I purchased the book,” Foreign Coins Struck at the United States mint”  Written by, Charles G Altz & E.H. Barton. I believe it was 15-20 years ago. I found it fascinating and eventually started me on an interesting journey that has lead to writing this post for an auction today. My initial focus was on Philippine coins produced in the US. That foray lasted about 10 years and ended when the coins became prohibitively expensive.

 I am also interested in the History of the United States and I have been an amateur numismatist for over 50 years due to the pure pleasure of the endeavor.

The Pittman Act was an official way to get silver to England to support the Indian Economy quickly. Asians in general dislike paper money that is not backed by a precious metal and the Germans started a rumor in India that there was not enough silver to back the circulating currency. 

The sudden rush to produce US Silver dollars interested me. It appears that so many Silver Dollars were melted and silver certificated removed from circulation, that the government felt pressure to get that currency back in circulation. The Roaring 20’s was starting and the economy was flush with profits from the First World War. Morgan dollar production started in 1921 and Peace dollar production started in 1922.

The French had post war economic problems too. The French Economy was ravaged by the war. The French decided to remove silver from their domestic coins. That cause all silver coins to disappear. The French mints when into emergency production mode. All the missing circulating coins had to be replaced and were produced with base metal content.

Indochina also has strong feelings about silver being the only true money. French Indochina Piastres needed to be produced to keep the Colonial economy sound. The last French Indochina piastres were produced in 1913 and silver drove the Indochinese economy Contracts were given to two countries, England and The United States. My theory was beginning to coalesce. Could there have been planchet substitutions at the San Francisco mint in 1921 and 1922. The Morgan dollar is .900 silver, 26.73 grams & 38.1 X 2.4 mms. The FIC piastre is .900 silver, 27 grams & 39 X 2.7 mms. I posted that question to Coin Talk in 2019 and got very little positive traction.

I purchased a coin through eBay from a company in France, at the beginning of 2018. It was advertised as a “no collar” coin. The coin weighed 411.6 grains.

The next part of this story was a 2 year odyssey through professional numismatics plutocracy.  I learned that the structure of the profession differs from the passion and desire of the dedicated collector. There is a hierarchy in the profession that is accepted and self enforced. No one is willing to challenge this structure for fear of being shunned and excluded. The positions in the structure are inherited upon the death of the person above them. That is all I am willing to say. I have email records that could provide more incite, but reveraling that would do nothing except to bring more wrath upon me without causing any positive change. On the verge of getting the coin back graded with the weight in grains, the item was pilfered during the delivery process because of Covid. Normal delivery procedures were not followed. I never filed a claim because I want to maintain legal ownership claim to the item if it ever resurfaces.

I never expected to see another example. Yet within the span of 1 week, I discovered 2 coins on eBay.

Offered is a 3 coin set. All coins grade VF35 detail, cleaned.

The first coin is graded VF35 cleaned and weighs 416.049 grains

The next coin is graded VF35 cleaned and weighs 415.738 grains

The last coin is graded VF35 cleaned and weighs  411.880 grains.

The decision is up to you. ANACS does not grade Foreign coin errors

No refunds on graded coins.

Shipping is USPS and Insured. 

I claim the right to refuse to ship to certain countries on a case by case basis.

This is a private auction and that is to protect the buyer.