People start collecting coins for many different reasons.

It was John Jay Pittman’s grandmother who first infused in him the sense of wonder and history captured within each coin that she gave to him.

Make no mistakes, John Pittman was not brought up with a silver spoon. He was born in North Carolina in 1913, the oldest of 7 children. His father worked at the railroad.  

John Pittman was a man of humble roots and ordinary means throughout his life. Yet, he assembled, over a lifetime, a collection that ultimately sold for over $30 million after his death.

Due to his acumen, his love for the history behind the coins, and willingness to buy when the opportunity presented itself, his family and loved ones left behind will never have to worry about money for their entire lives.

The Amazing Story of Pittman’s Legendary Coins

Pittman worked his way through college and then moved to Rochester New York in 1936 to work for Eastman Kodak. A career man, he worked there for almost his entire life. He was happily married for over 50 years to Gehring, a math teacher in the public school system.

How did he amass a collection worth $30 million?

The answer is simple. On a limited budget, throughout his life, John Pittman pursued his passion for numismatics.

He consistently purchased, when he could, U.S. gold and silver coins. He chose the rarest coins that he could afford on his salary.

History is what drove him to search out and purchase whatever rare coins that he could on his limited budget. He wasn’t after the money or a fortune.

In the mid-1950’s, John was chasing some special coins. The hunt led him and Gehring all the way to an auction in Egypt. John took out a second mortgage on his house to pay for the trip. In the end it paid off.

One of the coins he purchased in Cairo was an 1833 $5 gold piece for $605. Later, that same coin sold for an incredible $467,500.

He was not a wealthy man, yet he assembled a collection worth over $30 million in his lifetime. Estimates are that his total investment was a mere $75,000.

If John Pittman, a man of humble beginnings can do it, anyone can. Here are tips to help you along your journey. You may be surprised at what you can build in a short amount of time.

3 Tips to Assemble the Coin Collection of a Lifetime

1. Have patience and seek out quality. Talk to trusted advisors and well-respected coin dealers. If you have a certain coin that you are searching for, let your portfolio manager at Blanchard know. We have deep connections within the numismatic world and may be able to assist.
2. Be complete. Build collections that include “sets.” Be persistent and complete your sets. Often collections with sets have more value than the individual coins on their own.
3. Follow your passions. Is there a certain period in history that fascinates you? Learning more about that time can enrich your ownership of a specific coin.

In the 1800’s, American proof coins were minted primarily as gifts for kings and foreign dignitaries. In later years, fortunate U.S. congressmen and senators were also bestowed with these exceptional gifts.

President Andrew Jackson’s 1836 gift of a U.S. proof coin set to the King of Siam is a numismatic legend.

The first U.S. envoy to the Far East, Edmund Roberts, took the coin set with him on a voyage aboard the USS Peacock in 1835 and arrived in Siam in the spring of 1836. Roberts presented the coin set to King Ph’ra Nang Klao (Rama III) of Siam in April 1836.

The King’s son, Rama IV, was the inspiration for the famous Broadway musical, “The King and I.”

A Gift to his Governess

For over a hundred years, this exceptional coin collection was unknown to numismatics around the world. It wasn’t until 1962 that the set emerged in London. It is believed the King of Siam’s son, Rama IV, gave the coin set to his British governess, Anna Leonowens, who died in 1915. It was their relationship that was the basis for the musical “The King and I.” Over 120 years after the coins had been gifted to the King, two descendants of Leonownes sold the coins to a London, England dealer.

The Gift

The proof coin set included nine denominations ranging from half cent to eagle. The set was stored in a custom made case covered in yellow leather – the color of Siamese royalty. Inside the case, each coin was secured in a slot depressed into a lining of blue velvet.

Its value is astounding. The King of Siam proof set sold in 2005 for $8.5 million. Previously, the set changed hands for over $4 million in 2001.

What Sets Proof Coins Apart

Proof coins are the highest quality coins created by the United States Mint. Today, collectors highly value Proof gold U.S. coins and when they appear on the market they are quickly snapped up. Most proof coins have extremely low mintages. Some issues may emerge only once or twice every few decades.

Blanchard recently acquired 9 awe-inspiring proof coins. The uniquely rare and valuable coins sold within a week.

Many proof gold coins today are housed at the Smithsonian, or in the hands of a fortunate collectors.

“American currency is a reflection and a record of our history,” noted Brent D. Glass, director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Proof coins are the pinnacle of currency minted by our government.

Why Proof Coins Are Important

Because of their unbelievable beauty and rarity, discerning collectors covet gold proof coins as an extremely valuable part of their collections.

Proof gold coins are struck twice, resulting in a more defined and intricate result. The end result is that typically a proof coin of the same date will be more expensive, rare and valuable than a non-proof uncirculated.

How Proof Coins Are Graded

• Proof – the term itself suggest superior condition of a coin.
• PR 70 is the highest grade possible for a proof coin and represents a perfect coin.
• Gem Proof (PF-65) – The surfaces are brilliant. There are no noticeable blemishes or flaws.
• Choice Proof (PF-63) No major flaws. The surface of the coin is reflective, with only a few blemishes.
• Proof (PF-63) The surface may be dull and have a few contact marks or hairlines.

