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

3250

1800 $10 MS65 NGC

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:160,000.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1800 $10 MS65 NGC
<B>1800 $10 MS65 NGC.</B></I> Breen-6842, Taraszka-23, BD-1, High R.3. Only one known die pair exists for the 1800 eagles. Although considered a common issue overall, this issue is seldom encountered in higher Mint State grades. We are unaware of any examples above MS63 that have been offered in auctions over the years. The NGC and PCGS population data explains the condition rarity of this issue. Both services have graded just 17 MS63 examples and five MS64 pieces. The present Gem MS65 coin and one other piece called Specimen 65 NGC are the only Gem pieces graded by either NGC or PCGS, with none finer. (12/07). Jeff Garrett and Ron Guth further explain the importance of this date in their <I>Gold Encyclopedia</B></I>: "The 1800 issue is relatively easy to obtain in most circulated grades, thanks to a cluster of coins at the About Uncirculated level. Mint State examples are truly rare and the unusually high number of MS-63 examples reported is likely bloated by resubmissions."<BR> Top auction honors, according to Garrett and Guth, is held by the uncertified Pittman coin that sold for $132,000 in 1998. A quick review of the Pittman catalog reveals an illustration of this very same coin. David Akers calls it: "a magnificent coin, one of the finest examples known of this rare and underrated date, possibly even the finest." The strike is nearly full; only star 13 is a trifle weak. It is also nicely centered with full borders, only lacking detail at the left obverse due to faint adjustment marks, and the corresponding point on the reverse border. Akers considers the date underrated, and cites the calendar year mintage of 5,999 coins to support his statement. However, it is probably the case that certain eagles struck in 1801 were dated 1800, as the custom of the Mint was to use dies until they wore out.<BR> The adjustment marks on the obverse caused the planchet to be slightly thinner (microscopically so), which in turn lessened the available pressure from the coinage dies at this location. While this explanation is simplified, it explains the characteristic weakness associated with adjustment marks, and the simple manner of distinguishing between these Mint marks and later scratches.<BR> Exceptional surfaces exhibit brilliant yellow mint luster with few scattered abrasions on the obverse, reflected in the prooflike fields. The reverse is pristine with a frosty type of luster. The obverse die is cracked through the tops of LIBERTY, with branches to the border over B and E. This is the usual die state of the obverse. The reverse has clash marks from dentils over STAT, and a fine die crack through the lower outside of the branch, to the eagle's tail.<BR> John Jay Pittman purchased this coin from Maurice Storck, who acquired it from the King Farouk sale held by Sotheby's in February 1954. Storck was among a small contingent of Americans who traveled to Cairo to attend the sale in person. Lot 187 in that sale consisted of six early eagles, two 1799, one 1800, one 1801, one 1803, and one 1804. One of the 1799's and the 1804 were each graded Very Fine, and the others, including this 1800, were all graded Extremely Fine.<BR><I>Ex: Palace Collections of Egypt (Sotheby, 2/54), part of lot 187; John Jay Pittman Collection (David Akers, 5/98), lot 1907; Heritage via private treaty.</B></I><BR><I>From The Madison Collection.</B></I><BR><BR><B>Coin Engraver:</B> Robert Scot<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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