LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 Signature Coin - Charlotte, NC #434  / 

2087

1818 25C MS66 NGC. B-2, R.1. Die State II. This variet

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1818 25C MS66 NGC. B-2, R.1. Die State II. This variet
<B>1818 25C MS66 NGC.</B></I> B-2, R.1. Die State II. This variety is easily spotted by the wide date, stars close to the border, and the lower left star that almost touches the second fold in the drapery. Three points of star 13 are repunched. A prominent center dot resides well below Liberty's ear.<BR> The Capped Bust coinage of John Reich was initially developed in 1807, beginning with the half dollar. According to the late Walter Breen, writing in his <I>Encyclopedia</B></I>: "Reich's new conception for the silver coins was an uncommonly buxom effigy of Ms. Liberty, wearing a mobcap inscribed with her name. (This was for generations misnamed a turban by people who never saw a real one; and even from the beginning it was taken to represent the <I>pilleus</B></I> or Phrygian liberty cap, whereas Reich actually intended it as a fashionable headdress, somewhat like that on some portraits of Martha Washington. Contemporaneous newspaper scurrility attacked the device as portraying 'the artist's fat mistress.') Reich placed it first on half dollars and half eagles, fall 1807; then quarter eagles (1808), dismes (1809), and finally quarter dollars, the next time banks ordered them (1815)."<BR> This example has bright centers, with speckled gold, turquoise, copper-brown, olive-drab and azure coloration at the rims. A bold die crack joins stars 7 through 10. Surface impairments are minuscule, consisting of a few shallow marks on Liberty's lower throat and upper chest areas. The mint luster is satiny but full, and the coin's striking details are simply excellent.<BR> Premium Gem survivors of coinage from this era are obviously very scarce, regardless of date or denomination. The 1818 quarter dollar is no exception, and the two major grading services combined have seen just 15 such coins, as of March 2007, with two MS67s topping out the certified population data. Such high grade examples are only offered occasionally at public auction, and specialists would be well advised to take note of this upcoming event. NGC Census: 12 in 66, 1 finer (3/07).<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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