Walter Breen
1906
Cent. [1725] As in 1905.
Five Cents. [1725] As in 1903.
Minor proof sets. [1725] As in 1903.
Dime. [675] Normal date only, without recutting on 6. There may be more than one minute positional variety.
Quarter. [675] No peculiarities. Always available for a price.
Half Dollar. [675] As in 1903.
Silver proof sets. [675] As in 1905. Garrett's brought $1650.
Quarter Eagle. [160] High date close to device. Always available for a price. Record $1,800, May 1974 Ullmer sale and March 1976 Garrett sale, five times what a similar piece had brought in the 1964 ANA Convention sale.
Half Eagle. [85] As in 1905. High date, left base of lover left edge' of dentil. Auction record $2,500, May 1974; $2300 in Garrett. That might not be quite enough to buy a perfect one now. Actually rare.
Eagle. [77] Date high and too far to left, as in 1905. Rare, seldom seen unimpaired and not too often then. Cf. Garrett:557 at $4200; Scanlon: 2577, ex Dr. Wilson S. Rise; Ullmer: 511 at $6,000; Wolfson: 808, Golden II: 2178, but those records would not be a fair representation of current markets.
Double Eagle. [94] "Broken nose" (lapped die); left base of 1 slightly r. of left edge of a dentil. Last of the low mintage Philadelphia group and popular though hardly a great rarity. Records: Garrett, $6500; Ullmer:544, $6000, scrubbed; "Rio Rancho":359, $5,900; Gilhousen:982; 1964 ANA, $2900, then high record; Stadiem, $2200 (ex Baldenhofer:1602, ex Bell I); Wolfson:987, etc. In trying to track down some stolen merchandise I examined eleven different 1906's at the Chicago 1966 ANA Convention, exonerating them all. (The stolen piece did turn up later.) That may give some idea of the availability of this date, if not of proof twenties in 'general; to the dozen pieces just alluded to, some of which may possibly represent coins mentioned in the named auction records, add those in the surviving complete proof sets, in Eliasberg and major institutional and private gold collections. In short, possibly 50 to 60 could be traced. That is not an attempt to cut down the value of the date; rather, it is an attempt to give a realistic appraisal of the approximate proportion surviving of the original mintage. Reference to the valuation guide will show that from 1/3 to a little over half the original mintage survives of the majority of proof gold, sometimes more, sometimes less.
Gold proof sets. Not more than 77 could have been made, probably a few less. One was lot 1395 of the B. G. Johnson material in Schulman 4/51; cf. Johnson Consignment, S 1/30/58, alluded to under 1904. Garrett's totalled $14,800.
Complete proof sets. As in 1903.