1794 1C S-64 No Fraction Bar, BN MS(PCGS#35708)

March 2021 U.S. Coins Auction

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

4015

等级

MS62BN

价格

414,038

详细说明

Mint State 1794 No Fraction Bar Cent The Third Finest Known 1794 Liberty Cap Cent. S-64. Rarity-5-. No Fraction Bar. MS-62 BN (PCGS). An outstanding example of this popular major variety, one of only three mint state examples extant. The two slightly finer examples include a PCGS MS-64 RB specimen which sold at auction in 2014 as part of the Adam Mervis Collection for $381,875 and a PCGS MS-65 BN piece that we sold in our August 2020 sale of the ESM Collection for $144,000. This slightly lower-graded yet truly impressive piece has lustrous medium-brown surfaces and remnants of faded mint red at the borders. Some rough natural planchet texture is seen in the lower left obverse field where the metal was not fully smoothed out by the strike. This is not an uncommon feature for the "Shielded Hair" obverse varieties, as this high relief portrait often did not leave enough striking pressure to go around. The MS-65 BN coin mentioned above showed similar planchet texture in the same area. Actual contact marks are few -- a little scratch at Liberty's eyebrow and another dull mark above ONE are the only ones to note. This is a later die state of the variety with a crack through D of UNITED to the wreath. Drastic polishing of the reverse die has resulted not only in attenuation of the left ribbon end (which terminates in a single sharp point), but also fine detail and excellent spacing between all of the leaves and berries in the wreath. Of this die Sheldon wrote: >"beautifully executed reverse, with excellent spacing throughout and fine engravings of the leaves. All the detail about the ribbon bow and fraction is perfect and symmetrical, except for the strange omission of the fraction bar." Could Sheldon's "strange omission" actually be the result of (re)polishing of the die? In other words, could the fraction bar have been included when the die was engraved, as customary, and if so, could a "perfect fraction" example from the Sheldon-64 pairing exist? None have surfaced as of this writing and, although the three varieties share the same obverse, it is unlikely that an early die state S-64 could be misattributed as S-65 or NC-6 due to the differences in certain elements of the wreath. For example, S-64 has two berries outside the wreath below the letter D in UNITED, while for S-65 and NC-6 there is only one berry in that position. Regardless of the cause, the notable absence of the fraction bar, and this being the only variety with such a feature, has made Sheldon-64 a perennial favorite among large cent specialists and an important major variety of the date as well. As demand converges on the offered mint state example from Red Book collectors, Registry Set participants, and 1794 large cent enthusiasts alike, a strong bid is advisable if you wish to take this coin home. Provenance: Ex Stack's, ca. early 1960s; Alfred Bonard; Numismatic Enterprises' February 1968 sale, lot 34 (where incorrectly reported to be the Dr. French coin); Carlyle A. Luer; Heritage's sale of the Carlyle A. Luer Collection, January 2018, lot 4742. PCGS# 35708. NGC ID: 223P. 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.