Lot 1817
An American Gold Numismatic Masterpiece. NGC graded Proof 67 Ultra Cameo. A superb specimen of this two-year type coin. The devices are deeply frosted, with ultra-black fields from perfectly polished dies. The Philadelphia Mint, having last struck eagles in 1804, began producing these, our largest gold coins of the time, again in 1838 with a new style designed by Christian Gobrecht. That new design of a more vibrant Liberty was itself slightly modified in mid 1839, with the curl over Liberty's ear which had first swooped up gracefully altered to a crinkly curl, and the truncation flattened out just above the date and last star. This Proof specimen is the earlier type, with Large Letters on the reverse, and with the graceful flowing hair and curved truncation on Liberty. Needless to say, perhaps, but worth emphasizing, here's a splendid piece of 1830s artistry in stunning condition--a masterpiece of American numismatic art!
Amazingly well preserved, this particular coin has graced numerous famous collections over the decades, including those of Clapp, Jenks, Chapman, Parmelee and Eliasberg. The Philadelphia Mint apparently made only 3 proofs this year of these 1839 Large Letter eagles; one is permanently impounded in the Mint Collection at the Smithsonian Institution, next is this coin, and there exists one other previously offered by New England Rare Coin Galleries and not seen by either Breen or Akers at the time of the writing of the Eliasberg gold sale in 1982. The condition of the latter coin is not known, as it is not included in either the NGC or the PCGS Population Report at this time.
As stated by Q. David Bowers in the Eliasberg catalog from 1982, "The 1839 large letters or type of 1838 eagle has traditionally been one of the most desired issues in the series. Specimens are very elusive in high grades, and in Proof grade this piece ranks as one of the most important rarities in the field of American numismatics. A marvelous opportunity for the specialist." We agree, and feel that every numismatist should take a few minutes during the busy lot-viewing time just to study this magnificent coin. Once sold, it could well be decades before there's a chance to see it again.
Quickly identifiable by a small planchet flake just left of the 1 in the date, visible in the photo from the Eliasberg Gold Sale from 1982.
From the Chapman brothers sale of the Parmelee Collection in 1890, later in the John Story Jenks Collection, sold in 1921, purchased by John H. Clapp, who sold his entire collection to Louis Eliasberg in 1942, auctioned by Bowers and Ruddy Galleries in 1982, as lot 662, and appearing again today.
Historical tidbit: When considering this coin, it is easy to forget the fairly primitive era out of which it issued. While the Industrial Revolution had reached frantic proportions in Britain (with a commensurate advance in the coining art), here at home it was in 1839 that the very first anthracite coal mined in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, was used to smelt iron. Prophetically, perhaps, it was also in 1839 that one John Sutter founded a Swiss settlement in an out-of-the-way mission town named Sacramento, in the Spanish lands of sleepy California.
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