The latest auction at F.U.N. was dubbed Platinum Night. Its main features were the two Gem 1796 quarter eagles from The Madison Collection. One of them is a 1796 No Stars quarter eagle, which has a pedigree that dates back to the 1890 Parmelee collection. The 1796 No Stars quarter eagle was able to realize not less than $1,725,000. The second item, 1796 With Stars, was acquired for $1,006,250.

All in all the quality material of the auction realized more that $45 million, but experts hope that the event would earn above $50 million.

Highlights on the Main Features

1796 $2 1/2 No Stars

The 1796 No Stars quarter eagle coin is the only one atop the PCGS population report. This Gem PCGS-graded numismatic item is one of a kind to be graded by three points. Since 11/07 PCGS has certified 6 coins in Mint State, two of them in MS61, three being graded MS62 and the current coin MS65. Although the coin doesn't have any specific features, it illustrates perfect production standards and at the same time it has been greatly preserved for more than 200 years.

The 1796 No Stars quarter eagle is most likely to remain the only one best known example of MS65 graded coins of its kind. Although the 1796 With Stars quarter eagle is surely an extremely rare piece, having a mintage of 432 coins against 963 pieces minted for 1796 No Stars, it is set as a type with the 1797-1807 With Stars coins, making the latter a very unnoticed issue.

The 1796 No Stars, however, is a unique one-year gold type coin. The early commerce in the United States feature very few quarter eagle coins. This was because these pieces were too large to be used in daily transactions and too small to be issued for international commerce.

Starting with 1796 and up to 1834 the Mint produced 64,262 quarters eagles. This data was provided by the Guide Book. At the same time the Mint issues half eagles, totaling 2,120,543 pieces.

1796 $2 1/2 Stars

The Mint Act of 1792 certified all of the coins struck in gold and silver that would ultimately be produced by the Philadelphia Mint. After buying the property and the construction of the necessary buildings, everything was ready for minting the country's first money.

Although possessing all the necessary components and equipment, the production of gold and silver coins could still not be achieved due to strict requirements for main employees. Thus these workers could not meet the original conditions of $10,000 bond for covering possible loss.

Rittenhouse asked Congress to lower the amount of requirements and the request was approved. The Congress made a new requirement which was $5,000 bond. Obviously certain steps would be applied for the bonded employees to have a limited access to gold and silver, further lowering the risk to the government. In the end everything was ready for the production of coins from precious metals.

In 1794 the first silver dollars and half dollars were issued. These were followed by other coin denominations such as half eagles and eagles, the first gold coins being struck in 1795, and quarter eagles that were minted in September 1796 with No Stars issue.

The early design of the quarter eagle was developed by Robert Scot, who was the first Chief Engraver of the Philadelphia Mint. The coins features a bust of Liberty that faces right, draped and capped, 1796 date found below and an engraving above saying LIBERTY. There are 16 stars on the coins: 8 stars to the left and the 8 to the right, each of them is oriented point-to-point. It is worth mentioning that very few early U.S. coins feature starts that are oriented in the same way.

The coin's reverse includes a large, Heraldic eagle decorated after Great Seal of the United States. The eagle illustrated on the hold a ribbon in its beak. The ribbon extends left and right featuring the words E PLURIBUS UNUM.

The eagle on the coin also holds in its dexter claw a bundle of arrows and in its sinister claw an olive branch. There are eight visible arrows and the shield engraved on the eagle's breast is made of 8 vertical and 9 horizontal crossbars. A raw of clouds is found on above the head of the eagle.

The inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is written along the border clockwise, from 7:30 to 5:30.