Lot 1505
1793 Liberty Cap Cent. . S-13. Sharpness of VG-7. Slightly porous with some light marks and scratches including a few problems at the rims. During Joseph Wright's last few weeks of life, before he succumbed to yellow fever, he designed a device punch for the cent, deriving his design from Dupre's LIBERTAS AMERICANA medal, but with head facing right. Wright's Liberty Cap head is more refined in detail than any later large cent, though the hard use in circulation and low level of preservation of survivors does not usually allow this to be noticed. For the reverse, Wright drew a simple two-branch olive wreath, with fraction 1/100 below. Working reverses could be easily made thereafter by using individual punches (13 for letters, one for leaves, one for beads and berries, two for numerals 1 and 0), adding bows, ribbon ends, stems, and any other necessary details by hand.
This famous Liberty Cap design for the cents of 1793-96 was to be copied successively by Robert Scot, John Smith Gardner, and various apprentices.
Estimated Value $2,500 - 3,000.
The Victor Kramer Collection.
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| Realized $5,060 |
