1773 'Penny' Virginia, BN PR(PCGS#246)

The January 2013 Americana Sale

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

10652

等级

PR64+

价格

237,935

详细说明

1773 Virginia "Penny." Newman 1-A, W-1390. Proof-64+ BN (PCGS). Deep golden-brown with chocolate-brown highlights throughout, and with traces of&nbsp;mint orange in the deeply protected areas. Medal turn or 360 degrees alignment, 3 in date widely repunched. The devices are boldly rendered with virtually every tiny detail present. The present piece is&nbsp;an easy&nbsp;physical and aesthetic rival to a specimen of like grade and certification we (Stack's) sold in June 2007 (lot 39), a piece that realized a final price of $24,150 after fierce bidding activity. That piece was called "Without doubt the finest of this issue to have crossed our desks." The present specimen is without the contact marks and spot noted on the June 2007 offering. Virginia was the only American colony that "enjoyed a royal authorization to mint its own coins as part of its 1609 Charter" according to Breen (1988), but no coinage was forthcoming for the colony until the 1773 Tower Mint issues. There is no certainty as to how many of these rare "Penny" pieces were struck, but the figure was undoubtedly small. Indeed, the present beauty is one of just 10 grading <em>events </em>for Proofs of the type certified by PCGS in all grades, none of them called RB or RD; NGC has certified a solitary example of the type, a well-worn piece called Proof-45 by that firm. Long considered one of the great rarities in colonial coinage, the "Penny" offered here is readily among the finest known,&nbsp;something attentive bidders will not lose track of when the bidding activity begins.