The Treasure Hunt of an Antique Dealer

There are many types of old gold coins, but there are very few polygons. In fact, this is normal, because coins don’t care which country, material, or denomination. In the past two thousand years, most of the shapes are round and polygonal. Even if there are, there are very few.

Why?

It is not only the political and economic needs of those in power. For example, Emperor Qin Shihuang implemented measures such as half and two coins across the country. The main reason for the coin's roundness is still due to practicality and technology.

Round coins have many advantages, and the shape will not be easily worn out. If it is of other shapes, the corners are relatively easy to wear, and the shape will change. This will be a big annoyance in the era of precious metal circulation coins!

Round coins are also very convenient to store, and they will not hang clothes when you put them in your clothes pockets.

The most important point is that round coins are the most time-saving and labor-saving to mint-compared to other shapes, the circumference of the round is the smallest.

Even if the western world didn't know what pi was in the early days, there were always a few smart people, let alone the actual working people who were not stupid.

But there are always unconventional people, like the two dollars or two cents of the modern Hong Kong dollar, and some special-shaped commemorative coins. Many of these things don't care about the extra production cost.

The Humbert octagonal gold coin in hand is another special case. Zhang Nan just called it the "Pioneer Gold Coin". That's right, because it is a private gold coin and a private gold coin. It was called the "Pioneer Gold Coin" by the American public. It was popular in the United States in the 19th century.

In that year, the supply of federal coins in many places in the United States was insufficient. In order to meet market demand, tokens of various materials were born. The number of regular coins in the pockets of ordinary people was not even as many as tokens with high reputation!

In the vast areas between Georgia and Oregon, the issuance of private gold coins is commonplace.

Denominations range from 25 cents to 50 US dollars. Most of the gold comes from the California gold rush, which is widely accepted by the people of Everbright, and it lacks official coins.

The maximum denomination is $50. There is more than one private mint producing this large denomination gold coin. The craftsmanship is also very exquisite, the gold content is also high, and the quality is not inferior to the official gold coin minted by the Mint.

Most tokens are of course round, but in California, a man named Augustus Humbert created a $50 gold coin before the establishment of the San Francisco Mint in 1854. It is a rare octagon. This is the "Humbert Octagon Gold Coin".

Machine die-casting has a large denomination, and the extra cost is completely negligible.

Just without the authorization of Congress, these octagonal gold coins made by Humbert have no legal tender status and can only be regarded as gold bullion officially.

Nevertheless, these octagonal 50-dollar coins are still engraved with the denomination of "Fifty" ($50), which is highly accepted by the people, and they are called "Golden Nuggets" or "Five Eagles".

10 dollars golden eagle, 20 dollars is called double eagle, it does not mean that there are two eagles on the gold coin, the 50 dollars face value is naturally five eagles.

Nothing wrong, the common people's name is the most easy to understand and down-to-earth.

This kind of gold coin is highly accepted in the vast western regions including California, and its acceptance in commodity transactions can be compared with federal gold coins.

Gold is always gold, and gold is always money, no matter where it is!

But these gold coins are large in denomination and weight, and the gold contained in them is of great value. Almost a century and a half have passed, and many of these substitute gold coins have been melted and recast or used for other purposes.

As a result, both the 19th century private mint and the 50-dollar coin made by Humbert are very rare and extremely expensive!

Just like this one in Zhang Nan's hand, it looks good and has few traces of use. As long as it is not thrown out at a large amount, it is not a big problem for a piece of 100,000 to 200,000 US dollars.

I took out all these octagonal gold coins in the water basin and looked at them. They are all good in appearance. They were basically cast in 1851 and 1852. The circulation time is short, plus the upper value is high. Although the acceptance is high, they are in circulation. The frequency is very low, and it looks no different from the new one.

In the more than half a century from the establishment of the United States to 1847, the total output of gold in the United States was only 37 tons. In the 10 years after the discovery of gold in California in 1848, an average of 76 tons of gold were mined every year. ?

Gold production has increased dramatically, but don’t forget that the monthly salary of American soldiers was only $13 a month, and ordinary people’s income was not much better.

Even if the price of daily necessities in California is much higher than that in the eastern region, and the people still have gold in their hands, not everyone can own these 50-dollar gold coins, let alone common transactions.

The frequency of use is low, and I usually lie in the bank or the cabinet of the rich. It takes only five or six years to cast it. After that, Shen Hai came to a "stop time", and it was abnormal if the appearance was not good.

With just eight good-looking octagonal gold coins, once they are put on the coin market, they don’t need to be auctioned, and the price is at least one million U.S. dollars upwards.

If it is shot, it is possible to double it again!

Sunshine Star Group now has an auction company under its own control. These gold coins can be sold at the most appropriate selling density and price to maximize profits.

The US bills are sold, but a large part of it will not be sold, at least for five or ten years.

This is the advantage of large groups. They have strong financial resources. Their eyes are not just to focus on immediate interests, let alone in terms of legal principles and internal company regulations, the owner of these gold coins is Zhang Nan, and the others are just workers. Take the salary and bonus.

The salary is relatively fixed. After a small part of the salvaged treasure is sold, it is calculated on this basis, and bonuses are given to a group of workers. Zhang Nan wants to keep the remaining gold coins privately without any problem.

It's just that Zhang Nan won't do that. If you leave it, you will definitely leave a part of it, but most of it will still be dealt with. There are already too many of them!

In this large number of water basins, basically the Golden Eagle coins produced in the United States are the least with a face value of $2.5, followed by a $5 denomination, a $10 golden eagle again, and a $20 double eagle the most.

The characteristics of reserve gold are large denominations, and most of them are still cast in 1857.

A gold mine was discovered in California in 1848, and the San Francisco Mint began production in 1854. Every year, a large number of produced gold coins are transported to the eastern region. Naturally, most of the gold coins transferred by the "Central America" ​​were newly minted that year.

However, there are exceptions. Zhang Nan noticed that what was placed in a basin was not American gold coins, but French goods.

15 pieces of 40 gold francs in face value, they are still gadgets from the time of Napoleon I. This one appeared in the United States...

Not surprisingly, it's because of the sentence: wherever gold is money!

There are also more 20 gold francs. I picked up a few and looked at them. They were from the period of Napoleon III, almost brand new!

"These were also found at the location of the ship's vault?" Zhang Nan asked ~www.readwn.com~Kunka quickly said: "Yes, boss, it is probably the original Federal Reserve, not personally carried.

Here are all gold coins from the location of the vault. The few gold and silver coins found during the overall survey are not here. They have been simply cleaned and dried in the warehouse..."

It seems that the 1857 economic crisis is quite severe, otherwise these "unknown gold reserves" will not be transported to the east.

Here, Kunkka continued: "The types of gold and silver coins over there are very mixed, some of which we don't know are from which country, and there are also gold coins that we haven't seen in the United States.

Boss, do you want to take a look now? "

My boss is an expert among experts, and none of these people on the ship can be called an expert in coin history. There are at most a few half-buckets of water.

Zhang Nan put the gold coin in his hand back to the basin, raised his hand to look at the time, and said: "I'll talk about it later, I guess the salvage basket over there is about to be out of water. Go to the lower deck first.

Also, let us know that Xingchen can go to the port and send a few sets of clothes first. I have been staying with you these few days. "