1785 VT 1/2P Vermontis, BN MS(PCGS#542)

August 2023 Global Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

8383

等级

F12

价格

131,071

详细说明

Choice 1785 Cast RR-5 VERMONTIS Copper Probably the Finest Known 1785 Vermont Copper. Landscape. Cast RR-5, Bressett-unlisted, W-2275. Rarity-7-. VERMONTIS, Obverse Sunface at Left. Fine-12 (PCGS). 101.7 grains, dies oriented at 30 degrees. Perhaps the most eye-appealing example of the cast RR-5 we have handled, the surfaces are an ideal shade of mahogany brown and have the waxy gloss associated with a cast. The designs are rendered in relatively low relief, and the high points are gently worn to slightly lighter brown. The date is uncharacteristically bold, the VERMONTIS. RES. PUBLICA legend essentially complete, the letters BLI a trifle weak from a casting flaw, the plow, mountains and sun weak but visible. On the reverse, the rays and stars are a bit mushy, as are the words STELLA QUARTA, while DECIMA is comparatively bold, and a flurry of toned over scratches has blended into the reverse rays. Obverse ideally centered, reverse centered toward the space between STELLA and QUARTA, leaving a flange of blank metal beyond the denticles above DECIMA. Irregular edge shows crude file marks, as would be expected of a cast. As we have explained in the description of the struck RR-5 in this auction, we believe the cast RR-5s to have been made from a struck RR-5 before the obverse die was altered to strengthen the details in the contours of the mountains, to add a forest of trees on the slopes, and to add an exergual line above the date. The cast pieces also seem to show the obverse sunface's eyes more clearly than on the struck pieces, on which they are nearly invisible. We believe that the eyes may have been compromised when the crestline adjacent to the eyes was cut more deeply into the struck RR-5 die. The cast RR-5 first enters the literature in the "Supplement" section of Montroville Dickeson's 1860 edition of his American Numismatic Manual, in which he describes having located a specimen to illustrate (plate XX, coin 11) in the collection of Dr. Augustus Shurtleff of Brookline, Massachusetts (Dickeson's hand drawn illustration is partly in error, as it portrays this Vermont copper mated with a Nova Constellatio obverse die rather than a Vermont Landscape reverse die). So the cast RR-5 can be dated to before 1860. Since we believe that the cast RR-5s are copies of an earlier, now unknown state of the struck RR-5s, and that the struck RR-5s are contemporary counterfeits whose useful circulating life would have been the 1780s, it stands to reason that the cast RR-5s also date to the 1780s. Ten specimens of the cast RR-5 are currently known, most of them in various grades of atrocious; two of the ten are in museum collections (Vermont Historical Society and American Numismatic Association). Most are dark and rough, with varying degrees of design details remaining. It would be impossible to grade these based on remaining detail alone-one must also factor in eye appeal and surface quality. In light of this coin's superior eye appeal and surfaces, and very decent amount of detail led by a very strongly visible date, we believe this piece to be the finest survivor of the cast RR-5 in existence. Partrick's two examples, both inferior to this one, brought $15,275 and $12,925 in 2015. This best known example should bring much more in this strong market for rare Vermont coppers. It is also the only example currently graded by PCGS. Provenance: From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier ex John Bush, discovered unattributed at a St. Louis coin show in 1988; our (Bowers and Merena's) August 1989 ANA Sale, lot 4250; Jeff Lipsky via Mike Wierzba as agent, January 2012. To view supplemental information and all items from the Sydney F. Martin Collection, click here.