1886 Bi-Metallic Eutopia So-Called Dollar Pennsylvania HK-1005
Rarity 8
1886 Bi-Metallic Eutopia So-Called Dollar Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh. 1886 So-Called Dollar. Eutopia Dollar. HK-1005. Silver and Gold. Plain Edge. Coin Turn. . Outer silver ring with gold center. Obv: REPUBLIC OF EUTOPIA arcs above a central beaded circle, 1886 at bottom rim, florets to either side, MODEL FOR COMETALLIC COINS AND MEDALS within smaller concentric circle, round gold center plug with sun design at center of medal. A heavy crack runs across the silver outer ring from U of EUTOPIA to 8 o’clock n the opposite end. Rev: outer silver ring with 12 signs of the zodiac, each in a separate frame within the outer circle of the design, ARGENTORUM and SILVER / 206 ¼ GRS. within inner circle, gold center reads GOLD above, 12 9/10 GRAINS at center, GRAINS below. Numerous spidery die cracks engage the devices. Brilliant and lustrous, the outer silver portion with a dusting of pale golden iridescence, the inner gold portion is deeply lustrous with orange highlight on the deep golden background.
Produced and designed by Nicholas Veeder of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, no doubt to back up the facts, as he saw them, in his 1885 booklet titled “Co-metallism: A Plan for Combining Gold and Silver in Coinage, for Uniting and Blending their Values in Paper Money and for Establishing a Composite Single Standard Dollar of Account.” The general reaction at the time was that this was simply another “goloid” experiment. The dies were engraved by Herren Bros. & Co., and are said to have cracked on the third impression; somewhere there may be two examples of HK-1005 without the die cracks seen on the present specimen.
