1670-A 15 Sol MS(PCGS#170185)

Winter 2022 U.S. Coins Auction

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

1011

等级

AU53

价格

1,186,470

详细说明

The Finest 1670-A 15 Sols in Private Hands PCGS AU-53 1670-A French Colonies 15 Sols. Paris Mint. Martin 1.2-B.2, Breen 2-B (1976), Breen-255 (1988), W-11610, Gadoury-3, Breton-501, Zay-1, Ciani-255, Lecompte-187. Rarity-7-. AU-53 (PCGS). 105.4 grains. An exceptional example of one of the classic rarities of North American numismatics, surpassed by the Mint State example at the Bibliotheque Nationale but the finest of just nine examples of the type known in private hands. Abundant luster persists on obverse and reverse, most energetic at the rims, with vivid golden toning over both sides. Highlights of royal blue and regal violet appropriately frame the peripheries. The detail is exceptionally sharp on both sides, and the strike is complete. Even the often-weak central reverse is fully struck, with only a hint of an adjustment mark stretching from the right side of the upper left fleur-de-lis in the shield to the base of the crown. Some hairlines are seen on both sides, lending some minor brightness to the fields, and scattered marks are commensurate with the grade. A short vertical scratch in the field off the chin is perhaps the worst, minor as it is, and no significant contact marks or impacts are seen on either surfaces or rims. The centering is excellent, and denticles are present everywhere but the northwest quadrant of the reverse. Both dies appear perfect, as described in the Martin book. Martin included eight examples from these dies in his 2015 census. We have added two new coins that came to light since that time, bringing the total known to 10. Fully half the population is impounded in major museum collections, leaving a collectible population in private hands of just five pieces. Institutional Collections: 1)Bibliotheque Nationale. Martin 6 (Unc). Ex D'Affiry Collection. 2)Smithsonian Institution. Martin 8 (EF). Ex Charlton - Rector - Bowers and Merena 8-1996:1. 3)British Museum. Martin 5 (VF). Ex Clarke-Thornhill. 4)Bank of Canada. Martin 3 (VF with scratches). Ex Gerald Hart - Frossard 5-1882:610. 5)American Numismatic Society. Martin 1 (F). Ex Tennant Collection - Norweb. Private Collections: 6)This specimen. Martin 2 (AU). Ex Schulman 4-1997:1572. See full provenance below. 7)The Gadoury specimen. Martin unlisted. Ex Editions V. Gadoury 11-2019:722. NGC EF-45. 8)The Kendall Foundation specimen. Martin 7 (AVF). Ex New Netherlands 54 4-1960:1 - Meloche Collection sale 11-1971:214 - Stack's Groves sale 11-1974:382 - Stack's Bowers Galleries Kendall Foundation sale 3-2015:2494. PCGS VF-35. 9)The Partrick specimen. Martin 4 (EF/VF). Ex Count Ferrari - 1964 ANA sale 8-1964:1500 - McKay-Clements sale 5-1976:1 - Heritage 3-2021:15007. NGC VF-30. 10)The Joffre specimen. Martin unlisted. Ex MDC (Monaco) 11-2018:1185 - John Kraljevich - Michael Joffre. PCGS G-4. This piece comes with a circular ticket reading "598 / Louis XIV / 15 sols du Canada / H. 100 A.1670 / C.2064. / 5000." The Ciani reference allows it to be dated to after 1926 but based upon the style it can't be much later than that. A dutiful spelunking of French auction catalogs will likely find a more extensive provenance for this piece. There is no typical 1670-A 15 sols. Among the nine examples of this type traced in private hands, this is the only one graded AU in either the Martin census or our update to it. There are four Extremely Fine coins of widely varying eye appeal and sharpness, two Very Fine coins, an About Very Fine, and a very nice Good. The impounded coins tend to be lower graded, with five of the eight in museum collections graded VF or lower. As noted in the previous lot, an opportunity to buy any example of this rarity is important: 23 years passed between the Roper coin selling and the appearance of the Ford coin on the market. This piece has never before been sold in an American auction. Additional information pertaining to this lot: The Most Complete Collection of 1670 French Colonies Coinage Ever Assembled Including Both Die Varieties of 1670 15 Sols and the Unique 1670 Double De L'Amerique Without question, the 1670 issues for the French Colonies of the New World are the focal rarities of the entire French Colonial series. Syd Martin cherished them. He avidly collected them, assembling an unheard-of array of 16 5 sols, two extremely rare 15 sols, and the prized unique Double de l'Amerique. His 2015 work French Coinage Specifically for Colonial Americaincluded his exacting research on the series, both technical numismatic data and historical background. The sum of his remarkable work on these coins will be very difficult to surpass. Syd also delved heavily into the historiography of these rare coins, particularly through auction catalogs offering examples of the 15 sols. The first American offering of a specimen took place in Ed Frossard's May 1882 sale of the Gerald Hart Collection, a coin acquired at the time by the Canadian government and now in the collection of the Bank of Canada. "Concerning the rarity of this coin," Frossard wrote, "fully described by Prof. Anthon in the American Journal of Numismatics, and subsequently illustrated by me in Numisma, but little need be said." He continued: "Let it suffice to state, that during the last 20 years our foremost collectors have in vain endeavored to discover a specimen