Goldberg Coins and Collectibles

Sale 36

Pre-Long Beach Coin and Currency Auction

Large Cents

Lot	Photo	Description	Realized
Lot 1499		1793. SEGS graded Wreath Type EF-40. Obverse and reverse planchet voids/ lamination. The surfaces are porous and black yet with nice details in spite of this. Clear date digits. This is Sheldon-11c, a Type that involves three variants in the edge device, which has a Vine and Bars design. "Planchets often defective", notes Breen, as seen here, partially the result of time, possible burial and the elements, but also due to bad planchets in the first place. Estimated Value $2,500 - 2,800. View details and enlarged photos	Unsold
Lot 1500		1793 Flowing Hair Cent. Chain reverse, "AMERI." in legend. PCGS graded Fine-12 S-1. Uniform glossy brown with a steel iridescence, some greenish gold accents, and the usual small nicks and dents from its soft content. There are a few marks on the cheek and in the field to the right of the face; a small edge bruise below the 3 in date. The reverse, which is unusual, is actually extremely attractive, having the same shades of toning but without the often seen digs, corrosion or marks. A fairly choice appearing coin for this modest grade and one that bidders will want to give an aggressive bid. Of the 36,103 Chain cents coined, probably about 5% (1,500-2,000) survive today in all grades (mostly low because of the inadequate borders): perhaps ten in UNC., a dozen in AU, and 35-50 in EF, saved as first of their kind. Less than a week after the coins first appeared, The Mail, or Claypoole's Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia, March 18) ran a story with negative comments about the new design: The American cents. do not answer our expectations. The chain on the reverse is but a bad omen for liberty, and Liberty herself appears to be in a fright. May she not justly cry out in the words of the Apostle, "Alexander the copper smith hath done me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works!" (The last is a sly reference to Alexander Hamilton, America's first Treasury Secretary, erroneously believed to be in charge of the Mint.). Estimated Value $18,000 - 20,000. Ex: Rasmussen Collection. View details and enlarged photos	Unsold
Lot 1501		1793 Flowing Hair Cent. Chain reverse, "AMERI." in legend. S-1. Sharpness of VG-10 or better. Black, porous planchet with a smoothed facial profile on Liberty but otherwise no problems. Nice clean rims, etc. Uniform dark steel brown patina. In the formation of a type set of United States coins, as well as a complete set of dates and major types of copper cents, this is one of the key varieties. Although today the 1793 Chain motif is highly sought after by collectors and viewed as a simple yet effective design on an early American cent, this was not always the case. Early accounts complained that the cents did not answer expectations and went on to lay out the cent's idiosyncrasies. That has long been forgotten in the bustle to complete sets of large cents or for acquisitions to place a Chain AMERI in a United States Type set. Estimated Value $8,000 - 9,000. The Victor Kramer Collection. View details and enlarged photos	Realized $11,500
Lot 1502		1793 Flowing Hair Cent. Chain reverse, "AMERICA" in legend. PCGS graded VF-20 Brown. Nice details however some minor marks in the fields. The surfaces are lovely deep steel brown with lighter brown "rubbed" highlights of a coin straight out of circulation and into the protective loving hands of the collector so many decades ago. There is ample hair detail to see the gist of the design, while on the reverse, some small marks affect the rim at top, and tend to obliterate part of ONE CENT in the middle. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is complete, however, with the entire coin giving an appearance of age and dignity. Popular type coin (PCGS # 1341) . Estimated Value $20,000 - 25,000. View details and enlarged photos Check results on similar lots	Unsold
Lot 1503		1793 Flowing Hair Cent. Chain reverse, "AMERICA" in legend. NGC graded Sheldon-2. VF-20 Brown. Black, porus surfaces as though it were buried for many years, and yet, the important features such as LIBERTY, the date, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, the denomination and chain all show with good detail. There are a few old marks noted. Important type coin. The S-2 variety has AMERICA spelled in its entirety, with the digits of the date widely spaced, the 1 underneath the lowest hair curl. Designs for this piece are by Henry Voight. Only 36,103 were minted. Concerning the desirable Chain Cents of 1793, R.W. Julian, in an article about the large cent series, describes the earliest pieces