1861-S $20 Paquet AU55 PCGS....

Description

1861-S Paquet Reverse Twenty Dollar
Partly Lustrous, Red-Gold AU55
Famous One-Year Type

1861-S $20 Paquet AU55 PCGS. Medium S. The French-German engraver Anthony C. Paquet emigrated to America in 1848 and by the mid-1850s operated an engraving establishment in New York City. Paquet was hired as Mint assistant engraver in 1857 but had done previous contract work. The 1861-dated double eagles from Philadelphia and San Francisco, with unusual, tall, stylized lettering on the reverse, are his best-known circulating coins. Known as the Paquet Reverse, the double eagles are among few examples of Paquet's work that actually saw circulation. The so-called Transitional half dimes of 1859 and 1860 are also in this class.

A much larger oeuvre exists for the engraver in the realm of patterns and medals. Paquet engraved several Mint medals and medalets (dime-sized silver medals) around the early 1860s. One was the Washington mint medalet, Baker-155, Julian-PR-26, showing a sensitively executed, high-relief, undraped bust of Washington facing right on the obverse with no legends, P on the bust truncation. The reverse reads simply BORN / 1732 / DIED / 1799 in the center, surrounded by a leafy olive wreath. Paquet designed both sides of this medalet. The reverse is shared with another obverse design known as Civil Dress, Baker-156, Julian-PR-25. This design, also by Paquet, was originally used on the 1859 Washington Cabinet medal, Baker-325, Julian-MT-22. Even on these smallish (19-mm) medals, the tall-letter style of Paquet appears already, one that would become much more famous on the Paquet Reverse double eagles.

Contemporaneous with the various Mint medal designs, Mint Chief Engraver James B. Longacre and Paquet both designed half dollar and double eagle dies dated 1859 and 1860 -- coins that are today well-known to pattern specialists. The Judd-245/246 1859 half dollar patterns are interesting examples, bearing the peripheral inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA on each side. The obverse is attributed to Longacre, his so-called French Liberty Head, while the reverse is credited to Paquet, the Perched Eagle. Note, however, that both sides employ the same stilted, tall letters -- clearly letter punches designed by or influenced by Paquet.

The Judd-257 Paquet double eagle design of 1859 offers a stiffly posed, foursquare seated Liberty on the obverse performing a balancing act, holding a bundled ax/nearly upright fasces in one hand and an upright shield resting on a single point in the other. A heavy wreath and ungainly, tall 20 DOLLARS dominate (and denominate) the reverse. The design nonetheless shows creativity and a fine, if formal balance, bringing the eagle from reverse to obverse where it peers inquisitively at Liberty from behind the shield.

The Judd-262 undated double eagle pattern, listed in Judd under the year 1859, combines the same Paquet obverse with the regular-issue double eagle reverse design of Longacre, a pairing that art critic Cornelius Vermeule calls "one of the most satisfying combinations." This last pattern may be considered the diametric opposite of the 1861-S Paquet Reverse double eagle, which bears the regular Longacre obverse.

The Paquet Reverse 1861-S double eagles are not patterns, but they are rare issues that apparently all circulated, as no Mint State examples of the 1861-S are certified. (Two examples of the extremely rare 1861-P Paquet Reverse are confirmed, one in MS61, the other a Superb Gem.) Bowers, in the double eagle Guide Book, estimates that 200 examples of the 1861-S survive, but even that number may be high. NGC and PCGS combined have certified only 162 examples including duplications, most grading from XF45 to AU58. This Choice AU representative is remarkably lustrous with attractive orange-gold surfaces. Each side is heavily abraded, but design detail is sharp throughout. Population: 4 in 55, 5 finer (11/18).
From The Coco Collection. (Registry values: N7079)

Coin Index Numbers: (NGC ID# 269L, PCGS# 8936, Greysheet# 9901)

Weight: 33.44 grams

Metal: 90% Gold, 10% Copper

Note for clients in the European Union: This lot is considered by the European Union to be “investment gold”. We believe that it meets the criteria established in Article 344(1), point (2) of Council Directive 2006/112/EC and thus should be exempt from import VAT regardless of the selling price. Any questions or concerns about VAT should be addressed to your accountant or local tax authority.

View all of [The Coco Collection ]

View Certification Details from PCGS