Lot 1796
1863 Pattern Two Cents. Bronze, plain edge. Judd-305. Pollock-370, Rarity-4. Washington Head. PCGS graded Proof 63 Brown. George Washington is placed proudly on the obverse of this pattern issue. On the reverse we see a wreath of wheat with 2 CENTS at the center, surrounded by the name of our country. James Pollock, Director of the Mint was weary of working with nickel as an alloy, which was hard to melt and sometimes in short supply. Large quantities were required for cent production, and the toughness of nickel quickly broke cent dies. Pollock proposed using a new French bronze alloy, which was employed on this pattern issue, the combination of 95 percent copper, 3 percent tin and 2 percent zinc as a replacement for the current 88 percent copper and 12 percent nickel used in the copper-nickel cents. Pollock hoped this would end the Mint's use of nickel as an alloy. The French bronze alloy was accepted, and in 1864 Indian cents were changed from the copper nickel combination to the new bronze alloy. On this particular coin, we note that the surfaces show minor roughness in small areas on both sides, perhaps the alloy was not properly mixed. One tick is seen on Washington's bust, and the coin boasts a pleasing reddish brown color. Sharply struck and appealing for the moderate grade. Shortly after this was coined, the Two Cent piece was adopted in 1864 using the same French bronze alloy seen here (PCGS # 60460) .
Estimated Value $800 - 1,000.
From the Benson collection and purchased from Ira S. Reed on July 23, 1945 for $10.
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| Realized $1,610 |
