Owner Comments:
1894 California Midwinter Exposition. Lauer's Exposition Palace Dollar--Manufacturer's Building. Aluminum. 35 mm. HK-266. Rarity-6. MS-63 PL (NGC).
THERE ARE ONLY (2) EXAMPLES SOLD IN STACKS BOWERS AUCTIONS IN THE PAST. THIS MS 63 PL EXAMPLE WAS PURCHASED BY ME IN 2017 FOR $240.00 (WHAT A STEAL!!!), AND AN NGC GRADED MS 65 EXAMPLE WAS SOLD FOR $481.75 IN 2014. HERITAGE AUCTIONS HAS NOT SOLD ANY OF THIS TYPE (MUST BE RARE!).
JEFF SHEVLIN HAD AN NGC GRADED MS 64 EXAMPLE IN HIS 2014 FIXED PRICE LIST FOR $635.00, AND AN UNGRADED GEM BU EXAMPLE IN HIS 2015 FIXED PRICE LIST FOR $645.00
THIS EXAMPLE IS ONE OF ONLY FOUR PROOFLIKES LISTED IN THE NGC CENSUS AS OF 8/2023, WITH ONLY (1) MS 64 PL FINER IN PL. THERE ARE ONLY (11) OF THIS TYPE GRADED OVERALL, WITH NO DEEP PROOFLIKES LISTED.
OBVERSE FIELD ABRASION LIMITS THE GRADE OF THIS OTHERWISE NEAR PERFECT PROOFLIKE UNCIRCULATED METAL.
FORMERLY FROM THE JEFF SHEVLIN COLLECTION AND THE HENRY EDWARD COLLECTION.
For many years aluminum was more valuable than gold. Several processes developed in the 1850s lowered its price, but when the pyramidal aluminum cap of the Washington Monument was produced in 1884, the cost of aluminum was still about $1 per ounce, similar to the cost of silver.