Q.David Bowers
A letter dated February 10, 1880, from Snowden to T. Harrison Garrett furnishes information as to when gold
Proof coins were first struck that year:
For the two drafts amounting to $51 in your letter of the 29th of January we send by Adams Express: one gold Proof set of 1880, $43; two silver Proof sets of 1880, $4 each, total $51.
The gold Proof sets were delivered to us just one hour ago.
We have no Patterns of any date for sale and this is the only mint that strikes Proof sets.
Mint policies and regulations of that time are explained in a notice to T. Harrison Garrett dated January 25, 1886.
Correspondence with W. Elliot Woodward
W. Elliot Woodward was born in Oxford, Maine, in 1825. In 1848 he opened a drugstore in Roxbury, Massachusetts, which he would operate until his death.
Beginning in the 1850s, Woodward developed a coin business. Starting with a sale in Boston in June 1860, auctions were held regularly, usually in Boston or New York, but in one instance in Providence. In addition, coins were sold by direct offers and on a commission basis. Woodward styled himself as a "dealer in coins, medals, and tokens, in gold, silver, and other metals; prehistoric relics, American and foreign, in copper and stone; rare books and pamphlets; brio-a-brae, arms, armor, etc." The 17th-century witch craze in Salem, Massachusetts was an area of particular historical interest to Woodward. In his later years, Woodward suffered a malady of the eyes and he died of pneumonia in 1892.
While cataloguing such outstanding numismatic sales as those featuring the coins of John McCoy, Joseph J. Mickley, Ferguson Haines, William Jenks, A. Dohrmann, and J. Colvin Randall, W. Elliot Woodward actively corresponded with collectors and dealers in America and Europe and obtained many items through direct purchase.
During the 1880s, he supplied T. Harrison Garrett with many fine specimens in various areas of numismatics, foreign and domestic. One of Garrett's first significant purchases of American coins from Woodward occurred in January of 1883. On January 17th, Woodward sent a telegram listing dates of gold coins and followed it up with a letter of the same day which read, in part:
Today I have seen the owner of the gold collection and he declines an arrangement unless I purchase outright $725 worth, so I fear I shall not be able to supply you with the required pieces.
This letter which you will receive tomorrow will explain a telegram which leaves here at this moment. My reason for telegraphing is I am compelled to give my final answer today as the man leaves Boston tonight and takes the gold with him, and if you send word that you will take the pieces, I will buy the lot and take my chances.
The following day, January 18th, Woodward wrote:
Yesterday morning the man who owned the gold told me that he would leave town last night but should be at a store in the city until 6 p.m. Your message arrived late. I went in town and searched my party, found that he had left, but suspecting that he might have deferred his journey on account of the storm, I went over to Brookline where I thought he might be, and had the good luck to find the surmise correct, and to make a long story short, bought the entire collection. I think I mentioned to you that I once owned the collection, but a much more interesting fact I did not mention is that the pieces form the gold cabinet of Joseph J. Mickley. After purchasing his coins I sold the gold collection entirely, and it has now come back to me.
Living close to the mint and beginning early, Mickley had facilities for collecting superior to any other person, and he knew well how to avail himself of them. With possibly one exception I do not believe that for quality the collection can be equalled.
They will average about like the pieces concerning which I telegraphed you, which I doubt not you will agree with me, are much better than the terms of my message led you to expect.
As I feel sure you would like to see them whether you buy them or not I have picked out and sent to you for examination and purchase if you want them the most remarkable pieces, remarkable either for rarity or condition ....
Accompanying the letter was an invoice detailing such items as a 1797 half eagle with 15 stars at $25, 1795 half eagle with large eagle reverse "nearly Proof" at $40, a 1798 half eagle with small eagle reverse at $100, a pair of 1799 half eagles at $15 each, an 1820 half eagle at $25, an 1830 half eagle at $25, a 1797 quarter eagle "said to be the finest existing specimen" at $75, a 1798 eagle with small eagle reverse, four stars facing, "the rarest variety of the eagles" at $35, an 1821 quarter eagle described as"Proof-I cannot find a record of the sale of this piece" at $20, and an 1827 quarter eagle "nearly Proof" at $12, plus many other issues. Many of these specimens still remain in the Garrett Collection. On January 23, 1883, Woodward wrote:
Your favor of January 22nd reached me this morning. The package has not yet arrived, but doubtless it will be here tomorrow as requested. I enclose a full statement of your account which I trust you will find correct.
I will look out for your half eagles of 1802 and 1803 if such exist. It is certainly strange if they do not, and yet I do not find either of them in the catalogues to which I have referred, though I find the overdates. [Today numismatists know only the 1802 and 1803 half eagles in overdate form, as 1802/1 and 1803/2. No "perfect dates," non-overdates, are known to exist.]
I have been looking up the subject of 1815 half eagles. I know of one abroad, and I am pretty certain there are three in this country. I knew of one in New York some 20 years ago which I have lost track of, and I am not certain whether it is one of those referred to. If it is, the number known is four. If it is not, there must be five. I am now trying to purchase one but if I get it I shall have to pay $250. I offered for the one referred to in New York $400 cash on behalf of Mr. W. A. Lilliendahl. My offer was declined, and I never heard directly of the price afterwards. On January 25, 1883, Woodward wrote further on the same subject:
Last night I had a talk with a man whose knowledge of American gold is very extensive, and he gave it as his opinion that all the 1801 and 1802 half eagles are overstrikes or altered dates, but afterwards he said that possibly one of them might be found with a plain date.
Concerning a half eagle, Woodward again wrote on January 30, 1883:
I think there is only one 1815 half eagle that can be bought, and the price fixed on that is $250. I know about the sale you refer to, and I think the price was $150, but the sale was a sham. If you would like this piece please let me know and I will obtain it for you. I have not seen it but the owner, who is an excellent judge, says that it is Uncirculated.