United States Coin of the Week: Impressive Gold Coins from the Welden Collection

Early Gold and Other Coins to Headline November Baltimore Auction

By Jim Matthews, Senior Numismatist and Consignment Director, U.S. Coins

Stack’s Bowers Galleries is pleased to present selections from the Elmer C. Welden Collection as part of our official auction of the Whitman Coin & Collectibles Baltimore Expo, November 13 -17. The Weldon Collection has been off the market for years and the coins have just recently been certified and are now offered as part of this historic auction.

Among the impressive gold coins to be auctioned from the collection is a frosty 1799 Capped Right Bust $10 gold eagle certified as MS-63+ by PCGS and verified by CAC. The coin is attributed as Taraszka-22, Bass Dannreuther-10, a variety with 300 to 400 examples estimated to survive in all grades. While often considered to be an available date and variety, coins at this grade level are particularly in demand as a result of their condition rarity and exceptional eye appeal. The surfaces are bathed in full mint luster and the devices are satiny, with strong definition to Liberty’s hair curls, the eagle’s feathers, and the central star points and radial lines. Extremely light adjustment marks (as struck) can be seen in the dentils above the letters in the reverse legend, but none can be detected in the fields or other devices, perhaps obliterated by the force of the strike.

In 1799, the $10 gold eagle was the highest denomination coin struck by the federal government at the Philadelphia Mint. As it was the most valuable coin of the realm, much care was taken in die production and striking, with particularly well-preserved examples like the Welden Collection specimen illustrating this fact nicely. More information about the Welden Collection and other important coins to be offered as part of the Stack’s Bowers Galleries November 2012 Baltimore Auction will be available in our upcoming catalog, as well as on our website www.stacksbowers.com.