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

2056

1794 1C Head of '94. AU53 PCGS. S-54, B-46, R.3

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:4,000.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1794 1C Head of '94. AU53 PCGS. S-54, B-46, R.3
<B>1794 1C Head of '94. AU53 PCGS. S-54, B-46, R.3.</B></I> <B>Bland VF35; tied for CC-5. Noyes VF35; tied for CC-4. Photo #28282. Our EAC Grade VF35.<BR><BR>Equivalents. </B></I>Maris 7 (Crooked 7); Frossard 5.1; Doughty 27; Hays 11; McGirk 9-D; Ross 8-D; Chapman 43; EAC 44; <I>Encyclopedia </B></I>1668; PCGS #901374.<BR><B><BR>Variety. </B></I>Date has 7 leaning sharply to the right. Closed Wreath, terminal leaves touch. The obverse appears on S-54, S-55, and S-56. The reverse appears on S-49, S-50, S-51, S-52, S-53, and S-54. Lettered Edge, leaf points up.<BR><B><BR>Surfaces. </B></I>Pleasing olive surfaces with a small patch of lighter tan above OF. Both sides have a few small splashes of deeper green-brown. A small mark is evident on Liberty's cheek, with another below the T in CENT. The Stack's cataloger described "a cheek nick but full denticles on both sides. Deep brown toning, glossy surfaces, a touch of tan at the top reverse. Steel blue overtones. A really nice overall appearance."<BR><BR><B>Die State II.</B></I> Faint reverse clash marks from the obverse hair details are visible within the wreath. A tiny die crack is hidden in the hair, crossing the third hair strand behind the neck.<BR><BR><B>Appearances. </B></I>The reverse is illustrated in <I>Early American Cents</B></I> and <I>Penny Whimsy</B></I>. The obverse and reverse are illustrated in Noyes (2006).<BR><BR><B>Census. </B></I>Although a relatively common variety, high grade examples are nonexistent. Sheldon recorded a single XF40 coin, from the Dr. French Collection, as the finest known. Today, an AU50 coin is considered the best.<BR><BR><B>Commentary. </B></I>The long-lasting Closed Wreath reverse die makes its final appearance, in its sixth die marriage, as discussed by Sheldon in <I>Penny Whimsy:</B></I> "This is the last appearance of the Closed Wreath reverse, which bore up heroically under six marriages in one year, and for a century and a half [now two centuries] afterward has provided cent collectors with one of their best clues to attribution."<BR><BR><B>Provenance. </B></I><I>Norman Stack Collection; Herman Halpern (Stack's, 3/1988), lot 72, $1,870; Chris Victor-McCawley (12/1988); Robinson S. Brown, Jr. (Superior, 1/1996), lot 77, $5,775.</B></I><BR><BR><B>Personality. </B></I>Though later generations of numismatists have corrected much of his work, the die characteristic and emission sequence articles written by <B>George R. Ross</B></I> broke new ground in half cent and large cent study. His major writings appeared in <I>The</B></I> <I>Numismatist</B></I> between World War I and the early Great Depression, and Thomas Elder sold his extensive large cent collection in May 1937.<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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