1797 1C Reverse of 1797, Stems, BN MS(PCGS#1422)

February 2025 Showcase Auction - U.S. Coins

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

1005

等级

MS62BN

价格

56,728

详细说明

A lovely Mint State Draped Bust cent irrespective of date or die pairing, this frosty and minimally marked piece will please even the most discerning numismatist. Striking detail is sharpest at the borders, where the denticulation is complete, if thinner at right obverse and upper right reverse than elsewhere due to minor centering issues. The centers are softer, especially near the top of Liberty's portrait and on the reverse at the word CENT and the ribbon bow, in which areas considerable roughness is noted from original planchet texture. The overall design is fully appreciable, nonetheless, and the surfaces are better preserved than one might expect at the assigned grade level. Breen Die State III.<p>Sheldon-135 is one of the most frequently encountered Draped Bust cents of any date in Mint State, due to the fact that it comprised a major portion of the Nichols Find. During the late 1850s David Nichols of Gallows Hill, Massachusetts began distributing an outstanding cache of approximately 1,000 Mint State 1796 and 1797 Draped Bust cents. The most plentiful varieties associated with the Nichols find are S-119, S-123 and S-135 (as here), although S-104, S-118, S-136 and S-137 were also represented. The coins were supposedly acquired directly from the Mint by Benjamin Goodhue of Salem, Massachusetts in late 1797 or early 1798. Goodhue, a congressman from 1789 to 1796 and senator from 1796 to 1800 as a member of the Federalist party, passed the coins to his daughters, after which they went to Nichols, who dispersed the last examples in 1863. Fortunately for today's type collectors and early copper enthusiasts, many of the Nichols Find cents were subsequently handled with great care and have remained in problem free Mint State. Almost certainly from this find, the offered example would make an impressive addition to either a type or Sheldon number set, as well as a collection of <em>Guide Book</em> varieties as an example of the Reverse of 1797, Stems to Wreath of the 1797-dated Draped Bust issue.