The Finest Known 1794 S-38 Cent

1794 1C Head of '94. MS63 Brown PCGS. S-38, B-25, R.5. Bland AU55; tied for CC-1. Noyes AU55; CC-1. Photo #21540. Our EAC Grade AU55.

Equivalents. Hays 41; McGirk 4-E; Ross 25-U; Chapman 24; EAC 24; Encyclopedia 1662; PCGS #901374.

Variety. The Marred Field. Single berry left of ribbon bow; lowest leaf points to C. The obverse appears on S-38, S-39, S-40, and NC-2. The reverse appears on S-36, S-37, and S-38. Lettered Edge, leaf points up.

Surfaces. Stunning olive and medium brown with traces of lighter tan, faded from red mint color. Nearly flawless surfaces with a few tiny marks on the cheek, and an old scratch in the left obverse field. The impression is nicely centered with full obverse and reverse borders, as well as sharp hair details.

Die State II. Both obverse field chips are plainly visible. Faint reverse die cracks are visible through the tops of ERICA, through the denominator, and across the left ribbon end. These cracks are similar to Die State III of S-36, but are not otherwise reported for the reverse die.

Appearances. The obverse and reverse are illustrated in Noyes (1991 and 2006).

Census. The finest known example, this is the only piece that Noyes grades AU. The second finest, in the ANS, is also graded AU55 by Bland but is called just XF45 by Noyes. Both agree that these two coins are the only examples grading XF or better.

Commentary. In Early American Cents, Sheldon discussed the obverse die and its relationship to S-30 and S-31, although it seems he did not understand how dies were made at the time: "From its appearance, I think that it could well be from the same hub die that produced obverse 11, but now for the second time radically retouched and tooled. The relief of the hair on obverse 12 [S-31] is flatter than that on obverse 11 [S-30], and on obverse 17 [S-38 - 40] it is still more flat, as if the die had been ground down a little and retooled on each occasion." Had the hub die been reground and retooled, the hair details would likely be entirely different on each coinage die. Had the actual dies been reground and retooled, the higher relief would remain unaffected.

W.W. Hays discovered this variety in 1889. The discovery specimen grades VG8 and appeared as lot 29 in the 1982 fixed price catalog of the John Adams Collection.

Provenance. Discovered in England; Lester Merkin; C. Douglas Smith (1965); Alfred Bonard; French's (privately, 5/1967); R.E. Naftzger, Jr. (2/1992); Eric Streiner; R.E. Naftzger, Jr. (2001).

Personality. Lester Merkin was born on March 17, 1916, in Philadelphia and died in New York City on July 26, 1992. His parents, William and Rose Merkin, immigrated from Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. Merkin was a coin dealer and auctioneer whose first auction sale was the Louis Helfenstein Collection. He epitomized the term "gentleman dealer." He conducted 31 auctions, many cataloged by Walter Breen. He was also a talented jazz musician. (#35579)

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