Lot 4
1793 S-2 R4 Chain AMERICA PCGS graded VF20. Attractive glossy medium steel and chocolate brown. No corrosion or verdigris, only minor contact marks. The notable ones are a tiny pinprick just above the 3 in the date, a short scratch between the I and B in LIBERTY, and a short scratch under the N in CENT. In addition there is a minor planchet fissure in the field under ER in AMERICA, as struck. MDS, Breen state II early, with a minor bulge through the base of the date. The date is clear (although the always present bulge at the 1 does weaken that numeral relative to the others), and the legends are strong. Our grade is F15. This second die variety was created after the AMERI. reverse die failed (reverse die A) and was replaced by a reverse die that has AMERICA spelled out (Reverse die C). This (C) reverse die was used for all the other varieties of Chain Cents. A possible third reverse, Sylvester Crosby's reverse B, proved to be an alteration. According to George Clapp in the September 1942 Coin Collector's Journal the example with Crosby's reverse B had the CA in AMERICA milled off with a small copper pin inserted after the I to act as the period, all in an attempt to replicate the AMERI. reverse. Joseph Levick wrote in his 1869 Book of Rubbings (his journal of putting together the 1793 cents for the American Journal of Numismatics plate) that he believed this particular cent (owned by his friend Robert Hewitt) had been "tooled and altered to an AMERI. from an AMERICA." In Crosby's 1897 book, The United States Coinage of 1793--Cents and Half Cents, he wrote "I have found only one impression of this die and cannot trace that, but describe and illustrate it from a copy taken some years ago." This copy was an electrotype that was made by Crosby in 1869. Evidently Crosby believed it was a genuine variety and assigned to it the reverse the "B" designation. Weight 204.3 grains. The attribution and Neiswinter provenance are noted on the PCGS label. PCGS population 2; 7 finer for the variety. Estimate Value $20,000 - UP
Ex Joel Spingarn 4/1993-Jim Neiswinter Collection.
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| Realized $25,200 |
