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104
Beautiful Red & Brown Sheldon-123
99
1797 S-123 R4. PCGS graded MS-65 Red & Brown.
CAC APPROVED
.
Choice lustrous mint red fading to steel brown
with about 20% of the planchet showing mint color. Sharply struck and very attractive. The only defects are a collection of
microscopic planchet chips in the field left of the portrait (as struck), a subtle spot of darker toning hidden in the drapery
folds, and a more-obvious spot of shallow carbon on the left edge of the C in AMERICA. (The horizontal line on the cheek
is always present on this variety. It was a flaw in the die.) Sharply struck MDS, Breen state III, with a tiny rim break that
joins 2 dentils over TA in STATES. The reverse is rotated 20 degrees CW relative to the normal head-to-foot orientation
and there is an extremely minor planchet clip that weakens the dentils off the chin and the opposing ones at AM. Graded
MS61 and CC#4 in the Noyes census, his photo #27935. Bland says MS65 and tied for CC#1 with the example held in
the ANS Museum.
Our grade is MS63+
. A beautiful cent that comes with a nice provenance. Almost certainly from the
famous “Nichols Hoard” of mint state cents. (The “Nichols Hoard” is the name commonly applied to a group of cents,
certainly several hundred and possibly as many as 1000, that were obtained directly from the US Mint in 1797 by Benjamin
Goodhue, a member of the Continental Congress. These cents were passed down through his family until they ended up
as the property of the Nichols family before being dispersed in the 1860’s by David Nichols of Gallows Hill, Massachusetts.
The hoard contained examples of the S-119 variety of 1796 and the S-123 and S-135 varieties of 1797. All 3 varieties from
that hoard are represented in this sale.) The attribution and Reynolds provenance are noted on the PCGS Secure label.
Pop
1; none finer at PCGS for the variety. The only example graded Red & Brown at PCGS (PCGS # 35910)
Estimated Value ............................................................................................................................................................. $25,000-UP
Ex Matthew Adams Stickney, Henry Chapman 6/25/1907:1503-Virgil M. Brand, New Netherlands Coin Co. #41,
9/26/1953:251-Floyd T. Starr, Stack’s 6/13/1984:26-Denis Loring 1/1989 (Loring collection envelope included).