“The grading results were beyond my expectations with several coins reaching the finest-known tier,” Martinez stated. “When I told the owners the results, they were shocked and disbelieving. A collection they would have sold for $50,000 may today get over seven figures at auction!”
Highlights include an 1863 gold dollar graded PCGS MS-68 CAC, tied for finest known; an 1881 PCGS PR-66 Deep Cameo, tied for finest known among the remaining 87 struck; an 1884 PCGS PR-67+ Cameo CAC, tied with one other for finest known; and an 1887 PCGS MS-67+ CAC. Only 400 1875 $1 gold coins were minted, and one is PCGS AU-58 CAC.
Martinez stated, “The U.S. began making $1 gold pieces in 1849, a year after the California Gold Rush.” "A little smaller than a modern U.S. dime, the gold dollars were struck with three designs: Liberty Head from 1849 to 1854, Indian Princess Small Head from 1854 to 1856, and Indian Princess Large Head from 1856 to 1889
In various years, five mints struck $1 gold: Charlotte, N.C.; Dahlonega, Ga.; New Orleans, La.; Philadelphia, Pa.; and San Francisco, Calif.
Among the commemorative gold coins in the collection are a 1903 Louisiana Purchase McKinley graded PCGS MS-68, tied for the finest known, a 1905 Lewis and Clark, a 1915-S Panama-Pacific, a 1917 McKinley, and a 1922 Grant With Star variety graded PCGS MS-67+ CAC.
Martinez says more details on each coin in The Henry Chapman Collection of $1 Gold will be available soon.
I've been around the numismatic block a few times since the 1970s and believed we've seen virtually everything there is to see in outstanding collections. CAC founder John Albanese was shocked to discover about the long-concealed gold dollars and see them in person. I practically fell off the chair when these coins arrived. Good to hear there are still wonderful coins. This gives us hope.”
Henry and Samuel Hudson (S.H.) Chapman were famous Philadelphia coin dealers and auctioneers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Pete Smith calls the Chapman brothers “the first career coin dealers in the United States” who were “innovative with the use of photographic plates to illustrate their catalogs.”
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