A new Beverly Hills gallery has opened with a numismatic lineup that includes early U.S. gold rarities, scarce large-denomination banknotes, a unique Indian Territory currency sheet and a Saint-Gaudens bronze carrying a $3 million insurance valuation.
Lipton Coins, Fine Art & Antiques (LCFAA.com), located at 9478 W. Olympic Blvd., combines coins and paper money with precious metals, fine art, antiques and decorative arts. Its current numismatic offerings feature several notable federal gold issues dating to the earliest years of U.S. coinage.
Among the pieces being offered is a 1796 Capped Bust Right quarter eagle, No Stars on Obverse, graded NGC MS60. The first-year issue represents the first $2.50 gold coin produced by the United States Mint.
The selection also features a 1796/5 Capped Bust Right half eagle graded NGC MS64 and an 1804 Capped Bust Right eagle with Crosslet 4 graded PCGS MS62.
Another standout is an 1879 Flowing Hair $4 Stella graded NGC PF65 Cameo. The pattern gold coin is one of the best-known experimental issues produced by the U.S. Mint during the 19th century.
Rare Currency Includes Indian Territory Sheet
Paper money highlights include an uncut sheet containing three $10 notes and one $20 note issued by a national bank in Holdenville, Indian Territory, within what is now Oklahoma.
The gallery reports that only two uncut National Bank Note sheets are known from Indian Territory and that the Holdenville sheet is the only known example from that issuing location.
Other currency on view includes an 1869 $100 Legal Tender Note, Friedberg 168, graded PMG 25, and an 1891 $50 Treasury Note, Friedberg 376, graded PMG 45 and pedigreed to the Dean Oakes Collection.
The lineup also features a $100 Original Series National Bank Note from the Blackstone National Bank of Boston graded PCGS 55 and a Series 1902 Red Seal $10 National Bank Note from the First National Bank of Puerto Rico at San Juan, Friedberg 613, graded PMG 20.
Another notable item is a Series 1902 Plain Back $10, Friedberg 633, from the West Hollywood National Bank of Crescent Heights, California. The gallery lists the note as PMG 63 and describes it as the only known surviving banknote issued by the institution.
$3 Million Saint-Gaudens Bronze on Display
Beyond coins and currency, the collection features a roughly 3½-foot-tall gilded bronze reduction of Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ Victory figure from the General William Tecumseh Sherman Monument in New York City’s Grand Army Plaza. The gallery says the sculpture carries a $3 million insurance valuation and is one of only three known examples in private hands.
The bronze was previously part of the Wolf Family Collection. Sotheby’s offered it in April 2023 with an estimate of $500,000 to $700,000, describing the gilded bronze as having been conceived in 1892 and cast around 1912.
The sculpture has a direct connection to U.S. numismatics. Saint-Gaudens also created the design for the celebrated $20 Double Eagle introduced in 1907, and Harriette Eugenia Anderson, who posed for Victory, is also associated with the Liberty figure on the coin.
Following Saint-Gaudens’ death in 1907, his widow, Augusta Fisher Homer Saint-Gaudens, authorized reductions of the original figure. According to the gallery, eight were produced, with five now held by museums or institutions, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Carnegie Museum of Art and Arlington National Cemetery.
Lipton Coins, Fine Art & Antiques is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with evening and weekend appointments available. Additional information is available at LCFAA.com.
