Lot 3809
1842-C $5 Liberty. Large date. NGC graded MS-62. Untoned and well struck. Scarce date in mint state. Extremely choice surfaces and broad, framing rims with nearly complete dentils (only those at the lower right lack detail). Lustrous medium gold with strong olive undertones. A satiny beauty from the Charlotte Mint and a prize for the collector of C-mint half eagles. Nicely detailed in all places. What is important about a rarity like this is that so few are traced in Uncirculated condition. Perhaps just five to 10 Mint State examples of the date are known. Douglas Winter gives this date a High Rarity-7 rating in Uncirculated. One of the most desirable Charlotte Mint offerings in this sale.
Walter Breen allocated a mintage of 23,589 to the Large Date variety, which is over four times that of the Small Date. Douglas Winter estimates that 35 to 40 are known of the Small Date and 65 to 70 of the Large Date, the opposite assessment. Concerning the date, during this post-Jacksonian period in our history, date sizes were in flux at the Philadelphia Mint, and certain denominations in the years 1842-1846 are found with variable sized date punches. Pop 1; 4 finer at NGC.
The year 1842 marked a major advance in painless surgery when anesthesia was used for the first time in an operation (Dr. Crawford Long performed the operation using ether). Ether was discovered in 1275 by Spanish chemist Raymundus Lullius. This new discovery was given the name "sweet vitriol." In 1540, the synthesis of ether was described by German scientist Valerius Cordus. At about the same time, Swiss physician and alchemist Paracelsus -- a name famous to many Americans -- discovered the hypnotic effects of ether. Later, in 1730, German scientist W.G. Frobenius changed the name of sweet vitriol to ether.
Estimated Value $16,000 - 18,000.
|
| |
| Unsold |
