Sunday, December 11, 1955
o
Panama Ideal Spot to
Find U. S. Gold Coins
O
o
SIXTEEN MEDFOP.D (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE
Cj
Buried treasure j
o
fro
One of the most logical places
In which to find American gold
coins is Panama. The reason is
that so many thousands of those
who came to California during
the Cold Rush days, or returned
to tf?e East then, used the route
across the Isthmus.
Mindful of that, a friend of
mine who spent some time re
cently in the back country of
Panama, kept a watch for Amer
ican coins.
He found one, furthermore,
and it happened to be an excel
lent example of the0 first coin
minted in California.
The piece, which he bought
from a native for 25 silver dol
lars, is a $5 gold piece minted
by the firm of Norris, Grieg
and Norris, in 1849.
On the obverse side, it reads
around the edge CALIFORNIA
GOLD WITHOUT ALLOY. In
D the center is an eagle with a
shield on its breast containing
a 5. On the reverse side is a
circle of stars surrounded by the
words FULL WEIGHT OF and
HALF EAGLE. Within the cir
cle is the date 1849. Above it
are the initials of the firm and
below appears the words SAN
FRANCISCO.
When I first saw the coin,
which was in very good condi
tion by the way, I was sure my
friend had made one of the
more important numismatic
finds of the past several years.
Not so, however. Though the
coin is one of the first issue to
be minted in California, it is
catalogued at only $125, wheth
er with milled edge, or plain
as his has.
But in this case, as in many
others, the catalogue price is ac
tually too low. When the owner
decided to sell, he had no diffi
culty getting $150 for it, and if
he had taken his time , about
selling it, I am sure he would
have done much better than
that.
ALL JOHN GOULD FIRST EDITIONS ARE VALUABLE
Jack and his wife were get
ting ready to move into a new
home, and they asked me to
take a look at some of the stuff
they were going to dispose .of.
Among the odds and ends
were some 200 old books. Noth
n ing of any consequence, that I
could see until suddenly I spot
ted a large volume with an im
posing title that began "Mono
graph of the Trochilidae."
Trochilidae is Latin for hum
mingbird. I opened the book, curious as
to why anyone should feel
moved to give me a monograph
on hummingbirds.
Instantly my curiosity
changed to awe. The book was
full of colored plates describing
the tiny, jeweled birds. There
were 360 of them in all.
"LooiR here, Jack," I said. "I
can't accept this. These things
are valuable."
He laughed, insisting I take
them. They couldn't have much
of a value, he said, because they
had been lying around the t
tic for at least 20 years and no
one had ever expressed a wish
for them.
After a few minutes of argu
ment, I went down to the car
to get my book of auction
records.
Sure enough, the volume
Jack had tried to give me was
valuable, all right. Far more so
than I had realized. It was the
first edition of John Gould's fa
mous monograph, published in
11 parts over the years 1849-61
in London, and his grandfather
had had them bound together.
Value of the work was well in
excess of $1,500.
Jack was delighted when I
told him, and when he found
that he could dispose of it at any
time for $1,800, he was even
more delighted.
Incidentally, many of the oth
er works of Gould are owned
in the United States, and all of
thm, without exception, are
valuable.
DERRINGER-TYPE PISTOL AS ACCURATE AS WHEN NEW
Larry nodded towards a sil
houette target at the far end
of the room and pulled a string.
There was a roar and a cloud of
smoke, and a tiny hole appear
ed in the silhouette.
' The gun's okay," Larry said,
going forward to the table and
loosening a vise that held the
weapon. "I took so much rust
out of both the barrel and the
swivel mount that I was afraid
the piece might blow up."
It was certainly a deadly
looking little thing when I
snapped the barrel, which
swung to the side on a swivel,
back into place. Its over-all
length was only 4V2 inches, of
which 2V2 inches were in the
barrel itself. The piece was of
the pocket derringer type. It
fired a .41 caliber, rim fire
shell. Stamped along the top of
the barrell was the word
"Southerner."
"The only thing southern
about it is the name," said
Larry, taking the gun back. "It
was madCby the Brown Manu
facturing Company, of New
buryport, (Mass.), back in the
early 1870's," he continued,
turning the piece over and
pointing to an inscription
stamped in the metal.
"It's pretty rare," he went on.
"Even with a rusty barrel and
swivel mechanism, ' the thing
cost me $25 and I was mighty
lucky to get it at ' that.' But it
sure doesn't shoot bad. Look!"
Larry pointed to the bullet
hole in the silhouette and span
ned the distance . between it
and a nearby pencil mark on
which the gun had been sighted
in. ' It s only three inches off in
25 feet, which means its prac
tically as "good as new," he said.
"Are you becoming a collec
tor?" I asked.
"Not me." he replied. "But
I know a fellow who collects der
ringers, and he's already agreed
to pay me $150 for one of these
southerners,' if I can bring him
one in good working order."
(Released by McClure
Newspaper Syndicate
4-H Achievement
Program Held at
Shady Cove School
The Shady Cove, Upper Rogue,
Rogue Elk and Trail 4-H achieve
ment program was held Thurs
day at the Shady Cove school.
A dinner for club members and
guests was sponsored by the
Shady Cove Rotary club.
Pins and cards indicating the
number of years of 4-H work
members had completed were
awarded by Gene McCurley, ag
ricultural . field representative
for the First National bank oi
Portland, Medford branch.
First Year Pins 0
First year pins were awarded
to Susan Chubb, John Cox, Mary
ann Elrod, Linda Eccleston, Ma
rion Flowers, Sue Harmon, Judy
LeeKey, Mary Delilah LeeKey,
Frederick Martin, Laura Otis
an Suzanne Stuart.
Those receiving second year
cards were Shirley Abernathy,
Nancy Blackman, Jacqueline
Hume, Josephine Hume, Kath
leen Houston, Judy Mason, Toni
Miller and Letha Zerbee; third
year pins, Janet Blackman, Ira
Conner, Pat Goode, Joan Hous
ton, Sharon Roberts and Loretta
Rone; fourth year card, Delberta
Spain; fifth year pin, Robert
Peile; seventh year cards, Veima
Peile; eighth year card, Henry
Conner; tenth year sin, Edward
Peile. 0
2
111
N.4
mm
I
site
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