Edward M. Paterson II (1892-1972) 的钱币相册
The 1892 Dime is the first date of the new type designed by Charles Barber. As a result, many were saved by collectors as a novelty, so high grade examples are fairly plentiful today. Nearly 1,000 examples have been certified in Mint State. most appearing in the MS63 and MS64 grade levels. Even Gems are plentiful up to the MS67 level, where less than a dozen have been certified by PCGS. A look at the PCGS Condition census for this date shows examples with some spectacularly colorful toning.
A new design appeared on Half Dollars beginning in 1892 and it was an immediate hit with collectors. Today, Population Report data confirms David Akers' old and long-held belief that the 1892 Half Dollar was the most common date of the series. No other date has a larger population -- some are close, but none can equal or exceed it. For today's collectors, this means there are numerous opportunities to acquire a high-grade example of this first-year-of-issue date. PCGS has certified literally hundreds of Mint State examples, mostly in MS63 and MS64. Moving up and through the Gem and Superb categories, we come to a single PCGS MS68 example, one of the finest Barber Half Dollars of any date. This colorful example has appeared at auction three times since 2005 and it set price records every time it appeared. For approximately half the price, collectors can opt for one of the lovely PCGS MS67+'s.
Once a rarity: From the time of mintage through the early decades of the twentieth century, the 1892 was a major rarity. Very few had been released into circulation. However, Proofs were available readily enough, and they took care of the need to acquire a circulation strike of the date. This situation was true of such other Philadelphia Morgan dollar dates as 1894, 1897, and 1899, among others. The relatively few transactions involving Mint State 1892 dollars sold prior to 1940 did not take place at high prices. Accordingly, the erstwhile rarity of this date was not recognized until I researched the matter in connection with the present text.
Hoard coins: When the Carson City Mint closed down, quantities of 1892-CC dollars were shipped for storage to the San Francisco Mint and, to a lesser extent, to the Treasury Building in Washington, D.C. From the San Francisco Mint, quantities were paid out over a period of years, including 1925-1926, but particularly in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Some bags, but probably not many, were dispersed from the Cash Room at the Treasury Department in Washington during the same time frame, up through 1950-1953. Then came a quantity dispersal. Dealer Steve Ruddel stated that about 50 bags (50,000 coins) of 1892-CC dollars were released from the Treasury Building in 1955 alone. (Reference: His advertisement in The Numismatist, January 1964.) Historically, the 1892-CC, like the 1990-CC and 1891-CC before it, was never considered to be a rare date. Enough were dispersed at or near the time of mintage that examples have been readily available on the market. However, in comparison to some of the 1878-1885 Carson City dollars sold by the G.S.A. in the 1970s, the 1892-CC is relatively elusive today.
Hoard coins: The 1892-O dollar has always been available in Mint State on the coin market. For example, in 1910 a specimen sold at auction at $1.25, a common-date price. Generous quantities were released at and immediately following the time of mintage. In later years enough remained in numismatic circles that dollar specialists always had them in stock. A few bags were released in the 1950s, from storage in the Treasury Building in Washington, D.C. However, the great deluge of this issue came during the unsealing in October 1962 of a vault in the Philadelphia Mint holding about 10 million Uncirculated New Orleans dollars. After that time, Harry J. Forman handled at least 20 bags and reported that the issue was very common in bag quantities, although the price never dipped much below about $5.00 per coin, and was more apt to be in the $7.50 to $12.50 range in the several years after 1964. Just before the October 1962 release, a typical Uncirculated coin was worth about $15.00. The Redfield estate, auctioned by the Reno Probate Court in 1976, is said to have had two to four bags, with the coins heavily damaged by a counting machine used during the pre-auction appraisal. In 1977 a bag from another source, said to have contained numerous gems (see below), was dispersed. In the 1980s, Bowers and Merena Galleries handled a bag of 1892-O dollars from a Pennsylvania estate. Most coins in the group were in the range of about MS-62 to MS-63.
