Lot 348
1887. NGC graded MS-68 Star. Lovely blue and gold obverse toning. A frosty gem. An immaculate, blazing Gem, the surfaces bursting with vivid toning and all underpinned by satiny white originality over both sides. In addition the predominant blue and gold, we see lovely shades including purple and magenta. A very appealing specimen whose luster is all original, the toning out of this world. In winding this up, we are pleased to see also a strike faithful to every detail from a full blow by the dies, including Liberty's head (often flat on the 1887-P issue) with marvelously crisp detail found at the rest of Liberty's drapery and shield, as well as throughout the Cereal Wreath reverse. All legends and date clear. Pop 2; none finer at NGC .
The Year 1887: In 1887, Arthur Conan Doyle, 28, a physician in Southsea, England, published "A Study in Scarlet," the first of his Sherlock Holmes tales (even though Doyle had written it six years prior). The very next year, 1888, came Pudding tires. What are those, one might ask, and what if anything is the connection? John Dunlop, 48, a Scottish veterinarian living in Belfast, Ireland, invented the pneumatic bicycle tire in order to give his 10-year-old son a smoother ride to school. At first ridiculed as "pudding tires," the inflated wheels soon replaced hard rubber tires in cycle shops all over Europe. There is a connection. In another famous Sherlock Holmes story, "The Adventury of the Priory School" (1901) a "patched Dunlop tire" provides a key to solving the mystery! "I heard him chuckle as the light fell upon a patched Dunlop tire," says Watson. Doyle must have liked to sprinkle his detective mysteries with recent innovations.
Estimated Value $7,000 - 7,500.
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| Realized $9,694 |
