1838 25C Seated, No Drapery MS(PCGS#5391)

December 2020 U.S. Coins Auction

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

1063

等级

MS65

价格

141,570

详细说明

Gem Mint State 1838 Liberty Seated Quarter 1838 Liberty Seated Quarter. No Drapery. Briggs 1-A. Open Claws. MS-65 (NGC). This intensely lustrous and silky smooth example will be perfect for inclusion in the finest type set or Liberty Seated collection. Satiny surfaces are brilliant and highly appealing. Striking detail is razor sharp throughout the design, and the technical quality and eye appeal are far superior to what is typically offered for the brief No Drapery design type. At the request of Mint Director Robert M. Patterson, Engraver William Kneass conceived a rudimentary sketch for a proposed design depicting Liberty seated upon a emblemized shield facing left, holding a pole topped with a pileus (the cap given by the Romans to slaves upon their liberation). Famed portrait painter Thomas Sully refined this concept, and it is from this proposal that Christian Gobrecht made a copperplate engraving to submit to Treasury Secretary Levi Woodbury for approval. This is the design from which the Gobrecht dollars were crafted, along with several pattern pieces for Liberty Seated half dollars but, curiously, no patterns for Liberty Seated quarters. Struck on the cusp of autumn in 1838, 466,00 1838 Liberty Seated quarters were produced. Beginning with Kneass' original sketch, the Liberty Seated design had been in a state of perpetual revision, and even within the few months of mintage in 1838 the reverse design had been modified to extend the eagle's claws. Though researcher Larry Briggs noted in The Comprehensive Encyclopedia of United States Liberty Seated Quarters(1991) that this Closed Claws reverse was an alteration to the initial Open Claws design, continued research questions this direct progression and even introduces the possibility of a third, intermediate design that closely resembles another Closed Claws reverse. Once again, in 1840, the dies were reworked, most notably adding drapery folds beneath her left elbow and thereby creating the Drapery design type that would be used until the conclusion of this series in 1891. The present offering represents a pairing of the No Drapery obverse, Open Claws reverse design types. While 1838 No Drapery Liberty Seated quarters are relatively common in lower circulated grades, availability is strictly limited in Mint State. This Gem is among the finest certified, and worthy of serious bidder consideration. Provenance: From the Larry H. Miller Collection. NGC Census: 5; 4 finer (MS-67 finest). PCGS# 5391. NGC ID: 23SE. Click here for certification details from NGC.