Leaderboard

I don't believe they were not intended for circulation, though it's quite possible they got held back. You have to look at the buildup to conversion to bronze. I've read (can't remember where) that the original date for this was to be 1858, but they ran into so many problems it got pushed back, and the sheer number of errors and dies between 1860 and 1862 reinforces that. That would explain a couple of things: 1. the huge number of overdates and varieties for 1858 as they used up dies from previous years; there is no other year in the copper series which contains anywhere near so many varieties. This makes sense if in 1857 they still intended to switch to bronze in 1858, but then decided to postpone the changeover to 1860. This would also explain the relative lack of varieties for 1859 - having made the decision to postpone, possibly late in 1857, they had time to produce dies for 1859. OR, they postponed further from 1859 to 1860 but having done so once, left themselves with enough time to create 1859 dies. 2. the low mintage of 1860 bronze pennies. (5m for a major changeover is low, especially when you look at the vastly higher mintage for 1861, 62, 63). If the problems persisted, only being resolved quite late, then they would have started striking too late in the year to achieve a high mintage. Meanwhile there may have been an emergency issue of pennies required - all they could do in the time was reuse the 1859 dies; however, if the bronze pennies then started to be struck, it may be that the limited number of copper 1860s were never needed and thus didn't get issued? Except perhaps for a few, which either got out unofficially, or a few were released before the Mint could stop them. But what happened in the end to the small 1860 copper strike is anyone's guess. You'd have thought they would be melted down.

Also, the gorgeous sideboard was artfully crafted by yours truly 😁 white oak with red oak inserts (*pats self on back)

I think you might be right. It would certainly account for why many coins from that era show so much wear. Conversely why the majority are in such good condition, as most of the public just didn't try to spend them after 1869.

I forgot to mention that everything is glued to the floor! (just kidding) I am still relatively new to collecting coins, so my collection is not equivalent to 50k on a table, but the point is well taken. I like the thought of accessing my collection without digging under the sofa or radiator, so eventually will probably go with a big safe that cant be walked off with, or a strong-locked closet door. Although, I must say the sofa and radiator are cool ideas. I have the notion (hopefully not naïvely) that B&E thieves are generally opportunistic, so things like cameras and home security alarms may be enough of a deterrent should they try. I also agree about adequate insurance.

This interests me as well , you often find farthings and halfpennies and pennies very worn from the mid 1850s to 1859 , I know copper is a lot softer than bronze but really I suspect many coins must have been accepted at face value probably until the late 1870's . I dont think this is an unreasonable thing to the public to do after all these coins had quite a worth of copper in them . I strongly think this might have happened though it might have only been acceptable in the big citties of the time ,London , Birmingham, etc.

Great idea for slabbed coins in particular.