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V4 2001 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 4, Number 41, October 7, 2001, Article 10 HIRAM DEATS AND THE 1822 HALF EAGLE Karl Moulton writes; "Hiram Deats' "act of conspicuous excess" in 1892 which lead him to the forefront of American philately was not unplanned. Deats had purchased many nice coins the previous 12-15 years. Among his numismatic treasures was an example of the 1822 half eagle, which was sold June 9, 1892, in a sale catalogued by Edouard Frossard. This provided Deats with the funds necessary to acquire the P.M. Wolsieffer philatelic material in October that year. The earliest provenance of these truly rare coins (3 known) has never been presented in any printed numismatic publication. Based on my research, I believe an example of this coin was sold privately by W.E. Woodward to Deats in early 1883, after Woodward ended up with all of the Joseph J. Mickley/ William S. Appleton U.S. Gold coins, which Appleton had received for financing the purchase of the Mickley collection in April 1867. I further believe Mickley owned two examples. Both of these 1822 half eagles were off the market completely until 1883. One quietly went to Deats, and one went to coin dealer H.P. Smith, who made up a promotional story the following year about obtaining it for $6 from an unnamed broker on the corner of Ann and Nassau streets in New York city. The third genuine piece was in the Mint cabinet, while a fourth counterfeit example was then owned by Lorin Parmelee, who had obtained it when he purchased the George Seavey collection. When Mickley's collection of U.S. gold was acquired by Appleton in 1867, there was no general awareness that the date was considered rare. This can be confirmed by correspondence to Baltimore collector T. Harrison Garrett in December 1884 from Philadelphia attorney Harold Newlin discussing this date (ref. History of United States Coinage by Bowers, p.451). Although the 1822 half eagle was listed as being "Very Rare" in Joseph Mickley's 1858 publication "Dates of United States Coins and their Degrees of Rarity", it appears this date was overlooked by Woodward when he sold it to Deats by private treaty. This brings up the question of just how well Mickley's pioneering pamphlet circulated among the early coin collectors. Based on the fact that Woodward did not think highly of this date, it is possible he never read Mickley's publication when it came out; after all, he was not even in the coin business until two years later. From all other indicators, no one else active in American numismatics at the time was aware of the extreme rarity either. Of course, this same thing happened as late as 1955 when the unique 16 star Heraldic Eagle 1797 Half Eagle was sold in the Farish Baldenhofer sale. For whatever it may be worth, the Mickley legacy to American numismatics should include the ownership of an outstanding U.S. Gold coin collection. This has been too long overlooked by nearly all numismatists as there were no such pieces listed in the October 1867 Mickley sale when it was catalogued by Woodward. Since Mickley knew of the high rarity of this date in 1858, I suggest that Joseph Mickley should be listed as the first person in the pedigree lineages. He would have been the only one to accurately know about the 1822 half eagles at the time, based solely on his ownership, since none had ever appeared at auction or had been listed anywhere, at any time, by anyone else."

Wayne Homren, Editor

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