(1796) AE Medal Castorland, Original Reeded Edge, BN MS(PCGS#654)

November 2020 U.S. Coins Auction

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

4248

等级

AU55BN

价格

31,474

详细说明

Very Rare Original Castorland in Copper Perfect Dies 1796 Castorland Medal. Copper. Breen-1059, W-9110. Original dies. Coin turn. AU-55 (PCGS). 198.7 grains. 31.7 mm. 1.9 - 2.0 mm thick. Reeded edge with thick, even reeds. Rich chocolate brown with some lighter tan around the design elements, where mint color was last to fade. Lustrous and glossy, with frost best surviving around peripheries. The surfaces show some minuscule scattered nicks and planchet texture, the latter of which manifests as light granularity, though both of these characteristics seem to mostly or entirely predate the minting process. The strike and centering are ideal on both sides, and no major flaws are noted. One light rim bruise is seen on the obverse above N of COLONIA. There is no trace of spalling at the basin handle, nor break at R of PARENS, denoting this as among the earliest strikes. An important and rare piece. Breen’s estimate of just six to eight pieces known may actually be accurate, as your cataloger has seen roughly half that number in more than two decades. This die state is earlier than both of the copper originals cited by Breen - Garrett:1520 and Kosoff (1985):4134. Your cataloger has seen just three others of this approximate die state, including the piece in the following lot. The Castorland medals are among the most fascinating American reference medals of the 18th century, with much in common with the 1796 Myddelton tokens. Though the Castorlands were struck at the Paris Mint and the Myddleton tokens were English productions from Boulton and Watt, both were struck to promote American settlement projects in what were then considered hinterlands. The Castorland settlement, just 50 miles from the Canadian border in upstate New York, was largely abandoned by 1814, but the medal lived on. As was common at the Paris Mint at the time, the original dies were preserved, producing restrikes best dated along a continuum from the earliest perfect die state to the last broken one. After 1842, the Paris Mint began dating restrikes using edge privy marks. For popular medals, which included most of American interest, copy dies supplanted broken original dies. The Paris Mint continued to strike Castorland pieces from copy dies well into the 20th century. While later strikes served just one purpose — interesting collectibles for a numismatist’s cabinet — the earliest strikes in silver and copper clearly served another function. Whether they were intended as gifts for early investors, marketing tools to lure new settlers, or something else, the record remains fairly silent thus far. Provenance: From the E Pluribus Unum Collection. PCGS# 654. Click here for certification details from PCGS. Image with the PCGS TrueView logo is obtained from and is subject to a license agreement with Collectors Universe, Inc. and its divisions PCGS and PSA.