We are pleased to offer for sale this CollecTons Keepers Set #16 through #20.
What makes the Collectons Keepers program special?
Here at CollecTons, we work hard researching coins that should be part of every collection. Our goal is to utilize our knowledge in the numismatic industry to select coins worthy of being in everyone's collection! Therefore, the CollecTons Keepers program will only feature those Coins Worth Keeping.
Each coin is hand selected and given to ANACS (America's Oldest Grading Service) for grading and authentication. The coins are then sealed in an ANACS certified proprietary slab holder for long-term storage, with our limited edition label marking it a CollecTons Keeper.
The five CollecTons Keepers included in this starter set are:
The American Gold Eagle is the official gold bullion of the United States and 1986 marks the inaugural year of the coin series. This 1/10 ounce gold eagle is therefore known as a key date coin and one that every serious collector should obtain for their collection.
In 1980, President Jimmy Carter set up "The Gold Commission" to study the possibility of returning the U.S. to a gold standard to back the U.S. dollar. The members of the commission were appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1982 and included Congressman Ron Paul. Though the commission found that returning to a gold standard was not feasible, they did recommend that the U.S. Mint start producing American Eagle gold bullion. The Gold Bullion Act of 1985 was passed by Congress and signed into law by Reagan. It specifies that the American Eagles be imprinted with their gold content and their legal tender face value. It also requires that all the gold used for these coins must be newly acquired from mines in the United States. The Eagle quickly became one of the most popular gold coins in the world.
The design for the obverse of the coin was taken from Augustus Saint-Gauden's design used on the twenty dollar gold pieces from 1907-1933. It features the full length figure of Lady Liberty with flowing hair, holding a torch in her right hand and an olive branch in her left, with the Capitol building in the background. The reverse, designed by Miley Busiek, features a male eagle carrying an olive branch flying above a nest containing a female eagle and her hatchlings
Today, the 1986 Uncirculated American Gold Eagle $5 Coin is highly sought after. It is the first of its series and represents the start of the American Eagle Gold Bullion program.
Although there was no need for a new silver dollar in the late 1870's, mounting political pressure from American silver-miners pushed Congress to authorize its production. With the Comstock Lode in Nevada producing massive quantities of silver, Missouri Representative Richard "Silver Dick" Bland succeeded in passing the Bland-Allison Act on February 28, 1878. This act required the Treasury to purchase between two and four million troy ounces of silver bullion every month to be coined into dollars.
The Treasury had anticipated the upcoming demand and began preparing a new silver dollar coin in October of 1877. Chief Engraver, William Barber, and one of his assistants, George T. Morgan were assigned the task of designing this new coin. Morgan recruited a Philadelphia school teacher, Anna Willess Williams, to pose for the new design.
The first Morgan silver dollars were struck at the Philadelphia mint at 3:17pm on March 11, 1878. The first acceptable piece struck was given to President Hayes. Dies arrived at the western mints, San Francisco and Carson City, on April 16th, 1878, and full scale production began soon after
The design for the obverse features a left-facing portrait of Lady Liberty. The reverse shows a somewhat scrawny eagle which led to the nickname "buzzard dollar" for this coin. Morgan's initial "M" appears on both sides of the silver dollar, which is the first time this has been engraved on a United States coin. The mint mark is found below the wreath on the reverse side.
Today, the 1878-S Morgan Silver Dollar Coin, first year of issue, is highly sought after. It is the first of its series and is one of the most popular series for coin collectors today.
In 1911, the Taft administration decided to replace the Liberty Head nickel design and enlisted sculptor James Earle Fraser to create the new look. The design, which showed a Native American on one side and an American bison on the other, was approved in 1912, but production was delayed several months due to objections from the Hobbs Manufacturing Company. Hobbs Manufacturing Company out of Worcester, Massachusetts, manufactured a device that detected counterfeit nickels that were inserted into vending machines. Fraser worked with George Reith, the mechanic that invented the device, for much of 1912, modifying the design to work with the Hobbs machines. After months of trying to satisfy their concerns, Fraser announced he was submitting the modified designs. Treasury Secretary Franklin MacVeah quickly approved the designs and production began.
