NumisBids
  
Heritage World Coin Auctions
FUN Signature US Coin Sale 1251  4-6 & 8-9 Jan 2017
View prices realized

Lot 5970

Starting price: 1 USD
Price realized: 52 502 USD
Find similar lots
Share this lot: Share by Email
Indian Eagles
1930-S $10 MS64 NGC. Gold was largely absent from daily commerce by 1930, and production reflected the lack of demand. During the fiscal year from June 1929 to June 1930, the only gold coinage produced at any mint was a production of quarter eagles in late 1929, which was struck almost exclusively to "meet the usual Christmas demand," according to the Annual Report of the Director of the Mint. Most of these quarter eagles ended up back in government vaults shortly following the Christmas season. Legislation from April 1930, discontinued "both the coinage and issue by the Treasury of quarter eagles after the date of the act." Thus, no quarter eagles are known dated later than 1929. Small denomination gold had been out of use in domestic circulation for many years.
Large denomination gold, however, continued to be coined in regular amounts, primarily for use in trade and as backing for Federal Reserve notes and gold certificates. But in 1930, imports of gold coins from foreign banks produced a second consecutive year in which the amount of returning gold coins surpassed new exports. Per research by Roger Burdette, the large influx of trade coins went immediately into storage in New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Denver. Until they were melted in the mid-1930s, these coins supplied backing for paper currencies and eliminated much of the need for new coinage in 1930.
The only gold struck in 1930, occurred at the San Francisco Mint in the form of 96,000 eagles and 74,000 double eagles. Most of each issue was placed into storage and later melted. Coins that escaped destruction were distributed to the public from Annual Assay Commission residuals and small numbers of pieces sent to the Treasurer for distribution as current gold. No large quantities are known to have been shipped to Federal Reserve Banks.
The 1930-S eagle has a surviving population of likely no more than a couple of hundred pieces, almost all of which are in Mint State since this issue was never released into circulation. NGC and PCGS report 259 submissions combined in all grades, but the auction appearance rate for the issue suggests that the reported figures are highly inflated by resubmissions. This Choice example displays vibrant, frosty orange-gold luster and a sharp strike. Surface chatter is virtually nonexistent, and only a few singular marks limit the grade. These include a couple of ticks on Liberty's cheek and neck, and a pair of grazes in the fields -- along the lower-left obverse rim and above IN GOD WE TRUST, respectively. The coin displays eye-catching originality, and the visual appeal is seemingly the finest obtainable at the MS64 grade level. Census: 26 in 64, 15 finer (11/16).
Question about this auction? Contact Heritage World Coin Auctions