1912 So-Called Dollar HK-815, Thomas Elder, Dollar

Coin Details

Description

HK-815 is a numismatic medal from the prolific workshop of Thomas L. Elder, the legendary New York coin dealer who cataloged 292 auction sales between 1903 and 1940. Elder designed or delineated most of the 104 tokens and medals he issued during his lifetime, making him America's most prolific private medal issuer of the period. His numismatic so-called dollar series (HK-798 through HK-819, HK-1022 through HK-1028) includes commemorative pieces, political commentary medals like the 1912 'Gold Basis' Dollar (HK-810, HK-813), and collector novelties. Elder's productions served as both promotional pieces for his business and as collectible medallic art. Thomas K. DeLorey's comprehensive 1980 article 'Thomas L. Elder, A Catalogue of his Tokens and Medals,' published in The Numismatist, established the definitive numbering system (DeLorey-1 through DeLorey-104+) and won both the Heath Literary Award and the Wayte and Olga Raymond Memorial Literary Award in 1981. Elder published through the Elder Monthly (1906-1907), The Elder Magazine (1910-1911), and the Elder Rare Coin Book (1934). He died on May 11, 1948, at Travelers Rest, South Carolina. The Hibler-Kappen catalog, first published in 1963 by Harold E. Hibler and Charles V. Kappen as 'So-Called Dollars: An Illustrated Standard Catalog,' provides the systematic numbering system (HK numbers) used to identify and classify hundreds of American medals approximately the size of a silver dollar. The catalog has been revised and expanded in subsequent editions, with Jeff Shevlin's contributions significantly expanding the known census.

Rarity Notes

Thomas Elder numismatic so-called dollars from the HK-798 to HK-819 range survive in varying quantities. Various compositions exist, with silver being the rarest and base metals more commonly encountered. The lettered variants (a, b, c suffixes) are generally scarcer than the primary types. Elder's pieces are actively collected both as so-called dollars and as examples of early 20th-century American numismatic entrepreneurship.

Cross References

HK-815; PCGS #643550