Coins Airtight

Are these coins Real or Replica?

My grandfather just gave a HUGE coin collection, with coins from 1808, 1813, and my favorite, a Dickensons (i believe that is how you spell it) 1776 continental currency dollar set, Bronze, goldine, and silver. They are in an airtight case, and have almost no Damage to them. Are these Real?

I can’t say about the 1808, 1813 or the balance of the collection, but the Dickeson set are not genuine Continental coins.

However, neither were the Dickeson coins. Dickeson was a doctor and coin enthusiast who made his own copy dies of the original coin, 100 years later in 1876, and had coins cast from them instead of struck. They have become very collectible in their own right in spite of being replicas.

A coin dealer from New York named Robert Bashlow gained some notoriety for having had made, by an outside company, ‘restrikes’ of a genuine Confederate cent using the original dies. The coins were sold as restrikes and the dies were reportedly given to the Smithsonian, so that no more could be made using the original dies (and thus, enhancing the marketability of the coins).

I say notoriety, because the ethics of this was questioned at the time. Bashlow, undaunted, went on to somehow acquire Dickeson’s dies, and in 1961 had struck the Continental restrikes. Supposedly, 5,000 were struck in bronze and sold for $2.50 each, 3,000 in goldine at $4.50 each, and 2,000 in silver for an unknown price, because, according to a copy of the ad I saw, they were already sold out.

These have become quite collectible. An auction site I use for research turned up several high-grade examples, professionally certified by NGC, of bronze and goldine coins. The bronze sold in a range from $90-$135 in the last year. The goldine sold for $63 in 2006 and $95 this year. An uncertified silver sold in 2008 for $170, in a slightly lower grade than the others.

But a complete set of 3, in a thick, clear plastic Capitol holder with 4 screws, labeled ‘Dickeson’s Continental Currency Dollar’, sold in 2008 for only $150, and the grade of the coins was estimated the same as the lone silver coin. It would have been better to break this set up.

And this set sounds very close to what you have. I believe you have a Bashlow set of 1961 restrikes. I think, broken up, you could get $200+ for it, and if they are in really great shape, especially if the coins have no spots of tarnish (you would want the bronze to look red like a penny, the goldine to look a lighter color, and the silver to look like any untoned silver coin), you might want to have the set professionally graded by NGC.

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