LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 Dallas Signature Coin Auction #450  / 

947

1851 S$1 Restrike PR64 Cameo PCGS. From the 1850s thro

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:240.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1851 S$1 Restrike PR64 Cameo PCGS. From the 1850s thro
<B>1851 S$1 Restrike PR64 Cameo PCGS.</B></I> From the 1850s through the 1880s, patterns, restrikes, and various unofficial Mint products were sold in secret to well-heeled numismatists. The proof restrikes of the 1851 dollar are especially interesting and confusing. Current numismatic scholarship suggests that they were made at different times. One batch was produced by Theodore Eckfeldt and accomplices from 1858 until mid-1860, and the other was created by Mint Director Henry Linderman, who may have made examples from 1867 to 1868.<BR> Further information came to light in 1992, when Bowers <I>et al.</B></I> identified two distinct die pairs from a group of 1851 restrikes assembled at that year's American Numismatic Association convention. The first has a series of tiny die markers, while the second displays doubling on the upper obverse stars. Yet a number of examples sold in recent years display neither set of these identifying characteristics, this example included.<BR> A different dollar from the first die pair, lot 7637 from the May 2005 Central States Numismatic Society sale, displays light clash marks in the left obverse field. Once the coiners found clash marks on the dies, it seems likely that they would polish those dies, since their customers might reject obviously imperfect specimens. Heavy die polishing has several possible effects; minor devices might lose thickness, die rust and other small markers could become weaker, and the die pair would have temporarily enhanced contrast.<BR> This wonderful near-Gem displays evidence of all three. The bottoms of the numerals are paper-thin, which is particularly evident on the 5, and hardly any die rust appears in the exergue. The contrast is considerable, with crisply struck and lightly frosted silver-white devices that project from moderately reflective gold-gray and smoke-gray fields. A lintmark that passes through star 1 serves as a pedigree marker. Well-preserved overall with just a few minor hairlines in the fields, and of just three Cameo examples certified by PCGS (2/07), it stands alone as the finest.<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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