TODAY: U.S. COINS I WORLD COINS I BULLION   FULL COVERAGE: U.S. COINS I WORLD COINS I ANCIENTS

    THE PREMIER NUMISMATIC NEWS SOURCE ONLINE

.

Rare Martha Washington Quarter Trial Piece Discovered

February 6th, 2002

An example of the Martha Washington Quarter, Pollock #2082, has recently been discovered and purchased by Michael Byers of Byers Numismatic Corporation.  To date it is the only known example in private hands.  There is one known set of a Dime, Quarter and Half struck by the Martha Washington dies that are permanently housed in the Smithsonian Institute, embedded in blocks of lucite. 

Martha Washington Quarter

Byers also purchased an example of Pollock #4100, a copper-zinc Cent struck by the Mint's Martha Washington Dies.  This Martha Washington Test Piece might have been used to test the new copper-zinc planchets for the U.S. Mint.  Starting in 1982 the composition and weight of the Cent planchet changed.  Instead of weighing 3.11 grams and having a composition of 95% copper and 5% zinc, the weight is 2.5 grams with a composition of 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper.

Martha Washington Cent

According to United States Pattern and Related Issues, by Andrew W. Pollock III, "the only trial pieces purported to have survived metallurgical testing in 1965 were the Dime, Quarter Dollar, and Half Dollar equivalent strikes in copper-nickel clad over copper."

The only Martha Washington Dime Trial Piece currently in private hands is now being offered for $100,000 by another coin dealer. NGC authenticated and encapsulated this Martha Washington Dime in April of 2000.

In August of 2000, Michael Byers purchased a Martha Washington Test Piece on a copper-zinc Cent planchet. This piece was struck by the Martha Washington Dime Dies. This piece was struck 10% off-center with a 'uniface' reverse.  In response to the discovery of this Martha Washington Test Piece, the United States Mint announced that "the dies are available to the Mint's metal and blank vendors for testing." 

The U.S. Mint conducted metallurgical tests in 1999 on the golden colored manganese-clad planchets which would later be used for the Sacagawea Dollar.

For the first time, the U.S. Mint included representatives from industry because the new Sacagawea Dollar would have to be completely interchangeable with the existing SBA Dollar. The electromagnetic fingerprint had to be identical. All of the metals combined changed the alloy's electromagnetic properties.  Many tests were conducted including those at IDX Inc., Olin Brass and PMX Industries.

James Halsey, President of IDX Inc., one of the firms contracted by the U.S. Mint to test prototypes, was quoted last year in a news article as saying "numerous samples in different alloys bearing the Martha Washington obverse and Mt. Vernon reverse dies - special designs used for experimental coinage - were shipped to IDX Inc. for testing. Some of the packages were insured for as high as $250,000, with the recipients required to return any and all pieces supplied by the Mint for tests."

Two other firms under contract by the U.S. Mint include Olin Brass and PMX Industries. Both of these companies supply the U.S. Mint with the manganese-clad strips from which the Sacagawea Dollars are struck. Olin Brass is a leading U.S. copper alloy producer and is located in East Alton, Illinois. PMX Industries is located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

These two recently acquired Martha Washington Test Pieces using the Mint's Martha Washington Dies are now in private hands. The evolving story about the Martha Washington Dies, test strikes and the discovery of these pieces is among the most interesting numismatic stories in decades.

Source:  Byers Numismatic Corporation

.

Coin Today, the daily coin collecting and numismatic news source.  Copyright 2001