomes scarcer in higher grades, according to the book.

At the New Orleans Mint, Brophy was the coiner at the time the gold was minted. The handwritten message also designates Brophy as the facility’s coiner. There is also a notation suggesting the contents included a gold $5 half eagle, although no 1904-O Coronet gold half eagles are recorded as having been struck.

Special dies were used to prepare the 1904-O eagle. It is visible from the coin that the dies were polished, but not to the brilliance seen on Proofs. This coin’s surfaces are like the 1909 and 1910 Satin Proof gold issues with a rippled field effect.

According to the PCGS, when a coin was made for a person or an event, it was almost always struck as a Proof.

The Branch Mints didn’t always produce Proof coins for these occasions. The 1904-O Coronet eagle was prepared from special dies, but were not acid treated to produce the frosty effect seen on Proof coinage, such as the well-known Proof 1844-O Coronet gold $ 5 eagle and eagle.

PCGS cannot certainly tell whether the piece described as a SPECIAL STRIKE was coined by coiner William J. Brophy (1868 to 1942), or was presented to someone else with Brophy attesting to the fact that it was the first eagle struck in 1904.

Although the 1904-O Coronet eagle has been nominated with the Special Strike attribution, the coin will remain encapsulated in the short-lived Regency holder, designed as a premium holder for rare and important coins.

The PCGS states that the coin didn’t gain much popularity because of the holder’s awkward, oversized design and dark green background.

The 1904-O Coronet eagle will not be removed from its holder to update the designation, but the changes will be reflected in PCGS population reporting.