1816 1C, RD MS(PCGS#1593)

August 2020 U.S. Coins Auction

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

1068

等级

MS64RD

价格

141,720

详细说明

Condition Rarity 1816 N-2 Cent Full Red Mint State 1816 Matron Head Cent. N-2. Rarity-1. MS-64 RD (PCGS). Type:Matron Head. Design: Obv: A head of Liberty faces left with 13 stars around the border and the date 1816 below. She is wearing a coronet inscribed LIBERTY, her hair tied into a bun at the back of her head by a plain cord. Rev: A circular wreath encloses the denomination ONE CENT with the legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around the border. Weight Standard: 10.89 grams. Diameter: 28-29 mm. Die Variety: Newcomb-2. Obv: Always seen in this pairing with prominent crumbling along the border outside stars 8 to 10. Closer inspection with a loupe reveals an extra point to the lowest inside point of star 3, repunching to the second digit 1 in the date, and a faint die scratch near the lower right border between the digit 6 in the date and star 13. This obverse die also appears in the 1816 N-1 and N-3 pairings. Rev: Readily identifiable by bold repunching to the left base of the letter N in ONE. The letter I in UNITED is lower than the adjacent N and the letters TE in STATES are very close at top. This reverse die also appears in the 1817 N-2 pairing. All die marriages of this issue correspond to the single Guide Booklisting for the 1816 Matron Head cent. Die State: Noyes B/C. Obv: The diagnostic crumbling along the upper right border extends into the field only between stars 9 and 10. There is a tiny projection to the point of star 10 that is closest to Liberty's hair bun. Rev: Lightly cracked from the field between the words UNITED and STATES through the top of the letters ST, and also through the top of the letters in the word OF to the border outside the first letter A in AMERICA. An earlier impression for Reverse Die State C, the strike is well centered with uniform denticulation around the border. Edge: Plain. Mintage for the Issue: 2,820,982 coins. Estimated Surviving Population for the Die Variety: Rarity-1: More than 1,500 coins in all grades. Strike: On both sides the impression is ideally centered and the denticulation is broad and even. There is a touch of softness to the hair over Liberty's brow, the top of the portrait and the high points of the wreath on the reverse. Stars 1 to 6 on the obverse are blunt and lack centrils. Other design elements are sharply to fully defined, and the appearance of both sides is suitably bold. Surfaces: Vivid rose-orange color is seen on both sides of this exceptionally well preserved early date Matron Head cent. A bit of mellowing to golden-brown is evident on the reverse, less so on the obverse. The surfaces are overall smooth, hard, and exhibit a lovely satin to softly frosted texture. A few faint carbon flecks are noted, the most prominent of which is in the right obverse field tucked in below Liberty's hair bun. Equally useful for provenance purposes are a few light marks over and behind Liberty's nose, a shallow, staccato-like scrape on the chin, and a dull mark in the reverse field above the letter E in ONE. Commentary: Engraver Robert Scot's portrait of Liberty for this large cent type made its debut in 1816 after the Mint replenished its supply of copper planchets, which had been interrupted by the War of 1812. The wreath motif on the reverse is essentially the same as used on the previous Classic Head cent of 1808 to 1814. Although Mint employees made minor modifications to Liberty's portrait in the intervening years, the basic design of what is now known as the Matron Head cent remained unchanged until 1835 (and even what followed from then through the series' end in 1839 are only more or less extensive reworkings of the portrait). Popular for type purposes as the first year of the motif, the 1816 Matron Head cent is known in nine die marriages, only one of which (Newcomb-1) can rightly be described as scarce. Newcomb-2, offered here, is the most readily obtainable variety of the date, and a number of Mint State coins are known. The provenance of these pieces has been debated, with Walter Breen in the 1950s assigning them to the famous Randall Hoard discovered sometime during the four years after the end of the Civil War. In 1988, however, the author revised his thoughts and stated that another source yielded most of the Mint State 1816 N-2 cents extant. Regardless of how they survived, today's numismatists can be thankful that enough Mint State coins are available for this variety to meet the needs of type collectors and large cent enthusiasts. The typical certified Mint State 1816 cent is in the BN category, with a sprinkling of Red and Brown coins. Full Red examples are of the utmost rarity, and PCGS reports only three grading events in that category: one in MS-63 RD and two in MS-64 RD. The ESM specimen is comparable to the other PCGS MS-64 RD, the Lauder-Naftzger coin that most recently realized $21,600 in Heritage's August 2018 Philadelphia ANA Signature Auction. The latter retains a bit more red than the ESM specimen, but exhibits several prominent carbon spots on the obverse, as well as a planchet flake at the border outside star 3. A beautiful near-Gem, this is an outstanding coin to lead off the middle date cents in the ESM Collection. Provenance: From the ESM Collection. PCGS Population (all die marriages of the issue): 2; 0 finer in this category. PCGS# 1593. NGC ID: 224Z. Click here for certification details from PCGS.