After years of wanting this iconic coin I finally picked up a 1911 American Gold Quarter Eagle. This coin once circulated as money over a hundred years ago and is not the same as the modern day bullion coins like the USA 1 oz Gold Buffalo I picked up a few years back.
When you buy a coin like this you’re buying a small piece of history which is a big reason why I love collecting coins. How many people held this coin? What was life like back in 1911 when this coin circulated as money…real money; not the worthless fiat that circulates today.
Back in 1911 the Titanic was still being built! The world was approaching the great cataclysm that would become known as the Great War or as we call it today…World War 1!
Yes, things were so much different in the world of 1911 than they are today. I found this interesting website about what you could buy at the time for a dollar.
If you’re interested in learning more about Old, New and Rare US coins check out these Guides on US Coins and Coin Collecting on Amazon.
History of the American Gold Quarter Eagle
These beautiful coins circulated from 1908 until 1929 and contain 0.12094 oz of gold. The coins are 90% gold and 10% copper. High purity gold coins scratch very easily so the copper is added to increase the durability of the coin.
I just love the iconic designs of pre-1933 USA gold Coins. This coin was designed by Bela Lyon Pratt at the behest of President Theodore Roosevelt (himself a great numismatic collector) who wanted to create some beautiful US coinage.
These coins are special because they have an incuse design (ie. design sunken in to the coin) with no rim. So it’s difficult to find perfect examples and most have scratches and dings.
The obverse displays a masculine image of Liberty in a full headdress encircled by 13 stars with the word “Liberty” above and the date below.
The reverse features a majestic bald eagle. Surrounding the eagle is “United States of America”, “E Pluribus Unum”, “In God We Trust” and the denomination: in this case 2 and a half dollars.
USA Pre-1933 Gold Coins and the Great Confiscation
During the Great Depression the US Government under FDR confiscated gold from its citizens. It outlawed gold ownership and forced people to give it up under threat of huge fines and imprisonment:
In 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 6102 which forbade the “hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold bullion and Gold certificates within the continental United States.” As a result of this order, the possession of monetary Gold owned by any person, partnership or company was criminalized, Gold coins were pulled out of circulation and almost all Gold was exchanged for paper money.
Exceptions were made for collector coins and jewelry. As the Great Depression ravaged the economy, it was believed that “hoarding” Gold stalled economic growth and worsened the economic state of the country. In order to combat this, it was ordered that all Gold be turned into the U.S. Mint to be melted down. The belief was that if Gold could not legally be owned, it could not be redeemed, therefore ending the constraints on the Federal Reserve. Thus, the United States abandoned the Gold standard.
The Gold Reserve Act of 1934
The following year, President Roosevelt signed the Gold Reserve Act of 1934. This act required that all Gold (except for jewelry and collector’s coins) and Gold certificates held by the Federal Reserve be sold to the United States Treasury. The law also changed the nominal price of Gold from $20.67 per troy ounce to $35.00 per troy ounce.
Because of this, foreign investors flocked to export their Gold holdings overseas to the United States and the dollar devalued to spark inflation. The increase in the money supply increased real interest rates and encouraged more investments in durable goods. After the Gold Reserve Act, inflation drastically decreased from -9.8 percent to 2.3 percent and has not dropped below -2.1 percent since.
The federal government essentially stole wealth from private citizens. After forcing people to turn in their gold, the government then devalued the dollars they were given relative to gold.
Because of Executive Order 6102, Gold coins produced by the U.S. Mint prior to 1933 are extremely rare. The coins that remain today have withstood the test of time and survived a governmental expropriation of Gold.
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