130 Million Yellow Seals Issued During World War II

Where were the yellow seal Silver Certificate notes issued during World War II meant to circulate?

The $1, $5 and $10 yellow seal notes were issued in November 1942 for circulation in Europe and northern Africa during the campaigns in both of these areas. Soldiers used the notes among themselves and to pay civilians for anything purchased. The BEP issued more than 130 million yellow seal Silver Certificate bank notes.

I’ve noticed the two major grading services use different labeling from time to time. Is there a reason for this?

Special labels appear on slabs for different reasons. Some are custom-made at the request of the person submitting the coins. Others may identify the pedigree of the coin. Still others may be meant to identify how or when the coin was graded. With technology continually changing and the need to keep ahead of counterfeit slab producers, the labels are in continual change.

Coin grading services are beginning to use a 10- rather than a 70-point grading scale. Won’t this cause confusion?

The NGCX 10-point system is meant to grade coins minted from 1982 to the present and for Morgan and Peace silver dollars. According to NGCX, “There is no difference in quality between a grade on the NGCX 10-point grading scale and a grade on the 70-point scale. On the NGCX scale, 10 is the supreme grade, equivalent to a 70 on the traditional scale. The subsequent grades cascade from 10, a criterion understood by all.”

Is there also a movement towards using a 100-point grading scale?

The Guth 100-Point Coin Grading Scale was developed by coin dealer Ron Guth. This proposed system assigns whole numbers to split grades while eliminating decimals, rounding and pluses. Guth explains the system and how it would merge with the Sheldon 70-point system at ExpertNumismatics.com. So far this proposed system does not appear to be gaining much acceptance.

Is it true that, at one time, counterfeiters made their fakes using platinum?

Platinum was not always the valuable metal it is today. In July 1860, New York Assay Office Assayer Dr. John Torrey wrote, “I procured for you today, a fine specimen of a $10 gold coin. It has the proper weight and size, but it is no doubt filled up with platina [platinum]. It was probably made by sawing through a genuine Eagle, and then turning out on a lathe, or filing away a considerable part of the gold. A disc of platina was then introduced, and a narrow hoop of gold used to till the saw-cut. The whole was then united with silver solder, and the milling renovated.”

Why was platinum considered to be a cheap metal at the time of the 1860 debacle?

Platinum was initially discovered in gold rocks in Spanish Colonial America. It soon became a handy substitute metal when counterfeiting gold or silver coins. Platinum counterfeit coins were allegedly thrown into the ocean in 1735 in accordance with a Spanish royal decree. The Spanish crown later recognized mixing platinum with gold was useful when they wanted to debase the circulating coinage. The metal was also useful to them when they wanted to counterfeit British gold sovereigns. The United States struck a pattern half dollar in platinum in 1814.

How available is the 1814 platinum pattern half dollar?

Judd 44, which is the 1814 platinum pattern half dollar, is known from two examples for certain, with a possible third example existing if Walter Breen’s reference to it in a 1974 auction catalog is correct. One example is in the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. The other verifiable example is owned privately. The privately owned specimen was at some time in its history defaced by someone punching the letter “P” into the obverse 33 times and hand-engraving “platina” into the reverse. Both were struck from the same dies as is the Overton 107 variety half dollar.

Platinum American Eagles and foreign platinum bullion coins are produced annually today. Was there ever a platinum coin struck for circulation?

Between 1828 and 1845, Russia issued platinum composition 3-, 6- and 12-ruble coins for circulation. This “new Siberian metal” was discovered in rocks in 1819. Platinum resembled less expensive metals, which became a problem. It was also a more challenging metal with which to work than are gold or silver. On the other hand, merchants preferred the platinum coins as they didn’t melt in a fire as easily as do coins of gold or silver. When the spot price of platinum dropped in early 1846, the coins were withdrawn.

You recently wrote something about the New York Subway Hoard. Can you explain what the hoard consisted of?

During the 1940s and 1950s, a New York City transit worker named Morris Moscow watched for scarcedate coins at the kiosks at the D Train subway stations. Moscow would sell the coins he found through George Shaw, his brother-in-law and coin dealer. There were a significant number of coins unsold when Shaw died. Moscow died later, in 1993. Between 1991 and 1996, Littleton Coin Company purchased the remainder, which included, among other things, 29 1918/7-D Buffalo nickels, 241 1916-D Mercury dimes, 29 1896- S Barber quarters and 19 1916 Standing Liberty quarters.

Are there any Morgan dollar dates that at one time were rare, but, due to later discoveries, are common today?

There are several dates that have become common following the discovery of large quantities at some later time. As an example, there were only 1,036,000 1892 Morgan silver dollars minted. This is a low mintage and for years the date was treated as a rarity. Sometime during either the late 1950s or early 1960s, the Treasury found and disbursed an unknown but large quantity of uncirculated examples. The value of this date adjusted accordingly.