Printable Catalog with
Mintage Statistics for Items Designed and Minted by Daniel Carr / Moonlight
Mint.
Pioneer Tokens by
Moonlight Mint & Daniel Carr
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J.J. Conway & Co.
Little is known about J.J. Conway & Company other than a few news stories circa 1861. Conway was reportedly a jeweler, watchmaker, and banker (an unusual combination). The outfit struck $2.50 (Quarter Eagle), $5.00 (Half Eagle), and $10 (Eagle) gold coins during the summer of 1861 in Georgia Gulch near Breckenridge Colorado. The privately-minted gold coins of Clark Gruber & Company out of Denver in 1860-1862 were well received and respected. They circulated in the area at par (full face value). However, J.J. Conway coins were reportedly not quite up to standard as to the gold content. As such, they were shunned for the most part which makes them extremely rare today. Only about a dozen of the J.J. Conway Quarter Eagle coins are known to have survived. For the Half Eagle only about half a dozen. And only three of the Eagle coins are known to exist (two of those three are in the Smithsonian Collection and the third was found in ruins at Fort Union in New Mexico).
The original dies for the J.J. Conway coins were discovered in the attic of a mansion in Denver in 1924. They were subsequently acquired by the Colorado Historical Society and they are still in possession of that entity (now named “History Colorado”). However, at some point, it appears that one of the dies was substituted with another die of unknown origin.
In 1956, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the first Denver Mint coins, noted Denver-area numismatist and historian Nolie Mumey apparently was able to borrow the six dies from the Colorado Historical Society and he had 200 souvenir sets struck in “Goldine” (yellow brass). These pieces are not easy to find today and are valued by collectors.
One of the six dies in the Mumey set seems out of place. The Half Eagle obverse has the date “1862” and a Liberty Head design with “UNION” on the tiara. This Liberty Head is entirely unlike the other J.J. Conway designs.
The Mumey sets came in two types of packaging. One was a rigid 3-layer Capitol Plastics screw-together holder. The other type was an envelope with the tokens in individual cellophane pouches similar to a 1950-1955 US Mint proof set. The front of the envelope showed a topographic mining map of the Breckenridge area with the town at left and Georgia Gulch (where Conway operated) inside the circle at right. The set number was not shown on the tokens themselves, but it was printed in red to the left of the map (set “195” shown). The back of the envelope gave some historical information for the issue.
To confuse matters further, in 1961 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the original minting of the J.J. Conway coins, numismatic promoter Robert Bashlow minted and sold his version of the J.J. Conway Half Eagle. There were three metallic versions: copper; brass; and silver. All have a distinctive dome in the center of the obverse. This was originally explained as a die collapse failure of the original die that Bashlow employed. This claim is bogus. The dome is too perfect and a die collapse would not occur like that. The hemispherical dome was put there intentionally for some unknown reason. The reverse side of Bashlow’s issue states (in small letters on the fancy 5) “RE STRIKE” and then “FROM ORIG. OBV. DIE”. This claim is even more of an outlandish lie. The Bashlow die has the wrong letter font, the wrong star placement, and even the wrong number of stars. It is NOT the original J.J. Conway die, a transfer from the die or coin, or even a very good second-hand rendition of it. The Bashlow pieces are collectible, but have only a nominal value today.
In 2006 two interesting dies turned up at auction. One was the long-lost (correct) J.J. Conway Half Eagle obverse. This die is now in unknown private hands.
In that same auction was a previously unheard of “P & R.R. Smith & Co. COL. TER.” Five Dollar gold piece (reverse) die. It is apparently a mate for the 1862 “UNION” die that Mumey used. This was determined by the matching characteristics of the die shanks. The auction description for this die makes the hypothesis that it was created for Colonel R.R. Smith who was in the Confederate army at the time. There appears to be no basis in fact for this claim. No Colonel in the Confederacy is going to have time to make gold coins in Colorado in 1862, and they certainly aren’t going to put “UNION” on them if they did. No original records, documents, or news reports have ever been found that would identify “P & R.R. Smith”. No such coins have ever been reported and none are believed to exist.
Added to the auction listing is a rendering of what the struck gold coins would have looked like. The rendering was produced by manipulating images of a Mumey strike combined with the auction lot photograph of the die. This die is currently in private hands.
Daniel Carr / Moonlight Mint Issue In 2024 the Daniel Carr / Moonlight Mint version is being produced.
Project Working Dies.
1) Some cleanup was performed, such as the removal of the die gouge through the lower neck and “6” in the date. 2) A direct transfer
from an early (no motto) US Federal issue $5 gold Half Eagle was used as the
starting point.
Typical (Sample) Weights.
Production Data.
All have a
reeded edge and medal-turn orientation.
Brass J.J. Conway pieces counter-stamped “YELLOW” / “BRASS”. Copper J.J. Conway pieces counter-stamped “PURE” / “COPPER”. Silver J.J. Conway pieces counter-stamped “999” / “SILVER”. Gold J.J. Conway pieces counter-stamped “900” / “GOLD”. The gold is native Colorado source and contains some silver, yielding about 900 fine.
*) Mintage quantity, so far.
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