made: "The first reverse die had the word "AMERI" instead of "AMERICA" because it was thought more important to have a balanced reverse legend than to have the name spelled out. The idea was quickly dropped because officials realized that the name of the country should not be abbreviated. "That this first reverse die (with AMERI.) was used at all shows the slowness with which dies were executed by Voight. Even though the decision was made to use the full name, the first die was not thrown out as normally would have been the case. This indicates that the delay in coinage until late February was primarily due to the difficulty in handling the copper. "The first cents, as all coins struck at the Mint through the early days of 1795, were hand-fed into the press by a young boy; there was as yet no automatic feeding device triggered by the operation of the screw press. Only one press was used for the cent coinage in 1793, but by early in 1794 two presses were occasionally in operation at the same time." Estimated Value $20,000 - 25,000. View details and enlarged photos	Unsold
Lot 1504		1793 Flowing Hair Cent. Wreath reverse, vine and bars edge. . S-8. S-8. Fine-12. Slightly porous with surfaces smoothed. Steel gray and brown patina. Light rim bruise on obv at 7 o'clock. The main devices are bold and there is a clear date, LIBERTY, wreath and legends on the reverse. All in all a nicely presentable specimen of this historic 1793 American cent. Sheldon-8 is noted for a diagonal die break on the reverse through the wreath and CENT. Estimated Value $3,000 - 3,500. The Victor Kramer Collection. View details and enlarged photos	Realized $4,888
Lot 1505		1793 Liberty Cap Cent. . S-13. Sharpness of VG-7. Slightly porous with some light marks and scratches including a few problems at the rims. During Joseph Wright's last few weeks of life, before he succumbed to yellow fever, he designed a device punch for the cent, deriving his design from Dupre's LIBERTAS AMERICANA medal, but with head facing right. Wright's Liberty Cap head is more refined in detail than any later large cent, though the hard use in circulation and low level of preservation of survivors does not usually allow this to be noticed. For the reverse, Wright drew a simple two-branch olive wreath, with fraction 1/100 below. Working reverses could be easily made thereafter by using individual punches (13 for letters, one for leaves, one for beads and berries, two for numerals 1 and 0), adding bows, ribbon ends, stems, and any other necessary details by hand. This famous Liberty Cap design for the cents of 1793-96 was to be copied successively by Robert Scot, John Smith Gardner, and various apprentices. Estimated Value $2,500 - 3,000. The Victor Kramer Collection. View details and enlarged photos	Realized $5,060
Lot 1506		1793 Liberty Cap Cent. . S-13. S-13. Sharpness of Good-4. Porous planchet and some heavy obverse scratches. A key date due to its low mintage (11,056), high recognition level by early collectors, and just its overall significane numismatically during the opening states of the Philadelphia Mint. The color is steel gray to charcoal with normal light porosity in the fields (less so on the lighter brown profile of Liberty). The reverse design is more heavily affected by the rough surface to the point where only half the legends are visible, and ONE CENT can barely be seen. The rims, however, are in presentable condition for a coin that may have been buried or at least kept in a humid/moist environment in the past. Estimated Value $1,250 - 1,500. The Victor Kramer Collection. View details and enlarged photos	Realized $4,140
Lot 1507		1796 Draped Bust Cent. NCS graded S-97. Reverse of 1795. Single Leaves. Sharpness of EF-40 Corroded. Black and porous surfaces as though in a fire. Uniform dark color. This is the combination with a draped bust and reverse of 1795 in which the top leaves in the reverse are single. Estimated Value $500 - 600. The Victor Kramer Collection. View details and enlarged photos	Realized $299
Lot 1508		1797 Draped Bust Cent. Reverse of 1797, stems. PCGS graded S-135. MS-64 Red & Brown. Plenty of mint red luster in the protected areas. Ideal type coin. Pop 3; 3 in 65; 2 in 66;. Full, subdued mint red toning to brown with slight evidence of planchet flaws or roughness in the centers as almost always seen. The strike better than average (well struck S-135 cents are the exception) with splendid surfaces and the diagnostic features seen on this die variety. Sheldon-135 is one of three varieties (the other two are S-119 and S-123) made available in Uncirculated grades due to the "Nichols Find." The numismatic background has it that a bag of cents was obtained from the mint in 1797 by former Continental Congress member Benjamin Goodhue later passed thru a series of family inheritances, when were finally dispersed in the 1860s by David Nichols. Hence, the "Nichols Find." Sheldon-135 is more frequently encountered in Mint State than in Fine condition (PCGS # 1423) . Estimated Value $25,000 - 27,500. View details and enlarged photos Check results on similar lots	Realized $28,750
