1658-A Sizain Gadoury-84 MS(PCGS#151016)

Winter 2022 U.S. Coins Auction

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

1008

等级

MS62

价格

72,036

详细说明

Outstanding 1658-A 6 Deniers 1658-A French Colonies 6 Deniers. Billon. Gadoury-84, Ciani-1978, Breen-275. MS-62 (PCGS). 27.8 grains. A stunning example of this American-related rarity. Perfectly centered and crisply struck, with bold denticles framing both sides. Lustrous, original, and attractive, with mottled light silver gray surfaces showing the diverse range of tones associated with high grade billon. The reverse cross is in such high relief that it manifests on the obverse, most prominently in the center of the crown. Some very minor hairlines are seen on the reverse, but no significant flaws are noted on either side. John Ford lacked this type entirely, and very few appear on the market. The listings of this type have been rife with errors. Ciani got this issue right. Duplessy got close, but messed up the weights, assigning the douzains the weight of the sizains (1.854 grams) and assigning the sizains a weight that's too light by half. This has confused almost everyone, including NGC (who certified both the Partrick and Dittmer sizains as douzains), other auction houses, and more, most of whom have either called standard weight sizains douzains or "piedforts," when in fact they are just pieces struck at the standard weight. The weight of this piece is 1.80 grams. Others sold in recent years have weighed 1.85 grams, 1.83 grams, 1.85 grams, and a single lightweight oddball at 1.59 grams. We record just seven coins at public auctions in the last 20 years. The only one nicer than this was the Partrick coin, graded MS-63 (NGC), which brought $6,600 in March 2021. Additional information pertaining to this lot: The Milled Sixains and Douzains of 1658 The inclusion of this type in the French North American canon can largely be left at the feet of Adam Shortt, who mentioned them explicitly in a long note on page 7 of his two volume collection Canadian Currency, Exchange, and Finance During the French Period, published in 1925. "In 1658," Shortt wrote, "two new coins were issued at 15 and 20 deniers, which were popularly named the sol and double sol." After conflating these coins incorrectly with the countermarked douzains of the Edict of 1640, the sols marques, Shortt noted that "considerable numbers were sent to Canada," which appears not to be the case. In 1976, Walter Breen connected this issue to a later 1662-dated entry in Shortt (page 17, note 2), though there's no reason to think that document intended this specific issue preferentially over all the other billon coinage then circulating in Canada (in fact, the use of the term sol marque suggests this issue wasn't intended at all). Bob Vlack probably got closer to the truth than either Shortt or Breen in his 2004 An Illustrated Catalogue of the French Billon Coinage in the Americaswhen he wrote "this issue is mentioned here only for completeness and is not considered a coinage of New France." In truth, the 1658 douzains would have been covered under the post-1658 Canadian revaluation that covered all douzains. Undoubtedly some made it to Canada, their desirability bolstered by the crying-up by the colonial administration. Provenance: From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier from Heritage's sale of January 2004, lot 14595; Anthony Terranova, via Mike Wierzba, January 2008. PCGS# 151016. Click herefor certification details from PCGS. Image with the PCGS TrueView logo is obtained from and is subject to a license agreement with Collectors Universe, Inc. and its divisions PCGS and PSA.