abroad, and that all orders for it to European coin dealers have up to this time remain unfulfilled. The coin is not in the French National Cabinet, and but two specimens are owned by members of the French Numismatic Society." Though Frossard claimed he had been looking for one for two decades, he was almost certainly exaggerating. The first American mention of the 1670-dated 5 sols and 15 sols appears to have come from the January 1870 American Journal of Numismaticsunder the heading "A New 'Colonial,'" authored anonymously by Prof. Charles Anthon. He cites these coins - and the unique copper double - from his discovery of a short mention in the 1849 edition of the Numismatische Zeitungpublished at "Weissensee in Thuringia, Germany." Anthon's commentary makes clear that he knew of none in any cabinet, American or European. By 1876 (as noted in the January 1877 AJN), Anthon knew of two: a high grade piece in France (presumably the Mint State coin now in the Bibliotheque Nationale) and an example that a Mr. Quackenbush of Hackensack, New Jersey acquired from a sailor who arrived aboard a potato schooner from Nova Scotia. By the time G.M. Fairchild wrote in 1889 in the Canadian Antiquarian and Numismatic Journal, the number known had increased to four. From its first American mention, the 1670 GLORIAM REGNI coinage has been attributed primarily to Canada, based upon Anthon's discovery of a reference to the coinage in the 1690 Traite des Monnoyesby Francois LeBlanc (there identified as "America - Canada"). This attribution has carried on the present day, though Jerome Jambu's 2021 article in the Journal of Early American Numismatics("The Coins Made 'for the Islands and Mainland of America' by the French West India Company (1670)") provides strong original source evidence arguing that these coins were intended not just primarily, but solely, for the islands of the French West Indies. Recounting the first abortive plan for a coinage for the French West Indies in 1665 and the documents that lead to the coinage of 1670, Jambu links the issue to efforts to Christianize the natives of the islands by maintaining a healthy population of Frenchmen, Christian men (and their families) who would need to conduct small scale commerce with a form of money not linked to the annual sugar crop. The reverse legend of the GLORIAM REGNI coins offer a link to these evangelical goals. The legend "Gloria regni tui dicent" comes from Psalm 144: "They will tell of the glory of Your reign and speak of Your power to make known this power to the sons of men, and the magnificent glory of Your kingdom." The portion seen on the coin design represents the first clause: they will tell the glory of Your reign. Jambu sourced documents that show the GLORIAM REGNI 5 sols and 15 sols were struck at the Paris Mint between July 7 and September 4, 1670. Published mintages of 40,000 (for the 15 sols) and 200,000 (for the 5 sols) fairly neatly match Jambu's calculated mintages of 40,877 and 199,087, respectively. The French West Indies Company transported these coins to Martinique, and distribution began in earnest in 1671. An ordinance published on Martinique on February 9 of that year referenced the "introduction of coins," and by year-end the coins had also been delivered to Guadeloupe and the smaller islands of the French Antilles. Struck from good silver and at good weight, with only their legends to distinguish them from mainland French types, the coins quickly left the islands via trade. Despite the explicit proscription of French mainland circulation of the coins, many returned to Europe. Others bounced around the western Atlantic, and hoard evidence shows many did find their way to Canada. Undoubtedly some reached the ports of the English colonies as well. There appear to be roughly 17 examples of the 1670-A 15 sols known. Martin recorded 15 discrete specimens, plus a number of earlier appearances or mentions that could not be matched or traced. Two examples that do not appear to have been previously counted have come to market since the 2015 publication of the Martin book. A full census is given beneath each of the specimens here, representing both known die varieties of the issue. The 1670-A 5 sols, while very scarce and highly sought after, are the only collectible coins from this historic emission. Building upon work done Walter Breen, Bob Vlack, and others, Syd identified 15 obverse dies and 14 reverse dies. In 1976, Breen mentioned five obverses and three reverse; 20 years later, Vlack told this cataloger he had seen only three obverses. In his 1988 Encyclopedia, Breen noted "7 minor vars." After Syd turned his remarkable numismatic talents to this series, we now know of 21, none more common than Rarity-7 individually. Of those, he was able to acquire 11 different die marriages. The fruits of his labors are offered below. Jambu's estimate that some 43 dies were likely used in the production of the 1670 5 sols and 15 sols suggests that further labors will be fruitful as well. Provenance: From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier from Laurens Schulmans' sale of April 1997, lot 1572; Anthony Terranova Collection, via Joseph Lasser; John Agre and Dave Wnuck (Coin Rarities Online); Julian Webb Collection; John Agre and Dave Wnuck (Coin Rarities Online), July 2009. PCGS# 170185. 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. Click here to see Coins in Motion.[“Coins]