Lot 1509		1803 Draped Bust Cent. Small date, small fraction. . S-245. Rarity 3 EF-40. Some reverse marks. Small Date, Small Fraction. S-245 (R3). Luscious medium chocolate-brown surfaces, beautiful high rims; a few circulation or possibly minting marks on reverse but this is a highly desirable coin, far nicer than most on the market. Estimated Value $600 - 700. View details and enlarged photos	Realized $449
Lot 1510		1809 Classic Head Cent. EF-40. Surfaces are somewhat rough with a little verdigris at the top above Liberty plus a few scattered porous areas on the reverse. Steel gray and blue-brown color for the most part. Estimated Value $1,200 - 1,500. View details and enlarged photos	Unsold
Lot 1511		1811 Classic Head Cent. ANACS graded Sharpness of AU-58 Damaged. An attractive brown coin with sharp details, some areas that are steel colored and lightly porous. A mark in the right obverse field and rim and a mark above the second T in States (PCGS # 1555) . A whole lotta shakin' going on: In the winter of 1811-12, the year this large cent made its debut, the central Mississippi Valley was struck by three of the most powerful earthquakes in U.S. history. The 400 terrified residents in the town of New Madrid, Missouri, were abruptly awakened by violent shaking and a tremendous roar. It was December 16, 1811, and a powerful earthquake had just struck. This was the first of three magnitude-8 earthquakes and thousands of aftershocks to rock the region that winter. Survivors reported that the earthquakes caused cracks to open in the earth's surface, the ground to roll in visible waves, and large areas of land to sink or rise. The crew of the New Orleans (the first steamboat on the Mississippi, which was on her maiden voyage) reported mooring to an island only to awake in the morning and find that the island had disappeared below the waters of the Mississippi River. Damage was reported as far away as Charleston, South Carolina, and Washington, D.C. Estimated Value $1,500 - 1,800. View details and enlarged photos Check results on similar lots	Realized $1,438
Lot 1512		1811 Classic Head Cent. NGC graded S-287. MS-61 Brown. A nice strike though there is a small nick on the nose. The color ranges from reddish brown to areas of steel gray color, with the usual heavy stress or flow lines out from the centers as the copper planchet spread upon being struck by the dies. Somewhat uneven peripheral areas as almost always seen; the hair curls, on the other hand, are extremely bold and detailed. Pop 2; 2 in 63 BN, 3 in 64 BN. Estimated Value $4,000 - 4,500. View details and enlarged photos	Unsold
Lot 1513		1813 Classic Head Cent. PCGS graded S-292. EF-45 Brown. Popular classic head date. Mostly steel brown in color with a darker area of uneven charcoal gray below CENT; some old hairlines and marks in the field. Pop 13; 38 finer. (PCGS # 1570) . Estimated Value $800 - 900. View details and enlarged photos Check results on similar lots	Realized $1,553
Lot 1514		1814 Classic Head Cent. Crosslet 4. PCGS graded S-294. MS-63 Brown. Well struck with a very clean planchet. Full rich brown color. Splendid luster graces satiny and dynamic deep coffee brown to steel brown surfaces on this handsome "Classic Head" cent by John Reich. What also sparks our interest is the varying hues that mingle broadly with sharp devices. An attractive choice specimen that shows off its bold strike proudly. Only 357,830 cents were minted in 1814, but then a coin shortage developed. No cents were coined in 1815 because no planchets were on hand, and the Mint had no domestic suppliers (the main source was in England, then at war with the U.S. government) (PCGS # 1573) . Estimated Value $6,000 - 7,000. View details and enlarged photos Check results on similar lots	Unsold
Lot 1515		1839 Coronet Head Cent. Booby head. PCGS graded MS-65 Brown. Well struck, lustrous on a glossy reddish-brown. Fully original glossy luster with warm purple brown and some faded red color. This is a well-preserved example with good details in the centers, though typical soft features at the stars and rim dentils. It has no bothersome carbon or verdigris. Pop 12; 2 finer in MS66BN. (PCGS # 1751) . Estimated Value $3,000 - 3,200. View details and enlarged photos Check results on similar lots	Realized $3,335