Lot 24
1791 Washington Token Cent. Large eagle. PCGS graded MS-65 Brown. Designed and engraved by John Gregory Hancock, Sr. (1775-1815) the child prodigy of Birmingham who became one of the finest engraving artists in the rich history of British diemaking. This particular work was done by Hancock at the ripe old age of 16. Washington is portrayed in elegant fashion, copied from a French period engraving of the time (see Breen's Encyclopedia). On the reverse we see a robust eagle, wings outspread and form fitting to the restrictions of a round planchet. In his beak a ribbon reads UNUM E PLURIBUS with ONE CENT above. Even the eagle's tail shows seven feathers, and this issue would arise in 1878 when Morgan dollars suffered an excess tail feather until some sharp eyed coiner noticed the offending feather and had it removed from future dies. Hancock also employed the lucky number 13 in both the number of leaves and arrows, representing the colonies that had banded together at that time. Why was such effort paid to small details, well, the American Congress was meeting to decide if they should contract out coinage, or have it made at home. This coin was one of Hancock's proposals for contract coinage. As the need for coinage was great at the time, the approximately 2,500 large eagle cents sent to America entered circulation, with just a few held back as mementos. Today, we have the benefits of hindsight, and know that soon a mint was established in Philadelphia by 1793, and contract coinage proposals were scrapped. PCGS, in their population report note that this is the finest "Brown" coin graded, alone in the MS-65 category, and there is only a single coin graded this high as "Red and Brown". The surfaces are pristine, the color and even brown with hazy brown luster beneath. One tiny planchet streak above the second 1 in the date will help to identify this coin, as well as a short lint mark hanging off the top left of the N of PRESIDENT. Thus, we can state that this is certainly one of the finest known examples of this ever popular and beautiful Hancock proposal for contract coinage.
Estimated Value $3,000 - 4,000.
|
| |
| Realized $4,715 |