What’s the difference between Proof and Mint?

The United States Mint began producing Mint sets in 1947. These are uncirculated coins that are specially packaged, but have nowhere near the value of proof coins.

“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”― John Bunyan

Each year at Christmas time, generous donors around America walk up to a Salvation Army Red Kettle and drop a gold coin in as a donation. It makes headlines each December, when the “first gold coin” donation is excitedly found.

Last year, on a cold and snowy night in late December in Green Bay, Wisconsin, a benevolent soul was busy making his or her own Christmas miracle. On Thursday December 22, 2016, a donor dropped a total of 40 coins into six different kettles. On Friday, December 23, the donor repeated the magic, dropping 40 more gold coins into Salvation Army kettles in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin.

The coins of choice? The coins were American Eagle 2016 One Ounce Gold Coins valued at that time at $1,130 each. That meant the total donation of 80 gold coins was valued at $90,400.

This is a recurring theme for the Salvation Army. You may have heard of the mystery of the gold coins that kept appearing each December in a small town in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. For years, a shiny South African Kruggerand kept appearing in the bell ringer’s buckets. For 15 years, the benefactors managed to keep their identity hidden, which was a feat in and of itself in a town of less than 8,000.

In December 2012, the donors fessed up. “It made us feel good to give,” said Dick Unger.

Unger had bought six South African Krugerrands in the 1980s as an investment: one for each of his four daughters, one for himself, and one for Ruth Jean. After keeping them in his safety deposit box for years, he was inspired to drop them into the Salvation Army bucket with no note or hint to their identify.

Even after Unger donated the original six gold coins. He wanted to keep up the tradition. He bought more to donate. As the price of gold skyrocketed, his donations became worth more and more. In 1997, the coin Unger slipped in the bucket was worth $287. As gold prices climbed to their all-time highs in 2011, the coin was worth $1,700, reported Priority, the magazine of the Salvation Army.

In 2014, in Libertyville, Illinois, another generous well-wisher dropped seven gold coins into a Salvation Army bucket outside a Jewel grocery store along with a note. Those coins were gold Swiss Francs each made up of .19 ounces of gold. That donation was valued at about $1,500, the Salvation Army said.

These heartwarming stories make a real impact. Nearly 70 percent of the Salvation Army’s funding comes from donations dropped into the red kettles during the holiday season. The Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Campaign is the largest and oldest charitable fundraiser of its kind in the United States. It started in 1891 in San Francisco.

Some events are so rare they last only for moments. This was the case for the Langbord family in 2003 when they found $80 million in rare gold coins. One such coin fetched $7.5 million at a Sotheby’s auction in 2002. The family made the discovery after drilling into a safety deposit box that belonged to their deceased father, Israel Switt. Inside were 10 coins, each a 1933 Saint-Gaudens. They are among the rarest coins in history and the Langbord family didn’t hold them for long.

The family took the coins to the Philadelphia mint for authentication. It was the last time they would hold the fortune in their hands. The government promptly seized each coin. “This is a case that raises many novel legal questions, including limits on the government’s power to confiscate property,” remarked the family’s lawyer.

445,500 of these coins were minted in 1933, however, none were officially circulated. The mint received a mandate to melt them all down into gold bars when president Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered banks to abandoned the gold standard. Two coins were intentionally left untouched. Today they both reside in the U.S. National Numismatic Collection. Over the years authorities have learned of 20 coins that somehow escaped melting likely as a result of theft. In time the Secret Service found 19 of them and melted down all but nine. The gold content and rarity are what make this coin so valuable today.

When the Langbords learned that their coins were gone they received no compensation. The reason: it’s believed that Switt had access to various stages of the minting process in the 1930s and was able to obtain the coins illegally. However, the Langbords have argued that it’s possible that the coins were, in fact, obtained legally during a very narrow “window of opportunity.” This argument rests on the fact that the mint first struck the double eagles on March 15th and it wasn’t until April 5th that Roosevelt enacted the executive ban on the coins.

In 2011 a jury determined that the coins are in fact the legal property of the U.S. Government agreeing with the argument from the mint’s attorney who stated “these coins didn’t go out through the front door – they went out the back door.” The ruling resulted in the family filing an appeal, which was struck down by the Eastern District Court of Pennsylvania, citing that “the coins in question were not lawfully removed from the United States Mint.”

The family eventually appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in April of 2017. However, the court denied to hear the case. It’s likely that the Langbord’s discovery will go down in history as the singles largest find of the ultra-rare double eagle coins. To this day the coins are legendary to collectors because they represent a pivotal moment in the U.S. economy when the nation moved away from gold and into dollars backed only by confidence.

Even if they could turn back the clock to the day of their find it’s unlikely that the Langbords could have done much differently. Selling them would have been illegal resulting in a prison sentence. Keeping them secret wouldn’t offer any financial value. For a few days they were among the richest elite, until they weren’t.