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Sale 109
Lot 39
1794 S-20b R4 Head of 1793, Edge of 1794 VG10. Sharpness VF20 but there are several rim dents, mostly on the obverse, on an otherwise beautiful large cent. Glossy medium brown with darker steel brown toning on the highpoints and frosty lighter steel brown in protected areas. No roughness or verdigris and the only additional marks are a shallow planchet flake in the field left of the cap and a small dig under IC in AMERICA. The date and legends are all complete and strong. EDS, Breen state I, before the bulge from the rim to the chin. Most examples of the S-20 die variety have the edge device of 1794 (leaf ends point up), but a single example is known with the edge of 1794 superimposed over the edge of 1793 (called S-20a or NC-7 and that unique variant sold as lot #34 in our 9/6/2009 sale of the Dan Holmes Collection). This reverse was also used on the first Head of 1794 variety, the S-21. When Del Bland graded this cent for the Van Cleave Collection auction (Kagin's 1/30/1986:5024) he downgraded it to VG8 because of the rim dents. Del hated rim dents above all other defects, and this cent has more than it's share. But because of the details, color, and surfaces of the coin, Jim Neiswinter feels a grade of VF25 sharpness net F12 is more appropriate. Your cataloger respects the opinions of both numismatists, and a net grade of VG10 does seem like a reasonable compromise between good friends. Regardless of the net grade you may assign, there is no disputing this cent comes with an outstanding provenance. On a related note in 1946 George H. Clapp offered an opinion regarding rim dents on large cents in his review of Sheldon's manuscript for Early American Cents, his 1949 reference that established "Sheldon #'s" for the die varieties of early date cents. In Clapp's typed notes to Dr. Sheldon he suggests the proliferation of rim dents on large cents may have come, at least partially, from a game popular with young boys in the 1870's (and undoubtedly before that). Mr. Clapp said that "as a boy, over 70 years ago, it was a favorite game among the boys for one to put a big cent in a ring and others throw cents at it, the boy who hit it got it. Then (another) boy put a cent down and the game continued. While in the Seventies (that's 1870's) big cents were not too common, there were still many in circulation. This may account for the bad dents on so many early ones." As a youngster in the 1950's we played a similar game of pitching pennies (Lincoln cents) at a wall, closest to the wall won the pennies. Well boys will be boys regardless of the century, and they probably deserve some of the blame for all those rim dents. Estimate Value $7,500 - UP
Ex William W. Hays 1900-Charles Steigerwalt 1906-Charles Zug, Lyman H. Low 3/7/1907:1-C. H. Stearns, Mayflower 12/2/1966:298-Alfred Bonard, Abner Kreisberg 1967-Philip Van Cleave, Kagin's 1/30/1986:5024-Darwin B. Palmer 1990-Jim Neiswinter Collection (includes two old collection envelopes and the Van Cleave lot ticket).
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| Realized $8,400 |
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