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Sale 60
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Lot 796
1795 S-79 R7 Reeded Edge PCGS graded Genuine. Sharpness VG7 or slightly better but lightly corroded. The roughness is fairly uniform but does not extend to the highpoints, which are smooth. There are traces of shallow verdigris on both sides, but the verdigris is barely visible with a glass and does not detract from the eye appeal. There are a few contact marks hidden in the patina. These include a pair of parallel nicks or short scratches at the bottom of the cap into the hair and a few minor disturbances around the rims, the notable one a small rim bruise under the 9 in the date. The date and design elements remain visible in spite of the imperfect surfaces. The date is clear and easily readable and the legends are complete, although some letters on the reverse are weakened by the roughness. The color is a rather glossy dark olive and chocolate brown with lighter chocolate and steel brown toning on the highpoints. The contrast in toning helps accent the date and major design details, and this adds to the eye appeal. The all-important edge reeding is clearly visible, especially before the face where the reeds are relatively strong. The purpose for the reeding is speculative. Walter Breen suggested the reeding was "an experiment which proved to be a needless frill, adding to the cost of manufacture without compensatory advantage." Nicely expressed. Other experts have offered similar opinions while some have taken it a step farther proposing that the reeding was added to help identify cents struck under the new 168-grain standard that was adopted at the end of 1795 (versus the previous 208-grain standard). We may never know the "official" reason for the reeding, but we do know the "Reeded Edge" variety is a genuine mint product since the reverse die was subsequently used to produce 6 different 1796 Draped Bust varieties (Sheldon numbers 106 through 111). The obverse die, however, was used only in this S-79 die marriage. The Sheldon-79 Reeded Edge die variety has long been considered the most famous variety in the entire series of early US Large Cents, and it is the undisputed "key" to completing a collection of the numbered Sheldon die varieties of 1793-1814 cents. The currently accepted population of this variety includes only 8 examples while 2 more are rumored to exist but remain highly doubtful. And all of those pieces are in relatively low grade with most suffering from significant surface defects. The piece offered here is a new discovery that came to light after our sale of the finest known S-79 cent from the Dan Holmes collection (our auction, 6 Sept 2009, lot 128). The Holmes coin, graded by PCGS as VG10 but considered by us to grade VG8, realized an astonishing $1,265,000.00, a world record for any US large cent. A PCGS graded G4 example of the S-79 variety with less detail than the piece being offered here realized $402,500.00 as lot 1143 in the Bowers & Merena auction of 11/20/2008. Bill Noyes grades this piece net G4+ "average" and his condition census of the 8 known examples is 8-7-5(2)-4+ (this coin)-4-1-X. The VG7 is impounded in the ANS Museum, the Basal State-1 is a heavily corroded example that is barely identifiable without any visible edge reeding, and the "X" is a holed obverse brockage impression. If you are holding out for a choice example, perhaps a lottery ticket would offer better odds for success. The PCGS grading label identifies this piece as the Sheldon-79 Reeded Edge variety. Our grade is net G4+.
Estimated Value $200,000-UP.
Discovered by John Baker in a group of unattributed coins given to him by his father years ago.
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| Realized $322,000 |
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