St. Oswald Gem 1794 S-71 Cent

1794 1C Head of '95. MS65 Red and Brown PCGS. S-71, B-63, R.2. Bland MS68; CC-1. Noyes MS67; CC-1. Photo #20519. Our EAC Grade MS65.

Equivalents. Maris 37 (Plicae); Frossard 20a; Doughty 57; Hays 52; McGirk 4-I; Ross 32-II; Chapman 57; EAC 61; Encyclopedia 1669; PCGS #1366.

Variety. Head of '95; three short lines across bridge of nose. Leaf triplet at D; double leaf at OF. The obverse appears on S-71. The reverse appears on S-70 and S-71. Lettered Edge, leaf points up.

Surfaces. Sharply struck and nicely centered, this piece retains at least 50% of its original fiery red mint color, along with medium olive and pale blue iridescence. The surfaces are exquisite, with only a few tiny blemishes.

Die State IV. Both sides have prominent clash marks, especially the obverse with much of MERICA clashed in the field. Several die cracks are also evident, including that through the tops of LIBE, from near the date across the pole, and across the top of the head.

Appearances. The obverse and reverse are illustrated in Noyes (1991 and 2006). Del Bland records the obverse illustrated on the 1893 Frossard-Hays plate. If the obverse actually did appear on the Hays plate, it would tend to create some questions regarding the supposed provenance of coins in the St. Oswald collection.

Census. This is clearly the finest example of the variety, and it is one of two pieces in the Husak Collection that are apparently tied for honors as the finest 1794 large cent, the other the S-67 discussed above. In addition to two Mint State coins listed by Noyes in his Official Condition Census, two others grade AU55, and the next finest are one XF45 coin and three that grade XF40.

Commentary. Although S-71 is one of the common 1794 varieties, it is scarce in higher grades. This was true when Dr. Sheldon wrote about the early cents, and it remains true today. In Early American Cents, Sheldon stated: "Far from rare, but another variety hard to find better than VF. ... An Eastern collector, particularly fond of this variety, has four of them, all between EF-40 and AU-50, bought at an average cost of about $55 each [prior to 1949]. It is because of the existence of little 'silent' accumulations like this, which may lie dormant for a generation or two, that no one's opinion on the exact rarity of a variety should be taken as final authority."

The various publications describing varieties of early large cents give us some indication of the discovery progress over the past 140 years. Dr. Edward Maris provided our first listing of the 1794 varieties in 1869 with descriptions of 39 different varieties. A year later, his second edition added four die combinations. The next publication to deal with this coinage date was the William Wallace Hays reference published in 1893, although Ed. Frossard described some varieties in 1879. Hays recorded 56 different die varieties, with 59 varieties described in the 1910 revision of his work produced by Thomas Elder. Samuel Hudson Chapman recorded a similar number of varieties in 1926. There were no additional varieties discovered by the time that Sheldon published Early American Cents in 1949, but he added two more die combinations by the time of his revision in 1958, titled Penny Whimsy. Today, there are 65 different die varieties of 1794 cents known, all recorded by Walter Breen in his Encyclopedia of Early United States Cents.

Provenance. St. Oswald Collection (Christie, Manson, & Woods, Ltd., 10/1964), lot 166, $2,940; A.H. Baldwin & Sons, Ltd. (London); Dorothy Paschal; Dr. William H. Sheldon (4/1972); R.E. Naftzger, Jr. (2001).

Personality. This specimen is one of several 1794 cents in the Husak Collection that are provenanced to the St. Oswald Collection. The collection belonged to Major Sir Rowland Denys Guy Winn, M.C., 4th Baron St. Oswald. The collection was sold by Christie, Manson & Wood, Ltd. of London in October 1964.

Baron St. Oswald was a title given to royalty of Nostell, York, United Kingdom. The first Baron St. Oswald was Rowland Winn (1820-1893), a Member of Parliament from 1868 to 1885, representing Lincolnshire North. His son, also Rowland Winn (1857-1919) was the second Baron St. Oswald, and he served as a Member of Parliament from 1885 to 1893. The third was Rowland George Winn (1893-1957), followed by Rowland Denys Guy Winn (1916-1984). The fifth Baron St. Oswald was Derek Edward Anthony Winn (1919-1999) and today, the sixth Baron St. Oswald is Charles Rowland Andrew Winn, born 1959. (#35697)

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