Lot 1509
1806 Draped Bust Quarter Dollar. . B-3, Rarity-1. NGC graded MS-65. A frosty white gem. Last offered in the Heritage 2009 F.U.N. sale, this is an intermediate die stage, showing the reverse rim breakdown over M of stage 2, with the die crack of stage 4, but no evidence of the stage 3 clash marks. Sounds confusing, but dies deteriorate steadily during their working life and develop a range of "stages" before the die is either removed or breaks. According to Heritage in its description of the piece "All die stage descriptions are from the new early quarter reverse by Steve Tompkins. This example is the finest of those six pieces that he lists in his 1806 B-3 Condition Census.
"The obverse and reverse dies were both used for varieties in addition to the B-3 combination. The obverse die was also used for B-2, and the reverse die was also used for B-4."
A beaming fresh white specimen, there are some very faint traces of toning on the obverse; however, the brilliance overwhelms both the toning as well as your field of vision as you bring the coin closer for inspection. And what a delightful coin this is! Both sides are highly lustrous. Frosty surfaces reveal few imperfections of any kind, other than a planchet impurity on the obverse rim at IB. The lower obverse and upper part of the reverse show typical weakness on denticles. America's early Draped Bust silver and Capped Bust gold pieces were struck on a hand-operated screw press. A little less than full force on the T-bar thrusting arm means a bit short of a full strike. We're happy to report that all of the peripheral detail is fully defined. Any weakness is confined to the centers from this operation of the screw press. Some have posed the possibility that instead of a weak strike, one or both dies were slightly sunken at the center, making it impossible to achieve a full strike. Be that as it may, the coin is silver-white with satin freshness skimming along over both sides. Impressive to say the least! Tied with one other for the NGC grade, with one higher: Pop 2; 1 finer in 66.
Estimated Value $30,000 - 35,000.
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