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132
Finest 1798 With Reverse Of 1795
141
1798 S-155 R3 Style I Hair, Small 8, Reverse of 1795. PCGS
graded MS-65 Brown.
Lustrous light chocolate and steel brown
with darker steel brown toning on the highpoints of the portrait and
traces of frosty reddish tan faded down from mint color in protected
areas. A beautiful cent, essentially flawless. The best identifying marks
are a tiny spot of slightly darker reddish chocolate toning near the
dentils off the lower end of the hair ribbon and a puff of darker olive
steel toning under the first T in STATES. Nicely struck MDS, Breen
state III late. The die crack from the dentils through the 7 to the curl
over the 1 is clear and a faint crack shows from the top of the 7 to
over the 9 where is fades away. There are some very shallow low spots
around ONE and ENT where debris was stuck on the die (most likely
oil or grease used to lubricate the minting machinery). Both sides of
this cent are plated in the 1931 Clapp reference on the cents of 1798 &
1799 as well as in the 1991 Noyes reference, and the obverse is plated
in Dr. Sheldon’s
Early American Cents
and
Penny Whimsy
. Graded
MS60 net AU55 and tied for CC#1 in the Noyes census, his photo
#21040. Bland says MS63 and CC#1.
Our grade is MS63
. To the best
of our knowledge this is the finest example of the Small 8, Style I Hair,
Reverse of 1795 type, regardless of die variety. A huge prize for the
builder of a superior “Redbook” registry set. And it comes with a fab-
ulous provenance that can be traced back 150 years. The attribution
and Naftzger-Reynolds provenance are noted on the PCGS Secure
label.
Pop 1; none finer at PCGS for the variety
(PCGS # 36002)
Estimated Value .................................................................... $50,000-UP
Ex Joseph J. Mickley 4/30/1867-W. Elliot Woodward 10th Semi-Annual
Sale, 10/28/1867:1972-Richard B. Winsor, S. H. & H. Chapman
12/16/1895:856-George H. Earle, Jr, Henry Chapman 6/25/1912:3407-
Dr. Henry W. Beckwith, S. H. Chapman 4/27/1923:13-Elmer S. Sears-
Howard R. Newcomb, J. C. Morgenthau & Co. #458, 2/7/1945:200-T.
James Clarke-Dr. William H. Sheldon 4/19/1972-R. E. Naftzger, Jr.,
2/23/1992-Eric Streiner-Jay Parrino (The Mint) 3/1997 (includes the
Naftzger collection envelope).