1838 $1 J-84, Gobrecht Restrike PR(PCGS#11352)

June 2023 U.S. Coins Auction

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

2029

等级

PR25

价格

118,647

详细说明

Highly Elusive 1838 Gobrecht Dollar Judd-84 Restrike Middle to Late State, Circa 1867-1874 1838 Gobrecht Silver Dollar. Name Removed. Judd-84 Restrike, Pollock-93. Rarity-5. Silver. Reeded Edge. Die Alignment III. Proof-25 (NGC). Here is a somewhat more affordable, yet still overall boldly defined 1838 Gobrecht dollar, the rarest date in this challenging series. The surfaces are a bit glossy in texture with wispy hairlines that betray a cleaning, and there are also tiny handling marks scattered about. These features, combined with moderately heavy wear, strongly suggest that this coin was carried as a pocket piece for a considerable period of time. Although generally brilliant, both sides are starting to retone nicely at the borders, especially the obverse, on which side vivid golden-apricot and cobalt blue peripheral colors are seen. Sharper detail remains in the recesses of the major design elements, and there are no singularly distracting marks. For the collector assembling a complete date set of Gobrecht dollars, the 1838 will likely prove to be the most challenging to acquire. While traditional numismatic wisdom states that a small number of originals were struck that year in Die Alignment I, modern scholarship has discounted this theory. In fact, no Die Alignment I examples of this date are known to exist. The website gobrechtdollars.comcontains the most in-depth and up-to-date scholarship on this series, the authors of which (Craig Sholley, Saul Teichman and John W. Dannreuther) have confirmed that only two original 1838 Gobrecht dollars are known: the Mint Cabinet-Smithsonian Institution specimen in Die Alignment IV and the Eliasberg-ANS coin in Die Alignment III. Exactly when those coins were struck is not known, but it was sometime after July 1838. Obviously, original 1838 Gobrecht dollars were exceedingly rare in their time, and it is likely that they were unknown outside of a small circle of Mint and other government officials. This in keeping with the issue's status, for unlike the 1836 Judd-60 Original and 1839 Judd-104 Original, which are regular issues made for circulation, the 1838 Judd-84 Original is a pattern. The Stars Obverse type of 1838 was intended to salvage the basic Gobrecht design for expanded circulation strike production by stilling criticism over the initial design. One of the chief complaints of the 1836 issue is that the absence of stars on the obverse and the use of a plain (as opposed to reeded) edge made the coins look too medallic in nature. With the growth of numismatics in the United States during the late 1850s, demand for rare early issues soon reached a level where the Mint saw an opportunity to provide coins such as the 1838 Gobrecht dollar to collectors for its own benefit. Indeed, the earliest restrikes of this issue were made ca. June 1859 to 1863, most of which were used by Mint Director James Ross Snowden to trade for Washingtoniana for the Mint Cabinet. These are the Early State Restrikes, per Sholley, Teichman and Dannreuther. Two additional striking periods followed: Middle State Restrikes ca. 1867 to 1869, and Late State Restrikes ca. 1873 to 1874. The final two striking periods are attributed to Henry Richard Linderman, who served two non-consecutive terms as mint director from April 1867 to May 1869 and April 1873 to December 1878. The Linderman era is widely known for having spawned large numbers of restrikes, novodels, so-called patterns and fantasy pieces that were made expressly for distribution to collectors. The surface quality of the 1838 Gobrecht dollar offered here makes die stating work difficult and complicates the process of assigning it to a definitive striking period. Close inspection with a loupe, however, reveals considerable evidence of die polishing to the obverse, which has effaced much of the detail of the rocky base at its junction with the ribbon end. Such polishing is diagnostic of both Middle and Late State Restrikes, and attributes this coin to one of Linderman's two tenures as mint director. It is a curious survivor from that era, having been mishandled by an early owner rather than carefully preserved in a numismatic cabinet, as intended. This coin was not produced as part of a circulating issue and almost certainly did not see commercial use in the traditional sense of the term. PCGS# 11352. NGC ID: BLXE. Click here for certification details from NGC.