NEWMAN PORTAL SEARCH: “SCHOOL GIRL”

This week a Newman Portal user searched for “school girl,” referring to George Morgan’s pattern dollar of 1879. The earliest use of this term appears to be in the New York Coin & Stamp sale of the Doughty collection (1891), in which an example sold for the extraordinary price of $71.00. This is an important collection of U.S. patterns, 175 pieces in total. The copy scanned by the Newman Portal, from the American Numismatic Society, has this section priced and named. R. Coulton Davis’s earlier catalog of the U.S. pattern series, appearing in the Coin Collectors Journal (1886) doesn’t refer to “school girl” but instead includes a lengthy description of this youthful rendering of Miss Liberty. The Adams-Woodin pattern reference (1913), uses the term “Schoolgirl,” and, once in a standard reference, such a name is likely to stick. Today the issue is highly prized – illustrated here is an example sold by Heritage in January 2009 for $115,000.

Link to New York Coin & Stamp Doughty sale on Newman Portal:
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=26&AuctionId=513829&page=25

Link to July 1886 Coin Collectors Journal:
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/512354?page=129

Link to Adams-Woodin United States Pattern, Trial, and Experimental Pieces:
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/512406

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