1861 Civil War Gold Set
- All Philadelphia minted gold coins with the
exception of the $3 dollar gold, from the 1st
year of the Civil War! This is a neat set of
Civil War gold all in Very Choice About Uncirculated
! Excellent quality with the half eagle sporting
a green cac sticker. Call/Email
to Reserve now as sets like this don’t
come along with this type of quality all in
one place very often.
1861 Civil
War Gold Set - 1861 Gold Dollar NGC AU55,
1861 Quarter Eagle NGC AU55, 1861 Half Eagle
PCGS XF45, 1861 Eagle NGC AU55, 1861 Double
Eagle NGC XF45 CAC. The five coin 1861 Civil
War Philadelphia set consists of an Indian
Princess dollar, a Liberty Head quarter eagle,
half eagle, eagle, and double eagle. All five
coins were issued in the turbulent first year
of the war. As a set they comprise authentic,
certified Civil War artifacts that have both
numismatic and historic importance.
The
1861 Gold Dollar NGC AU55: The first
coin is the Indian Princess dollar. It is
actually a modification of an earlier Indian
Princess Head that was issued from 1854 to
1856. Because the earlier type had striking
problems, the new or Indian Princess or Large
Head was designed using a shallower relief
and a larger portrait. Engraver James B. Longacre
was responsible for the Indian head motif.
In Choice
AU55 condition, the coin’s luster glistens
through the devices. The surfaces are original
and clean for the grade with no notable abrasion
marks or other distractions.
The strike
is strong with significant detail on Liberty’s
hair, the ends of the feathers, the elements
of the wreath, and the central numerals of
the date. It is a pleasing specimen that is
a prime example of the denomination.
The
1861 Quarter Eagle NGC AU55: The
next coin in the set is another Choice AU
example. It is a Liberty Head quarter eagle
designed by Christian Gobrecht. The coin exhibits
an excellent strike with full details in the
centers of the stars, Liberty’s hair,
the eagle’s neck, and the shield. The
coin is clean for the grade with mint luster
showing in protected areas on both sides.
The design
shows Liberty facing left. Her hair is tied
with beads and two curls flow down her neck.
She wears a LIBERTY inscribed coronet or tiara
and is surrounded by thirteen six-pointed
stars with the date below.
The reverse
shows a heraldic eagle with wings outstretched
and pointing up. Its head is turned to the
left, and in its talons it holds an olive
branch, symbol of peace, and arrows, symbol
of preparedness. The legend UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA surrounds the eagle, interrupted
by the wing tips, and the denomination, written
as 2 ½ D., is below. Dentils are around
the periphery of both sides of the coin.
The
1861 Half Eagle PCGS AU55 CAC: The
Liberty Head half eagle, also designed by
Christian Gobrecht, is in XF45 condition.
As such it exhibits slight wear on the top
of Liberty’s head and the hair below
the L in LIBERTY.
The top of
the coronet shows sufficient separation from
the hair to confirm the grade. Traces of original
mint luster are present on both sides, and
the surfaces are original and clean for the
grade. Gobrecht’s design shows a left
facing, young profile of Liberty wearing a
LIBERTY inscribed coronet. The portrait of
Liberty was based on a Roman neoclassic painting
of the Napoleonic era called Pythagoras by
Pierre Guerin. It was painted about 1800.
The art critic,
Vermeule calls her effigy on the coin a sober
yet sympathetic portrayal. Her hair is tied
in the back and there are two loose curls
that hang down her neck. Around the head are
thirteen six-pointed stars, and the date is
below the truncation. At the periphery of
the coin are dentils. The coin also has a
reeded edge. The reverse shows a heraldic
eagle similar to the one on the Classic Head
eagle. The inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
surrounds the eagle, except for its wing tips,
in an arc. The denomination is below, separated
with dots, and written as FIVE D.
The
1861 Eagle NGC AU55: The eagle in
this set is another Choice AU example. With
the look of a Mint State piece, the coin has
smoldering mint luster outlining and within
the devices. Original, clean fields and a
strong strike characterize this coin. Surface
abrasions are minimal and full details are
found in the centers of the stars, Liberty’s
hair, the eagle’s neck, and the area
to the lower left of the shield.
