179 / 280
177
208
1798 S-187 R1 Style II Hair, Small 8 PCGS Genuine, AG Details, Tooled.
Delaminated Planchet Mint Error. Glossy chocolate brown and steel. The sur-
faces are mostly smooth but there are some fine scratches on both sides, none
visible without the aid of a glass. Basically just well worn. EDS, Breen state I. The
interesting feature of this cent is a large planchet delamination on the reverse.
Apparently this lamination detached well before the coin was finished circulat-
ing and the delaminated (recessed) section retains far more details than the
“normal” areas. The date and legends remain readable.
Our grade is net AG3+
.
The attribution and Reynolds provenance are noted on the PCGS Secure label
(PCGS # 36128)
Estimated Value.......................................................................................... $100-UP
Ex Doug Bird-1996 EAC Sale, 5/4/1996:148 (lot ticket included).
209
1798 Obverse Brockage PCGS Genuine.
Mostly glossy me-
dium chocolate and steel brown, the devices a shade or two
lighter than the fields. The surfaces are covered with micro-
scopic roughness, mostly in the form of very tiny pinpricks
rather than corrosion. No verdigris. A minor rim bruise
under the lowest curl and a few pinpricks on the shoulder
are good identifying marks. This cent is an obverse brockage.
The obverse was struck with the obverse die while the reverse
was pressed into the obverse of a previously struck cent that
failed to eject from the coining chamber. There was no shift or
rotation between the previously struck cent and this coin (the
normal and incuse impressions line up perfectly). The date
on the normal side is clear while only the incuse 179 remains
on the incuse side. Most of LIBERTY is worn away on the
normal side while it is nearly complete on the incuse side. A
rare type of mint error for a 1798 large cent. The die variety is
unknown, but the Style II Hair and Small 8 features are easy
to determine.
Our grade is AG3
. The “Partial Rev Brock-
age” error and Reynolds provenance are noted on the PCGS
Secure label. (PCGS refers to this error as a reverse brockage
because it occurred on the reverse of the coin. Our position
is that since the incuse design is of an obverse, it should be
called an obverse brockage.)
(PCGS # 1434)
Estimated Value........................................................ $1,000-UP
Ex Don Valenziano 6/1989-Robert E. Matthews, McCawley &
Grellman Auctions 1/11/1992:107 (lot ticket included).