You'll get no argument from me. however the no motto coin in question is a double eagle not a half eagle... "Jack Trout told the paper that an 1866 Liberty $20 gold piece without the words "In God We Trust" was part of the buried stash, and the coin may fetch over $1 million at auction because it's so rare."This was someone's private coin, created by the mint manager or someone with access to the inner workings of the Old Granite Lady (San Francisco Mint)," Trout told the newspaper. "It was likely created in revenge for the assassination of Lincoln the previous year (April 14, 1865). I don't believe that coin ever left The Mint until the robbery. For it to show up as part of the treasure find links it directly to that inside job at the turn of the century at the San Francisco Mint."
,""This was someone's private coin, created by the mint manager or someone with access to the inner workings of the Old Granite Lady (San Francisco Mint)
While the 1866-S No Motto double eagle is clearly the more elusive of the two issues, its mintage and distribution remain enigmatic. While many sources, including the Guide Book and Doug Winter and Adam Crum?s An Insider?s Guide to Collecting Type I Double Eagles, claim a mintage of just 12,000 pieces, Garrett and Guth, in their 2006 volume Encyclopedia of U.S. Gold Coins, state an estimate of 120,000 coins. This latter figure is in agreement with research conducted by R.W. Julian, and the value is logical, with the With Motto reverse dies not arriving at San Francisco until March, that Mint had an ample window for a six-figure production, even if striking only took place in February, as stated by Winter and Crum. The mintage for the later With Motto pieces, in excess of 840,000 pieces, offers further circumstantial evidence.