LOT Heritage Rare Coin Galleries  /  2006 October Dallas Signature Coin Auction #428  / 

3088

1912-S $10 MS65 NGC. Since we offered the legendary Ph

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1912-S $10 MS65 NGC. Since we offered the legendary Ph
<B>1912-S<$10> MS65 NGC.</B></I> Since we offered the legendary Phillip H. Morse Collection of Saint-Gaudens Coinage late last year, the number of certified Gem specimens of this elusive issue has climbed by a total of ... one coin. The number of Gem pieces at NGC and PCGS combined now stands at 11 pieces, with three coins finer (9/06). Specifically, NGC has certified four Gems, with two coins finer, while PCGS has encapsulated seven MS65 pieces, and only one example finer (9/06). Those figures likely include at least one, if not several, duplications. With a mintage limited to 300,000 pieces--moderate, but certainly not impossibly low by series standards--we must attribute the issue's rarity both to its difficult striking characteristics, as well as to undoubted meltings that would have occurred after the gold recall of 1933.<BR> The Morse Collection contained the only MS66 we have ever had the privilege to offer--the "finest example to cross the auction block in many years," according to the Garrett-Guth gold <I>Encyclopedia</B></I>--along with a single MS65 piece, both graded by PCGS. Only three other times before the present specimen have we offered an MS65 coin, in the last 13 years of our auction records. The difficulty of the issue is the strike details on Liberty's highpoint hair and the leading edge of the eagle's wing, both of which lack definition on most examples. The present Gem specimen is an enticing exception to that generality, as Liberty's tresses and the eagle's plumage show no significant weakness. Indeed, extensive perusal with a loupe reveals a total lack of strike weakness anywhere on the coin. The surfaces are antique-gold, and the few minuscule abrasions that can be located at all are completely consistent with an MS65 grade. Much luster radiates from the fine-grained, mattelike surfaces. Series specialists--as well as lovers of Augustus Saint-Gaudens' coinage designs, usually considered the pinnacle of U.S. numismatics--would do well to take heed. This fleeting opportunity may not soon repeat itself.
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