LOT Heritage Rare Coin Galleries  /  2007 Jan (FUN) Heritage Signature Coin #422  / 

3103

1821 $2 1/2 PR64 PCGS.

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:150,001.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 2.00 USD
1821 $2 1/2 PR64 PCGS.
<B>1821 $2 1/2 PR64 Cameo PCGS.</B></I> The two and one half dollar gold piece or quarter eagle, one of 10 coins that Congress authorized via the Mint Act of April 2, 1792, made its debut four years later, in 1796. Its early production was quite small, accounting for slightly more than 22,000 pieces in just eight different years through 1808, after which time mintage of the denomination was suspended. The denomination reappeared in 1821. Nearly 6,500 examples were produced in that year, the second highest annual emission up to that point. Gold coins were seldom seen in commerce in the early United States. This resulted partly from the Founding Fathers' undervaluation of gold relative to silver, making gold coins worth more as bullion (intrinsic value) than as hard money (face value). Consequently, gold coins were hoarded in large numbers, and often exported and melted.<BR> Another reason for the minuscule production of early quarter eagles was their face value: They were either too large, or too small, for most uses. From 1795 until 1804, the ten dollar gold coin, or eagle, was the medium of choice for overseas banking transactions, since foreign debt as a rule had to be paid in hard currency--and bankers had to count four times as many quarter eagles, or twice as many half eagles, as they did eagles to settle a given sum. When eagle production was halted in 1804--not to resume until 1838--the half eagle assumed the role of the favored medium for international exchange. (Of course, silver dollar production also halted in that year, and the dollars minted in 1804 were likely dated 1803.) Most domestic payments, on the other hand, were settled via paper transactions, be they debit, credit, or via paper currency. When coinage was demanded for domestic commerce, the copper large cent and silver half dollar performed as the workhorses for that purpose, and their relative availability to this day attests to their large mintages and relative abundance in circulation.<BR> Walter Breen, writing in his <I>Complete Encyclopedia</B></I> (1988), wonders not why so few quarter eagles were minted, but rather <I>why they were minted at all,</B></I> suggesting that they were ordered in small quantities by local banks and that survivors, based on their condition, "spent most of their time in vaults." Indeed, from 1796 until 1834, when the Classic Head quarter eagle premiered, only about 64,000 quarter eagles were coined, a figure that is but a tiny fraction of the half eagles and eagles produced during the Mint's early period.<BR> As far as is known, the year 1821 represents the first quarter eagles that are identifiable as proof strikings. Perhaps as many as seven pieces are known today, although the combined NGC and PCGS data show six pieces, counting a couple of possible resubmissions. The reason for the striking of these pieces remains a mystery. They may have been struck as part of the presidential inauguration of James Monroe in March 1821. Proof half eagles from this year also exist, and are equally rare. The recently published (and monumentally important) <I>Encyclopedia of U.S. Gold Coins 1795-1933</B></I> by Jeff Garrett and Ron Guth makes these cogent comments concerning the proof 1821 quarter eagles:<BR><BR><I> This was the first year that Proof quarter eagles were produced, all of which are extreme rarities. Proofs (and some of the circulation strikes) feature a depression on Liberty's cheek, presumably caused by something that adhered to the dies, and then later fell off. Since 1993, only a single Proof 1821 quarter eagle has appeared at auction, selling first for $74,250 in 1994, and then for $207,000 when it reappeared in 2005 (not a bad investment). Six Proofs have been certified, a figure that is sure to contain resubmissions. The finest certified is a PF-65 cameo coin. The example in the Smithsonian is a lightly cleaned PF-60 specimen with a partially mirrored, slightly pitted planchet.</B></I><BR><BR> Garrett and Guth also comment (under proof 1821 half eagles) that, "The year 1821 appears to be the first time in which complete Proof sets of all denominations were made, but this may have been in response to collector demand rather than some undocumented 'special' occasion." Of course, as Walter Breen conjectures in his proof <I>Encyclopedia,</B></I> perhaps the Mint merely struck a few proofs to commemorate the resumption of the quarter eagle denomination after its 13-year hiatus, although the existence of proof 1821 half eagles seems to bolster other theories.<BR> Only a single die was used to produce the few proofs and 6,448 business strikes of the year. The Harry W. Bass Collection lacked a proof example of this issue, although it had a circulation strike. The Bass <I>Museum Sylloge</B></I> notes that, "Many early die state circulation strikes still show finishing marks and reflective surfaces vestigial from the preparation of these dies to strike Proof pieces ... ." A second obverse die was produced, but it remained unused and was later overdated 1824/1. The coin Garrett and Guth refer to above, a PR63 example, sold in Heritage's FUN Signature Sale (1/05) for $207,000. The present PR64 Cameo example is one of two pieces so graded at PCGS, and it is exceeded by one PR65 Cameo example each at NGC and PCGS (9/06). Like all known proofs, it shows the defect on Liberty's cheek. The fields are bright and reflective, with nearly complete die polish on both sides. The strike is sharply defined, and there are only minimal contact marks.<BR> To further stress the downright <I>incredible rarity</B></I> of this superb early proof gold coin, a search through Heritage's auction archives reveals that <I>only three times in more than a dozen years have we been privileged to even offer a proof example of the Capped Bust Left type,</B></I> namely two 1831 proof quarter eagles (technically a different subtype, on a smaller planchet) and the aforementioned PR63 1821, with the present specimen the <I>finest of the type that we have ever offered.</B></I><BR><I>From The Dr. Robert J. Loewinger Collection.</B></I><BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Coin/Currency (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>) <BR><BR><B>Important n
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