1798 1C S-173, BN MS(PCGS#36089)

August 2020 U.S. Coins Auction

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

1030

等级

MS63BN

价格

91,701

详细说明

Handsome Mint State 1798 Style II Hair Cent Among the Finest Known from the S-173 Dies 1798 Draped Bust Cent. S-173. Rarity-3. Style II Hair. MS-63 BN (PCGS). Type:Draped Bust. Design: Obv: A draped bust of Liberty faces right with the word LIBERTY above and the date 1798 below. Liberty's hair is tied with a ribbon, the ends of which are plainly evident at the back of the head. Rev: A wreath surrounds the denomination ONE CENT, the base of the wreath bound by a ribbon tied into a bow. The legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is around the border and another expression of the denomination 1/100 is below. Weight Standard: 10.89 grams. Diameter: 29 mm. Die Variety: Sheldon-173, Breen-38. Obv: Style II Hair (a.k.a. Head of 1799) with an extra curl in Liberty's hair at the shoulder. Style II Letters, the tail of the R in LIBERTY is curved. Straight, compact date with a tiny die chip above the serif of the digit 7. The letter Y in LIBERTY is low with broken serifs at its base that have been partially corrected. S-173 represents the only use of this obverse die. Rev: Double center dot, with a second, smaller dot above and to the right of the primary dot. Both pairs of leaves in the wreath below the letter T in CENT are free of the branch stem. This reverse also appears in the 1799/8 NC-1 pairing. S-173 is one of many die marriages that correspond to the Style II Hair Guide Bookvariety of the 1798 Draped Bust cent. Die State: Noyes B/B, Breen IV. Obv: Prominent cud break at the upper border from the curve of the letter R to the left top of the letter Y in LIBERTY. Rev: Light clash marks are evident at the letters UN in UNITED and within the wreath to the right of the letter T in CENT, faint die crack through the top of the letters NITE in UNITED. Edge: Plain. Mintage: Federal records provide a mintage of 979,700 cents during calendar year 1798. Popular numismatic references such as the Guide Book,however, list a mintage of 1,841,745 coins for the 1798-dated Draped Bust cent issue. The exact number of coins struck from 1798-dated dies is unknown, although it certainly includes most of the 979,700 cents delivered during calendar year 1798, most of the 904,585 cents delivered during calendar year 1799, and perhaps also some coins struck in 1800. Estimated Surviving Population for the Die Variety: Rarity-3: 301 to 400 coins in all grades. Strike: Well centered on the obverse, although denticulation on that side is light to absent, reverse drawn trivially to 1 o'clock with denticulation absent along the upper right border. Overall striking detail for the devices is bold to sharp, minor softness over the upper right reverse at the letters TES OF A in the legend and the leaves at the top of the right branch stem. Surfaces: A frosty, hard and tight example with slightly mottled steely-copper patina dominating the appearance. Considerable faded mint color is also evident, generally in the protected areas around the design elements. There are few noticeable marks, a few light ones over and before Liberty's neck mentioned for identification purposes. Commentary: Sheldon-173 is linked with the famous key date 1799/8 NC-1 rarity, examples of which were struck between early and late die states of S-173. The ESM Collection example is tied for CC#1 with the ANS specimen in the Bland census, in which this coin has an EAC grade of MS-61. Interestingly, and perhaps harshly, the 2015 Noyes census grades this coin XF40(MS60) Average Minus with a CC#10 ranking. Heritage's grade for this coin when offered in their February 2008 sale of the Husak Collection is EAC AU55, cataloger Mark Borckardt writing, "We believe that Noyes should reconsider the grade of this piece. It should easily rank in the top six on his list." We concur, as the ESM coin is clearly among the finest survivors from the S-173 dies. Ideal for inclusion in a high grade large cent cabinet or Guide Bookvariety set. Provenance: From the ESM Collection. Earlier ex unidentified European source; Lester Merkin, privately; our (Bowers and Ruddy's) Fixed Price Lists of 1973 to 1975; our (Bowers and Ruddy's) Dr. D.C. Montgomery, Jr. Collection sale, February 1976, lot 1068; unknown intermediaries; Heritage's Long Beach Sale of February 1994, lot 6685; Anthony Terranova, Tom Reynolds and Chris Victor-McCawley, March 15, 1994; Robinson S. Brown, Jr.; Superior's sale of the Robinson S. Brown, Jr. Collection of Large Cents, January 1996, lot 239; Walter Husak; Heritage's sale of the Walter Husak Collection, February 2008, lot 2176. PCGS Population (all die marriages of the Style II Hair variety): 14; 14 finer in this category (MS-65+ BN finest). There is also a single MS-65 RB listed at this service. PCGS# 36089. NGC ID: 2244. Click here for certification details from PCGS.