1859 1C PR(PCGS#2247)

August 2011 Chicago ANA - Rarities Night

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

7202

等级

PR67

价格

95,496

详细说明

1859 Indian Cent. Proof-67 (PCGS). OGH--Second Generation. Beginning in 1858, the United States Mint under Director Colonel James Ross Snowden began to produce proof coins in greater numbers than in previous years and to advertise such pieces for sale to contemporary collectors. This practice continued through 1859, in which year the Mint recorded the number of proof silver and gold coins struck for the first time in its history. Despite the fact that the late 1850s witnessed the first boom in coin collecting in the United States, the Mint's production of proofs in both 1858 and 1859 still proved overly optimistic. The result is that many of the coins produced remained unsold by the end of their respective year, after which they were destroyed in the Mint.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Writing in the 1989 edition of his proof coin <em>Encyclopedia</em>, the late Walter Breen states that 1859 minor and silver coin proof sets were first made available to the public sometime prior to February 21 of that year. The author opines that probably no more than 60-70 complete sets were actually distributed to contemporary collectors throughout the year, most of which were promptly broken up so that the coins could be included in denomination sets.&nbsp;What few complete 1859 proof sets that appear in today's market have been reassembled over the years by collectors, some as recently as after the advent of third party certification in the mid 1980s.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Two things are particularly extraordinary about the complete 1859 proof set that we are offering here. The first is the uniform high Gem to Superb Gem quality possessed by the individual coins. The second is that the silver pieces appear to be&nbsp;<em>original to the same set as issued by the Mint</em>,&nbsp;the silver three-cent piece through half dollar housed in consecutively numbered PCGS holders 50093909 through 50093913. The silver dollar is not in a consecutively numbered holder, but it displays