1795 Lettered Edge, With Pole, B-1, C-1, Low R.3, MS67 Brown PCGS. CAC. Our EAC Grade MS65....

Click the image to load the highest resolution version.

Sold on Aug 22, 2022 for:

$408,000.00 Bid Source: HA.com/Live bidder

Get one of these:

Share this lot

Track Item Printable Auction Results

Sell One of These

Description

Auction Info

Guides & Info

Description

1795 B-1, C-1 Half Cent, MS67 Brown
Lettered Edge, With Pole
The Finest PCGS 1795 Half Cent

1795 Lettered Edge, With Pole, B-1, C-1, Low R.3, MS67 Brown PCGS. CAC. Our EAC Grade MS65. Equivalents. Proskey 1: 1-A; Ross 2-A; Gilbert-1; Empire-14; Cohen-1; Breen-1; Bowers Whitman-1; Eckberg 1-A.
Rarity. Low R.3. In various half cent references published between 1971 and 1998, this variety has carried a R.2 rating. However, today it is thought to be slightly scarcer. Eckberg estimates the population at 450 coins. Alternatively, Bowers estimates in his Guide Book that 1,000 to 1,500 pieces exist.
Obverse 1 is unique to Breen-1. The head of Liberty is smaller than on the 1794 obverse dies. A thin pole is joined to the next and extends beyond the bust tip, ending far from the border dentils. The date is widely spaced and the "1" is from the same punch as the I in LIBERTY. The 9 is disproportionately large and the 5 is comparatively small. The LI in LIBERTY are close and slightly lower than BER. Liberty has five hair locks and a prominent shoulder loop as always for the 1795 to 1797 half cents.
Reverse A appears on Breen-1 and 2. The left branch has 17 leaves and four berries. The right branch has 16 leaves and four berries that include an outer berry below the R in AMERICA. Inside berries flank the ribbon bows, as they do on Reverse B but no others through 1797. A group of three leaves is located below ED. HALF CENT are poorly punched in the die. HAL are distant and LF are close, with the F leaning left. The tops of CE nearly touch with the C leaning right. The tops of NT appear to touch. The numerator is far below the ribbon knot and nearly touches the fraction bar. The denominator is closely spaced, the final 0 slightly high. The left ribbon end is level with the fraction bar and the right ribbon end extends below the fraction bar.
Edge. Lettered TWO HUNDRED FOR A DOLLAR. The large, bold letters are different from those used in 1793 or 1794.
Surfaces. Proof-like chocolate-brown surfaces provide excellent eye appeal to this sharply struck Superb Gem, an extraordinary and pristine Liberty Cap half cent. Pale blue reverse overtones add to its aesthetics. A minor planchet lamination is noted over the E of UNITED.
Die State. Manley Die State 2.0. A light bulge develops through AME.
Appearances. Plated in the second edition of Roger Cohen's American Half Cents, the "Little Half Sisters." Illustrated at the PCGS Set Registry record of the McGuigan Collection. This is Ronald Manley's primary illustration and his Die State 2.0 plate coin in The Half Cent Die State Book. Plated in the Bement and Halpern catalogs.
PCGS Population (3/2022). This is the finest PCGS-certified 1795 half cent. They have certified 27 submissions of 1795 half cents in all Mint State grades with no others in any color category graded finer than MS66. Five of those 27 submissions are included in the current offering from the James R. McGuigan Collection.
Commentary. The first half cents to display Robert Scot's new design with a smaller head of Liberty appeared in October 1795 and had a lettered edge as on the 1793 and 1794 half cents. In The Half Cent, 1793-1857, the Story of America's Greatest Little Coin, William Eckberg writes: "Breen attributed the Head of '95 to Gardner. He reported no evidence for his conclusion, and it is not supported by any evidence I can find, including from Gardner." John Smith Gardner assisted Robert Scot in the engraving department. He was said to be an "occasional" assistant according to Elias Boudinot's February 1795 report to Congress. Gardner's occasional work averaged 20 days per month. Eckberg concludes that it was Robert Scot, and not John Smith Gardner, who designed and engraved the new master die for the small Liberty Head.

Mint records show an initial delivery of 14,800 half cents on October 27, 1795 [B-1], and a second delivery of 10,800 pieces on December 1, 1795 [B-2a]. All other 1795 half cents, the Plain Edge coins, were struck in 1796.
McGuigan Commentary. Superb proof-like medium brown obverse and lustrous bluish-brown reverse surfaces. Late die state (M2.0) with a die bulge through "AME" of AMERICA. Among the two or three finest known examples of the variety.
Provenance. Ex: Clarence Bement (Henry Chapman, 5/1916), lot 416; Charles M. Williams (Numismatic Gallery, 11/1950), lot 682; Harold Bareford; William J. Bareford; Jules Reiver; Herman Halpern (Stack's, 3/1986), lot 788. Possibly from the Peter Mougey Collection (Thomas L. Elder, 9/1910), lot 289.
Personality. Developing his numismatic interest at an advanced age, Clarence Sweet Bement formed the leading collection of minerals in the United States during his lifetime, and had a mineral, Bementite, named for him. Having amassed more than 12,500 specimens, Bement sold his mineral collection to J.P. Morgan in 1900, and Morgan donated the collection to the American Museum of Natural History. As a bibliophile, Bement assembled an extensive library. He was born at Mishawaka, Indiana on April 11, 1843, and died at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 27, 1923. He was a partner in the tool manufacturing business, Bement, Miles and Company, founded by his father, William Barnes Bement.
New York City pub-owner Herman Halpern was an active coin and currency collector who specialized in large cents. He was born in Brooklyn, New York on March 12, 1923 and died on August 28, 2011. Halpern served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and later was the owner of McGlades New Pub in New York.
From The James R. McGuigan Half Cent Collection.

Coin Index Numbers: (NGC ID# 2224, Variety PCGS# 35067, Base PCGS# 1009, Greysheet# 80854)

Weight: 6.74 grams

Metal: 100% Copper

More Information:

Special Terms for the McGuigan Collection:
12 equal monthly payments with 3% APR interest starting at Day 46. Invoice released when invoice is paid in full.
or
6 equal monthly payments with interest at 6% APR starting at Day 46. Invoice released within certain limits. Please contact the Heritage Credit Department at CreditDept@HA.com prior to the auction.