Famous Coin Collections of All Time

Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. (1896-1976) was a Baltimore businessman who actively collected coins from the mid-1920s until the late 1970s. He made his reputation known in numismatics for being the only person ever to assemble a complete collection of circulating United States coins by date and mint mark. The Eliasberg Sets are registered with PCGS. Eliasberg did not differentiate between business strikes and Proof strikes, nor did he collect mint errors and die varieties. The goal of his coin collection was to collect one of every type of United States coin intended for general circulation by date and mint. He also collected subtypes such as the 1873 Liberty seated dime. One subtype head arrows next to the date and the other one did not. The only coin that he did not have in his famous coin collection was the 1849 Double Eagle. There is only one of these known, and it is in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. Since this unique specimen was produced in the year before the coin officially went into production in 1850, most numismatists consider this a pattern coin and not a coin that was ever intended to circulate in American commerce. Eliasberg spared no expense to obtain all the significant rarities. His collection included a 1913 Liberty Head nickel, the unique 1873-CC no-arrows Liberty Seated dime, an 1804 silver dollar, an 1870-S three dollar gold piece and a 1933 gold $20 Saint Gaudens Double Eagle. When he learned that the 1933 gold coin might have been obtained through illegal means, he voluntarily surrendered it to the government. Bowers & Ruddy auctioned the first part of Eliasberg's collection in 1982, the second set in 1996 and the remaining lots in 1997. The total realized across all three auctions was more than $57 million

The Meaning of 'E Pluribus Unum'

E Pluribus Unum is Latin for "out of many, one." Sometimes it is translated more loosely as "one from many." E Pluribus Unum was once the motto of the United States of America and references the fact that the cohesive single nation was formed as the result of the thirteen smaller colonies joining together. Usage on Coins The United States Mint first used E Pluribus Unum on coins in 1795, on the Half Eagle $5.00 gold piece. The reverse design motif is based on the Great Seal of the United States and depicts an eagle holding a banner in its beak bearing the motto. The motto was first used on a silver coin three years later and appeared on all U.S. gold and silver coinage shortly after that. However, the use of E Pluribus Unum on United States coinage wasn't uninterrupted. In 1834, E Pluribus Unum was removed from gold coins to mark a minor debasement in the fineness of the gold. Once again, the silver coins soon followed, and the motto didn't appear on any U.S. coins. In 1866 it returned to several coin types, including the Half Eagle, Eagle ($10 gold piece), Double Eagle ($20.00 gold piece), silver dollars, and quarter dollars. In 1873, a law was passed that required E Pluribus Unum to appear on all U.S. coins when new designs went into effect. However, research of official mint records indicated that mint officials did not consider this mandatory. Therefore, they used the motto at their discretion when designing new coinage. The same records indicate that Col. Read of Uxbridge, Massachusetts was instrumental in having the motto placed on United States coins. History The motto E Pluribus Unum was first proposed by the U.S. Continental Congress in 1782, for use on the Great Seal of the United States. The immediate inspiration for the use of this term is believed to be Gentlemen's Magazine, which was an important men's magazine published in England beginning in the early 18th century. It was a very influential magazine among the intellectual elite. Every year, Gentlemen's Magazine would do a special issue, comprised of the best of the year's articles, and the Latin term E Pluribus Unum appeared on the title page as a way of explaining that this issue of the magazine became "one issue from many previous issues." Pierre Eugene du Simitiere originally suggested this motto in 1776. Historically the phrase, or a variant of it, was used by several significant authors. Sources included a poem attributed to Virgil, Confessions by St Augustine, Cicero in his De Officiis and several others. Given its rich history, it is only appropriate that the founding fathers of the United States of America chose this to be our motto. Fun Facts Just as the U.S. has thirteen original colonies, E Pluribus Unum has thirteen letters in it. The phrase ex pluribus unum goes back to ancient times, and Saint Augustine used it in his c. 397-398 Confessions (Book IV.) It has been used by the Scoutspataljon, a professional infantry battalion of the Estonian Defence Forces, since 1918. E Pluribus Unum still appears on U.S. coins even though it is no longer the official national motto! The United States Congress gave that honor to In God We Trust in 1956 by an Act of Congress (36 U.S.C. § 302). In the 1939 film The Wizard Of Oz, the Wizard gives the Scarecrow a Diploma from The Society of E Pluribus Unum. E Pluribus Unum, was first used on the 1795 Liberty Cap-Heraldic Eagle gold $5 piece.

The designation Special Mint Set is used for coins that were distributed only in mint or commemorative sets by the US mint but are otherwise similar to the regular business strike coins. Most mint sets contain “Business Strike” coins that are exactly the same as the coins that go to the banks to be used in everyday commerce. SMS coins are only made for distribution to collectors in sets sold by the mint and are special in some fashion. SMS coins can be found for the years 1965, 1966 and 1967 and include the Lincoln Penny, Jefferson Nickel, Roosevelt Dime, Washington Quarter and Kennedy half-dollar. The half-dollar is a clad composition and contains 40% silver, the same as the business strike coins of those years. During these 3 years the mint suspended proof coin production but due to the demand of collectors, they made the SMS coins instead, which are made in slower coin presses using polished dies to give a superior finish. They are not up to the standards of the proof coin of other years, yet are better quality than the business strike coins. SMS coins can also be found with a Cameo finish on them, much like the Cameo finish on a proof coin. This is due to the additional care used in striking the SMS coins. And like Cameo proof coins, Cameo SMS coins command a higher price. You will find many of these coins being sold as singles and many of the coin albums have a slot for both the regular business strike and the SMS coins. In 2005, the mint started producing satin finish coins that are only available in mint sets. These are also SMS coins. Up to that point they used business strike coins to make up the mint sets. This makes 2 distinctly different coins in the P and D mint marked coins as the satin coins are made by superior processes and have the satin finish. As of this time I have not seen that the album companies are adding slots for these SMS coins but it will come due to collector demand. A fully complete set will contain the P mint business strike and P mint satin SMS coins and the same for the D mint coins. There are a few other SMS coins that have been minted through the years. In 1994 there was a matte finish Jefferson nickel that comes in the 1993 Thomas Jefferson 250th anniversary commemorative set and then another Jefferson nickel in 1997 again with a matte finish and issued in the Botanic Garden commemorative set of the same year, both of these coins bear the P mint mark. 1998 s matte finish silver Kennedy a half dollar is another SMS coin that was issued in the Robert F and John F Kennedy commemorative set of that year. There may be others but these are the ones I am familiar with.