The image on the obverse of the nickel is believed to have been taken from three different American Indians. The identities of these Indians has been much debated, as the stories Fraser told over the years about who modeled for this coin were never consistent. Chief Iron Tail, of the Lakota Sioux, and Chief Two Moons, of the Cheyenne, were almost always mentioned, but Fraser could not remember the name of the third model. The coin's reverse shows an image of an American Buffalo. According to Fraser, the model for the reverse was a famous buffalo named Black Diamond, which he found at the Bronx Zoo. Unfortunately Black Diamond never resided at the Bronx Zoo. He lived at the Central Park Zoo. David Bowers, one of the most noteworthy numismatic authors in modern history, has suggested that the real model may have been a buffalo named Bronx who spent many years as the herd leader at the Bronx Zoo. Support for this is also evident in that Black Diamond's mounted head still exists and has been exhibited at many coin shows. Upon examination of the head, it can be seen that the horns are notably different than those of the buffalo on the nickel.
Shortly after production, it was found that the Buffalo Nickel was susceptible to wear. The dates wore off the coin easily while in circulation, weak strikes were common and die life was short. After the minimum twenty-five years of production, the coin was replaced by the Jefferson nickel. The Denver Mint was the only mint to strike the coin in 1938. Today, the 1938-D Buffalo Nickel is highly sought after. It is the last year of a very popular series for coin collectors today.
The 1954 Washington Carver Commemorative Half Dollar coins mark the end of what is known as "Classic Commemoratives" from the U.S. Mint. Used to honor a special person, event, or issue, no country has eclipsed the United States when it comes to these types of coins. Unlike many other countries, all commemorative coins in the U.S. have historical significance. This fact has kept U.S. commemorative coins popular with the public and collectors alike.
The early United States commemorative coins (Classic Commemoratives) began in 1892 with the Colombian Half dollar and ended with the 1954 Carver/Washington Half dollar. These coins were used as a money raising mechanism for various charities, non-profits and projects as a means of avoiding tax raises.
Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver were both born into slavery and both freed by the Emancipation Proclamation while still children. Once freed, both of the men spent a great deal of time trying to educate themselves. Booker was just 25 when he was asked to be the first leader of a new all-black state school, the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He spent many years there, eventually buying a plantation where, over decades, the Institute was expanded. Washington Carver was best known for his research into the development of alternative crops to cotton. After hearing of his work developing different uses for peanuts, soybeans and sweet potatoes, Booker hired him as the head of the Agriculture department. Carver taught there for 47 years. It is fitting that they are honored together on the coin since they are buried next to each other on the grounds of the institute.
Isaac Scott Hathaway succeeded in pushing a bill through Congress to create a new commemorative that would honor both Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver together. Money from the sales of these coins was to be used "to oppose the spread of Communism among Negroes in the interest of National defense." On September 21, 1951, the bill was passed, and the coin was produced all the way through 1954.
Hathaway's design features the conjoined busts of the two men, with Carver's in the foreground. Their names are bowed around the busts with the word "Liberty" in between them. The reverse depicts a map of the United States with the letters "USA" in the middle. Today, the 1954-S Washington Carver Commemorative Half Dollar is highly sought after. It is the final year of issue of what is now known as the Classic Commemorative series.
Known as "America's Pastime," baseball was the most popular sport in the United States during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The National Baseball Hall of Fame was opened in 1939 by a hotel owner looking for a way to bring tourist into the city of Cooperstown, NY. The first inductees were Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson. Today there are over 300 inductees, 38,000 artifacts, 2.6 million newspaper clippings and photos and 130,000 baseball cards. The Hall greets over 300,000 visitors a year.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Act specified that a commemorative coin be designed and struck by the United States Mint to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the opening of the Hall of Fame. The coins were to have a concave obverse (heads) and a convex reverse (tails), making this the first curved coin to be minted by the United States Mint. The amount of research and development that went into creating this coin was unprecedented in the recent history of the mint. Things needing consideration included the limitations on the height of the relief, the turning and grinding operations, how resilient the coins would be to wear, and laser frosting. The mint was able to get valuable technical insight from the Royal Australian and Perth Mints, which have a history of making curved coins.
The obverse of the coin features a frosted baseball glove designed by Cassie McFarlend. The concave obverse lends itself to the glove design. The reverse was designed by Don Everhart and features a baseball, similar to the one used in Major League Baseball ®. The curved shape of the coin compliments the baseball design.
Check Out (
Red Book of U.S. Coins
Click for Larger images
