LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2008 Jan. FUN Signature Coin Auction #454  / 

2737

1792 H10C Half Disme, Judd-7, Pollock-7, R.4,

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:55,000.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1792 H10C Half Disme, Judd-7, Pollock-7, R.4,
<B>1792 H10C Half Disme, Judd-7, Pollock-7, R.4, VF20 PCGS.</B></I> The 1792 half disme story has been repeated, retold, elaborated, and embellished modern numismatists, even those with access to the latest "information," in many cases cannot separate fact from fiction. One of the most popular myths--or is it conjecture, or unsupported fact?--is that Martha Washington was the model for the obverse of the 1792<I> </B></I>half disme. Our starting point, the www.coinfacts.com website (everyone knows, do they not, that "facts" are true?), notes: "The 1792 pattern issue is also known as the Martha Washington half disme. <I>According to some sources,</B></I> <I>it may be Martha Washington, </B></I>the wife of our first president, who was the model for the Birch 1792 half disme." (Emphasis ours.) The text footnote cites Bowers' <I>The History of United States Coinage As Illustrated by the Garrett Collection, </B></I>which says: "Most famous of the 1792 pattern pieces are the Birch cents. Produced in several variations, the obverse depicts a female head, <I>said by some to be Martha Washington,</B></I> facing to the right. Surrounding is the inscription LIBERTY PARENT OF SCIENCE & INDUSTRY. The date 1792 is below the portrait." (Emphasis ours.) After conjecture over Birch's identity, Bowers notes that "Alexander Vattemare and James Ross Snowden both associated Robert Birch with the early pattern issues." <BR> In James Ross Snowden's 1860 <I>A Description of Ancient and Modern Coins in the Cabinet Collection at the Mint of the United States </B></I>(one of the many pleasures of cataloging coins at Heritage is access to an excellent research library), Snowden writes of the 1792 half disme, "A female head, emblematic of Liberty, facing to the left. <I>This is popularly supposed</B></I> <I>to represent the features of Martha Washington, </B></I>who is said to have sat to the artist while he was designing it."<BR> Unfortunately, Snowden neither cites any specific source, nor names the identity of the unknown artist "Birch," if indeed he knew who either was.<I> </B></I>There we have it, a typical example of mysterious unnamed sources, half-truths, and conjecture that end up as numismatic "fact." The various "Birch" patterns all show some thematic similarities and differences, yet we are still left with a dead end when it comes to an original source for who cited Martha Washington as the model for any of the coinage. If indeed she posed for some or all of the coinage, that would make the pieces the "first First Spouse" coinage.<BR><I> </B></I>This example of the nation's first regular-issue silver coinage is noteworthy as a problem-free, midgrade representative of this issue. Most examples found in circulated condition--and that includes most examples known--are plagued with problems of one kind or another. They are repaired, show environmental damage in the form of corrosion or pitting, are damaged, scratched, show graffiti, or are even holed. <BR><I> </B></I>The present example shows beautiful original patina in shades of aqua and orange, deepening to charcoal-gray in a couple of places. There are a few light contact marks consistent with circulation, but the only singular distraction is a straight scrape from above Liberty's ear, through the hair and to the P in PAR. The eagle's breast and the highpoints of Liberty's hair are somewhat weakly struck, as usually seen, but there is much pleasing detail remaining. An affordable and (worth repeating!) problem-free example of this most historic U.S. coinage issue. Population: 5 in 20, 57 finer (12/07).<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Coins & Currency (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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