So-Called Dollar Discussions

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M.E. Hart Co "Coins of the Golden West"

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There are several so-called "small gold" dollars that are in the Hibler & Kappen book (HK-838, 844, and 850) that happen to be part of a set marketed by M.E. Hart Company as "Coins of the Golden West" in the early 1900s. An HK-850 (R-7, pretty rare) recently sold in Fred Holabird's "Million Dollar" auction, one of the small gold medal s in the original set. Jeff once told me he has seen the original sets in its framed holder... and I think this set is now in the Red Book (Bressett). I think that the fractional gold dealer Mike Locke is coming out with a book on this collecting area.

I thought i'd also post the 1911Parka piece... some obverse pieces have 11 stars while others only have ten stars on the obverse. The non-existent HK-851 apparently had 10 stars and Eskimo facing in the opposite direction... I guess there is more to be learned / researched in this area.

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Installment #2.... Battle of Sullivan Island. I recently visited Sullivan Island in Charleston, SC with a bronze HK-94. The battle for Sullivan Island involved a British attempt to bombard a fort on Sullivan Island (guarding the entrance to the Charleston SC harbor). The cannonballs from the British ships "bounced" off of the partially constructed American fort as the walls were constructed from small palm tree logs.... palmettos! After expending most of their ammunition, they were easy targets for blasting Gen. Moultrie, and the British ships had to withdraw. The fort on Sullivan Island was renamed as "Fort Moultrie" in honor of the commander who stopped the British from taking the key deep water harbor of Charleston SC. The current state flag of SC has a palmetto tree on it in honor of this vegetation. Over the subsequent 200 years, Fort Moultrie was a key harbor defense point for Charleston that was used in the Civil War, WWI, and WWII. It's an interesting place to visit, and it is quite visible from Fort Sumter, and it has quite a nice visitors center and historical center, with several historical medals under glass if you look for them. edited by rjesinger on 6/3/2016

In the process of looking more into the fractional gold area, I discovered a rather detailed book by R.H. Burnie published in 1955 -- "Small California and Territorial Gold Coins." I checked out this book from the ANA library, and I discovered that there is a section of 10-20 pages just on the Hart's Coins of the West as well as a section on small so-called dollars, including Charbneau Dollars. What is interesting is the HUGE number of dye varieties detailed in the book on the Hart's series as well as small California Gold. I made a PDF of the entire book and mailed it back. Mike Locke told me he won't be publishing his book for quite a while. My next hunt is to find out more about the Gould-Bressett numbering system which intermittently appears on NGC holders in this series.