Lot 1140
1852. PCGS graded MS-67. CAC Approved PQ. Lovely light blue and gold toning. A perfect type coin. Blazing luster on both sides, with exceptional detail in the shield. Pop 11; 2 finer in 68 (PCGS # 3666) .
According to Donald Taxay in his U.S. Mint and Coinage p.219, on March 2, 1851, mint engraver Longacre, having prepared the design and cut the dies for the first type of this denomination, wrote to Treasury Secretary Corwin to explain the designs (of which he enclosed trial strikes, possibly uniface): ". That portion of the act referred to which prescribes my duties in relation to the coin is in these words: 'The said coin shall bear such devices as shall be conspicuously different from those of the other silver coins and from the gold dollar, but having the inscription United States of America, and its denomination and date.' On so small a coin it is impossible that the device can be at once conspicuous and striking unless it is simple -- complexity would defeat the object. For the obverse I have therefore chosen a star (one of the heraldic elements of the National crest) bearing on its centre the shield of the Union, surrounded by the legal inscription and date. For the reverse I have devised an ornamental letter C embracing in its centre the Roman numeral III, the whole encircled by the thirteen stars ."
Estimated Value $4,000 - 4,500.
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| Realized $6,900 |
