Lot 588
(1792) Washington Born Virginia in Silver with Plain Edge Breen-1240 Baker-60A Whitman-10740 NGC graded XF Details, improperly cleaned. Glossy dark grayish silver with lighter silvery gray toning on the highpoints. The surfaces are smooth and attractive, but a glass reveals some fine hairline scratches on both sides, strongest in the field before the portrait. None of these marks is visible without the aid of a glass and the eye appeal of this piece remains quite nice. The best identifying marks are a small nick hidden in the dentils over the G in VIRGINIA and a minor rim bruise at the bottom of the obverse (both marks clearly identifying this piece as the John Roper coin). Struck using the second reverse die, as are all the known pieces struck in silver. These were designed and struck as patterns for a copper cent and silver half dollar for our new country. About a half dozen examples are known in silver, and all but two of those were holed and plugged. The piece being offered here is one of the two "unholed" examples. Breen said it had never been holed and the Stack's catalog for the 1983 Roper sale said so as well. However, in our opinion it was holed (between the N and B above the head, just like on the "holed" examples). The hole was small and did not affect any of the design elements, and the plug repair was done with such exceptional skill that it is virtually undetectable. This leads us to suspect that the other "unholed" silver piece may be similarly repaired, but that is only a guess at this point. Regardless, the piece offered here is the finest example of this extremely rare Washington item, clearly finer than the Garrett and Robison examples (Norweb didn't have one in silver, and Ford had one with a lettered edge). A rare opportunity, indeed.
Estimated Value $10,000-UP.
Ex John L. Roper II, Stack's 12/8/83:402.
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| Realized $66,125 |
