In the five years since I wrote the second edition of my book on Dahlonega gold coinage, a number of important coins have been sold and some significant changes are going to be have to be made when I release my third edition (which, if I had to guess, will be out in another year or so). I think it would be interesting to look at the ten rarest Dahlonega gold coins and see what important things have changed about them since 2003.

There are many ways to collect Charlotte gold. Some people have only a mild interest in these coins and may buy just one or two pieces. Other people are more serious and they have a large number of Charlotte issues in their collection. A small number of Charlotte collectors are obsessives who focus exclusively on these pieces and do not collect anything else. I would like to make some suggestions on how to collect Charlotte gold.

Sure, every gold coin collector would love to have an unlimited budget. But few do. Is it possible to be an individual of average or slightly above-average means and still be a collector of U.S. gold? I contend that the answer is a resounding “yes” and I’d like to suggest a dozen collecting areas that are priced at $2,500 or less. My basic parameters are that each is undervalued, interesting to collect and they can be found with some patience.

Instead of focusing on specific issues (which, for the collector, can be like finding a needle in a haystack) I’m going to be a bit more general and focus on small groups or subsets of coins. Not every date within this group may be of interest to the collector (or fall within the parameters of affordability that we have established) but enough will qualify to make them worthy of serious consideration.

If you collect very rare or finest known coins, figuring out what to pay for an item that you need for your collection can be difficult. Here is a real-life example of how I came up with what I believe to be an accurate value for a one-of-a-kind coin.

The coin that we are going to use as our Coin Pricing Lab Experiment is the Finest Known 1860-C half eagle; an item that my firm recently handled.

The Capped Bust, Heraldic Eagle type of 1795-1807 was replaced in 1807 due to the addition of John Reich as Assistant Engraver at the Mint. His new design was significantly different than the old Robert Scot coinage with a large capped bust facing to the left wearing a large, loose-fitting cap; the reverse replaced the old Heraldic eagle design with an upright eagle whose wings are spread outwards.

Reich’s Capped Draped Bust half eagles were produced from 1807 through 1812. Mintage figures for these coins tend to be comparably high and the survival rate is greater than for nearly any other early gold type. This means that collectors should be able to find a nice example with little difficulty, even in higher grades.

In the second part of this series, I reveal my answers to the final question from the Rosen 2007-2008 Crystal Ball survey. There are some very interesting questions asked here and some controversial answers so read on for my insights into the current State of the Market. For the following six (6) questions I ask you for your Best Buy selections in a number of series. Please detail why you made your picks and the potential you see for them. 10.