Gold, Copper, Platinum
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Other Metals Used for Liberty Dollars
The second metal introduced by Liberty Dollar after over a year of producing only silver medallions was the one ounce gold Liberty dated 2000 with a $500 face value (highest known private sale $2600 Nov. 2010). This piece had a hidden plague that reared its head about two years after the first pieces were minted. It seems that the air at the mint is filled with fine silver dust and that it was stamped into the surface of the gold pieces by the press. It was invisible until the silver molecules oxidized to the point that they turned into brown spots on the gold piece. I have yet to see one that did not develop these spots. They are still small in the photo below, but are visible on the nose and neck of Miss Liberty, and certain to grow with time. It is unknown whether the 2006 pieces will have the same problem.
The next non-silver piece was also a one ounce gold piece. It was the $1000 Gold Liberty introduced in 2006 shortly after the move up to the $20 silver base. Special, numbered pieces exist on both the $500 and $1000 one ounce gold pieces. I believe some of the $1000 numbered pieces also bear a defense hallmark (scales of justice).
The next was the 2007, generic, one ounce copper liberty minted in China. It was necessary to seek overseas manufacture of the piece because the cost of labor was so great in the US that it could not be made and distributed under the face value of $1. The downside was the typical Chinese quality. Brand new pieces arrived looking like well circulated pieces except that they did not have the natural toning of circulated copper. Amazingly the pieces were individually wrapped in thin paper
The next non-silver piece produced was the one ounce gold Ron Paul medallion with a face value of $1000. Within a month the platinum Ron Paul was produced with a face value of $2000. The $1 copper Ron Pauls had been ordered from China, but had not arrived before the $50, 1/20th ounce Gold Liberty dated 2008 was introduced. (These tiny gold pieces are the rarest of the NORFED gold releases because the first and only small run had just been shipped prior to the raid described below. It is estimated that less than 200 pieces were produced.) The Ron Paul coppers (highest known auction price $92) finally arrived at the main office in Evansville, Indiana on Friday, November 9th, 2007. The office staff spent the day unboxing and preparing orders for shipping. Monday was a Federal holiday and there was no mail, so the first shipments went out on Tuesday. Little did anyone know that those would be the only Ron Paul coppers to reach public hands. At 8 O'clock Wednesday morning, November 14th, 2007, the FBI and Secret Service served search and seizure warrants at the Evansville office and at the Sunshine mint in Idaho simultaneously. They seized everything in Evansville but the furniture and all of the precious metals stored at Sunshine as well as the dies used for producing the many Liberty Dollar varieties
(2006 $1000 highest known ebay sale $4200 on Sept. 1st, 2021 by ebay seller basparks1 )
(2000 $500 highest known ebay sale $2299 on 1/10 2023 by ebay seller nvliquidators )
(1/20 highest known private sale $1000 12/1/2016 by Ron G.)
Above are three of the five gold pieces produced by NORFED/Liberty Services. Below is the artwork of the Ron Paul gold piece.
(highest known ebay sale $6000 on 9/1/2021 by seller basparks1 )
After the move up to the $50 silver base (described on other pages of this site), a 1/4 oz, $500 gold piece was introduced. It is pictured below with the 1/20 oz gold piece for size comparison.
(highest known private sale $900 on 9/3/2021 by Jon L . for the 1/4 oz gold)
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I purchased this Ron Paul Platinum Liberty, serial number 42, from a Liberty Dollar supporter in New Zealand, who ordered it directly from the Liberty Dollar office in Evansville, IN when they first started taking orders. The Ron Paul platinum is the only platinum piece ever produced by NORFED/Liberty Dollar. Most were serial numbered and bear the 'bill of rights' hallmark as this one does. The highest known auction price for a Ron Paul platinum is $5400, fetched by #55 in an e-bay auction right after the Nov. 2007 FBI raid.
These are the two pre-raid copper pieces produced by Liberty Services, both one ounce, $1 pieces.
Later in 2008 (after the raid) a PEACE copper was struck, and by accident some of them were struck with the reverse die used on the Ron Paul copper pictured above. In 2009 another PEACE copper was struck with a new reverse. These three pieces are pictured below. The sacrifice in quality to keep the price low is evident on the 2009 piece.
Upon placing the five copper Libertys in an album, I noticed that three of the five were off-center rotationally front to back. Here are photos of both sides of the page.
When the TEAPARTY copper showed up shortly after July 4th, 2009, I was informed that there were three different ones. Upon investigating, I discovered that it was a reference to the rotational ratio of obverse to reverse once again. I discovered that there are many more than three. There were 15 different easily discerned angles in the 40 pieces I had. Pictured below is the five most drastic. This was caused by the reverse die not being rotationally locked in the press, so they can be at any angle.
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