In designing
the eagle, Engraver Christian Gobrecht, using
a head of Venus with a slightly altered hair
style that he took from a Benjamin West painting,
replaced Robert Scot’s Turban Head with
a completely new design. The coin shows Liberty
facing to the left, to the West or perhaps
the frontier, wearing a coronet inscribed
with the word LIBERTY instead of a cap as
on the previous design. Her hair is tied with
beads and two long curls fall down, one on
the back of her neck and the other below her
ear.
The design
is similar to his Braided Hair Coronet motif
used on Large Cents of 1839 to 1857. For the
reverse, Gobrecht used a revised version of
John Reich’s eagle reverse. The new
reverse shows the corrected heraldry, arrows
in the left claw and olive branch in the right.
The previous design had them mixed up causing
confusing war-like symbolism. Gobrecht also
removed the stars and clouds above the eagle
and added the denomination TEN D. below.
Previous eagles
lacked this information because they were
thought of as bullion and were valued by their
weight and precious metal content as was the
case with the European coins that circulated
and were accepted in the United States.
The
1861 Double Eagle NGC AU58: Like
the gold dollar, the double eagle was designed
by James B. Longacre.
The surfaces
are clean for the grade and completely original.
The coin is well struck with full details
on the centers of the stars and the design
details of the reverse, especially the eagle.
Some original mint luster is found in protected
areas of both sides of the piece. The design
shows a Liberty head facing left, wearing
coronet inscribed LIBERTY. Her hair is tightly
tied in the back with two loose curls hanging
down her neck to the end of the truncation.
She is surrounded by thirteen six-pointed
stars with the date below. Dentils are near
the edge on both sides of the coin.
The reverse
shows a heraldic eagle with elaborate ribbons
on both sides of the shield extending from
the top corner down to the eagle’s tail
feathers. The ribbons are inscribed, on the
left E PLURIBUS and UNUM on the right. The
ribbons were added to the design to symbolize
the denomination since this was the first
twenty dollar coin.
There is an
oval of thirteen stars above the eagle’s
head and an arc of rays from wing tip to wing
tip behind the upper half of the oval. UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA is in an arc above the eagle,
and the denomination TWENTY D. is below.
In January of 1861, the South seceded. Following
the election of Lincoln in November 1860,
South Carolina seceded from the Union. Six
more states, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama,
Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas were next. These
were eventually joined by Virginia, Arkansas,
Tennessee, and North Carolina to make up the
eleven states of the Confederacy. The first
action of the War took place at Fort Sumter,
where South Carolina troops repulsed a supply
ship trying to reach the federal base. The
ship returned to New York without delivering
its supplies. In March Lincoln was inaugurated.
The next month Fort Sumter was attacked and
surrendered on April 15th. That summer the
First Battle of Bull Run took place, which
resulted in a Southern victory. Federal troops
broke ranks and retreated in a panic toward
Washington. Lincoln promoted McClellan as
commander of all troops in the Washington
area, and in November to command of the entire
Union army.
One of the striking elements of this first
year of the War is how ill-prepared the North
was. Most thought that the “Rebs”
would be easily defeated in a few weeks. What
they learned is that the Southern soldiers
were brave and able riflemen who could match
and even defeat the Union Army. Superior numbers
of troops, lack of foreign intervention, and
an industrialized manufacturing base in the
North prevented the Confederacy from prevailing.
Soldier for soldier, they were as good as
any on the field, especially in 1861.
AND NOW YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO PURCHASE
THE ENTIRE STRAIGHT RUN OF PHILADELPHIA MINTED
GOLD COINS FROM THE GOLD DOLLAR THRU DOUBLE
EAGLE, ( LESS THE $3.00 ) ALL IN VERY CHOICE
ABOUT UNCIRCULATED CONDITION. ONLY 1 SET AVAILABLE
AT THIS PRICE! OVER 150 YEARS OLD! BUY
IT HERE !
