Anthony Paquet Dies

Anthony C. Paquet was Assistant Engraver of the U.S. Mint from 1857 to 1864 and engraved approximately 30 medals in the U.S. Mint medal series (catalogued by Julian), in addition to working on federal coinage. Paquet’s 1861 $20 double eagle is a legendary U.S. rarity, with an example recently sold by Heritage at this year’s ANA Convention for $7.2 million. The Paquet family evidently left certain dies behind, and Charles Barber wrote to Philadelphia Mint Superintendent A. Loudon Snowden on August 27, 1883, “I have examined the dies left here by the Paquet family, and respectfully report that I consider them valueless. In the case of the Trade Dollar, we have the hubs made from these dies. Therefore can make any number required. The others are old experimental dies and therefore of no value now.”Whether the “old experimental dies” included the famous “tall letters” 1861 $20 reverse die is a matter for conjecture, but what is certain is that today’s collectors would place for more value on the Paquet dies than did the engraver Charles Barber.Link to Charles Barber letter on Newman Portal: https://archive.org/details/paquetdiesarevalueless18830827/page/n1/mode/2up