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The Levick Plate

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:60.00 USD Estimated At:100.00 USD
The Levick Plate
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[American Numismatic Society] American Numismatic and Archæological Society. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF NUMISMATICS. Volume III, No. 12. New York, April 1869. 4to, original printed wraps. (93)-100, (4) pages; fine mounted photographic plate depicting “Types and Varieties of the U. S. Cent, 1793, Compiled by Joseph N.T. Levick.” Annotated throughout in pencil and ink, by an advanced collector. The issue is worn, with covers worn and discolored, and pages loose and brittle; the plate is rather clean, with one annotation noting a new variety in red ink. Good only, overall. Features the first substantial article ever written on United States large cents: “The United States Cents of 1793,” by Sylvester S. Crosby. It was accompanied by a remarkable photograph arranged by J.N.T. Levick, depicting 12 obverses and 10 reverses of 1793 cents from famous collections of the day, with die links. The large cent photograph found in this copy is a good example of the second issue of this plate. The photographer utilized by Levick, George Gardner Rockwood (1832-1911), was famous in his own right. He became interested in photography in the mid-1850s, and in 1860 opened a photographic gallery in New York City at 839 Broadway, corner of 13th Street. A noted innovator, Rockwood was the first to produce carte-de-visite photographs in the United States and the first to introduce instantaneous photography, photo-sculpture, and photo-engraving. The annotations in this copy are interesting, and this cataloguer had to spend some time with this to make sure they weren’t in Crosby’s own hand.