Lot 1268
1795 B-12, BB-26 Flowing Hair 3 Leaves Rarity 5. PCGS graded EF-40. Subset of PCGS # 6852. In a new secure plus holder. Condition Census. Medium silver gray surfaces intermingled with light rubbed silver high points on the design, combining to create an attractive mélange. Outstanding mark-free originality and detail, including peripheries. And where you would expect to find some adjustment marks, there are none, a singular blessing.
Though rare as a variety, this piece is also struck from a rare die state that shows a strong vertical crack from central obverse through the angle of the 7 in the date to the rim. Bolender owned a worn specimen, the only one he knew of, that came from the famous 1907 Matthew Stickney sale by Henry Chapman. The Flannagan collection contained a piece described as Fine with dents, and Bolender and Reiver both called the die state Rarity-7. Breen, cataloger of the 1973 Superior sale which featured lots pedigreed to the Ostheimer Collection, knew of only the piece in that collection and one other as examples of the terminal state. Regardless of its die state, the present specimen ranks as the apparent finest known specimen, the only piece finer than Bolender's EF early die state coin and the Vfs and Fines that fill the rest of Bowers'"notable specimens" list. An important specimen on several counts.
Variety Notes: BB-26 represents one of several varieties with the three-leaves reverse and the Head of '95 obverse. On the obverse, Liberty's lowest curl is open, touches a point of star one, and continues beyond. The reverse displays 13 berries on the wreath, seven on the left branch and six on the right, with three berries beneath the eagle's wing on the left and two berries beneath the wing on the right. Pop 1; none finer at PCGS for the variety (PCGS # 39976) .
Estimated Value $18,000 - 20,000.
The Dr. Hesselgesser Collection.
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| Realized $13,800 |
