LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2008 February Long Beach Signature Coin #460  / 

2008

1793 1C Wreath, Vine and Bars Edge. AU50 PCGS.

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:16,000.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1793 1C Wreath, Vine and Bars Edge. AU50 PCGS.
<B>1793 1C Wreath, Vine and Bars Edge. AU50 PCGS. S-9, B-12, R.2. </B></I> <B>Noyes VF20; tied for CC-21. Photo #36165. Our EAC Grade VF25.<BR><BR>Equivalents.</B></I> Crosby-Levick 7F; Frossard 7.2; Proskey 10; Doughty 11; Crosby 9-H; McGirk 2-G; EAC 12; <I>Encyclopedia</B></I> 1641; PCGS #1347.<BR><B><BR>Variety.</B></I> Horizontal stem parallel to the date. The bow is large and rounded. The obverse appears on S-8, S-9, and NC-4. The reverse appears on S-9. Vine and Bars Edge. The S-9 is the single most common Wreath cent variety by a wide margin.<BR><B><BR>Surfaces. </B></I>An attractive piece with smooth, hard, glossy surfaces. Both sides have mottled golden-brown and deep steel color, probably cleaned and recolored. A few minor handling marks are visible on the obverse, with a small reverse edge bump over M. Light corrosion is evident, primarily on the reverse. Full obverse and reverse borders are visible, with the reverse imperfectly centered. Both sides are sharply detailed, and the obverse and reverse types stand boldly against the field.<BR><B><BR>Die State VII.</B></I> The reverse has die cracks through R and CA of AMERICA, and from the left stem through UNIT. A late die state, although most of the individual die defects Breen describes are faintly visible.<BR><B><BR>Census.</B></I> Perhaps 10 examples are known in Mint State. This piece has considerable sharpness but is downgraded for various minor imperfections.<BR><B><BR>Commentary.</B></I> The S-9 is clearly the most common Wreath cent variety, and the only 1793 large cent of any design with a rarity rating less than R.3. Sheldon mentioned in <I>Early American Cents</B></I> that S.H. Chapman considered this variety to represent 35% of all existing Wreath cents. From a mintage of 63,353 Wreath cents, this would imply a "mintage" of about 22,000 coins.<BR><BR>One famous example of this variety is the "Space Cent" that was carried aboard Gemini VII in December 1965, manned by Col. Frank Borman and Capt. James A. Lovell. The craft orbited Earth 206 times before its return.<BR><BR>In the March 1988 issue of <I>Penny-Wise</B></I>, copper enthusiast Robert W. Miller, Sr. compared the S-9 to the famous Smith counterfeit 1793 cents:<BR><BR>"Sometime after large cents were recalled, early collectors noticed cents of 1793 were hard to come by. A New York City jeweler named Smith filed down cents of 1794 and reengraved, by hand, copies of 1793 cents. Smith must have used a real S9 cent as his model, as the copies are very close in design to a S9. All of the hair is very flat and the surfaces unusually smooth. Since quite a few were made, possibly 50 - 200, each example is different in lettering and wreath detail. If you have a S9 with flat hair detail, and nice surfaces, check carefully as you may own a Smith counterfeit and not know it."<BR><BR><B> </B></I>Raw material for copper coinage at the new Mint came from a variety of local sources, none particularly ideal, generally consisting of scrap, rough ingots, or sheet. In Breen's <I>Large Cent Encyclopedia,</B></I> contributor Craig Sholley wrote: "The locally obtained scrap proved to be especially troublesome. Copper is a difficult metal to properly melt and it is far more difficult to roll than silver or gold. The Mint, lacking both experience and proper equipment, was not prepared for either of these operations."<BR><BR>The first of the two processes required that Mint personnel melt the metal and pour it into ingot molds, while watching for retained gas bubbles or impurities. Bubbles in the metal resulted in split planchets, laminations, or other defects to the finished coins. Impurities resulted in various streaks or discoloration spots.<BR><BR>The other process was rolling the ingots into planchet strip of the appropriate width and thickness. The Mint used horsepower-operated rollers that were apparently poorly made. Coinage of the Wreath cents was suspended after the April 19 delivery while the rollers were repaired.<BR><BR><B>Provenance.</B></I> <I>Bowers and Merena (1/1990), lot 1074; Bud Lee (3/1997)</B></I>.<BR><BR><B>Personality.</B></I> <B>Henry Voigt</B></I> (sometimes spelled Voight) was the first chief coiner at the Philadelphia Mint. President Washington appointed him to the position on January 29, 1793, and he served in that capacity until his death on February 7, 1814. He was a clockmaker by trade, known for his skill and knowledge of mechanics. He also held a patent for boats propelled by cattle. Some confusion surrounds his early life. In <I>American Numismatic Biographies</B></I>, Pete Smith notes that Voigt was born in Germany in 1744. However, R.W. Julian writes in his article "Aspects of the Copper Coinage" (ANS, <I>Coinage of the Americas Conference</B></I>, 1996) that Voigt was born about 1745 in Pennsylvania.<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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