Lot 254
1793 Liberty Cap Cent. Liberty cap. . S-14. Del Bland graded VG-8. Sharpness of Fine 15 but very lightly porous, an "X" scratch has been partially burnished off the center of the obverse and through the wreath are two long scratches. Dark steel brown with traces of a dark red color on the reverse.
In mid-1793 Mint Director David Rittenhouse began searching for an artist capable of creating a primary device punch (like the head of Liberty) to manufacture nearly identical dies. Rittenhouse had seen cameo portraits by Joseph Wright, the famous portraitist of Philadelphia. The talent in Wright's portraits was obvious, and soon Mint officials engaged Wright to engrave the head punch for what became the Liberty Cap cents. Wright engraved a head punch, which could be used to create many similar dies, thwarting possible counterfeiting. However, Wright died of yellow fever on September 12 or 13, 1793, just days before his design was employed to coin cents on September 18. Only 11,056 were coined in all, the first die pairing apparently this obverse die with the bisecting crack. None are known without the crack, and the die possibly split during the experimental hardening process or very early in the coining process. Wright's Liberty Cap punch was also used on a few 1794 obverse dies ("head of 1793"), and Robert Scot and other workmen at the Mint copied the head punch design, and added final engraving touches such as the date, lettering and details on the wreath, as well as creating a new head punch in 1794.
While the "X" on the obverse has been partially removed, it is not offensive. On the reverse, the long scratch extends from the left side of the second T in STATES through the E of ONE to the wreath in a straight line. As stated in Breen's Encyclopedia "The Liberty Caps are the most famous of the 1793 cents and possibly the most prized of all large cents."
Estimated Value $3,500 - 4,500.
Ex. Ira S. Reed, privately, 11/13/44 at $100.
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| Realized $5,520 |
