Lot 87
1853 N-18 R1 MS63+. Lustrous mint red fading to bluish steel brown, about half the mint color remaining, mostly on the obverse. A beautiful cent, flawless except for a rather obvious struck-through line from the lowest curl to just below star 12 (as struck, the result of a fragment of fiber or piece of very thin wire stuck on the die) plus a microscopic trail of 4 microscopic planchet flakes in the field before the throat (also as struck). The only post-minting defect on this cent is a barely visible nick along the left edge of the second T in STATES. A solid gem cent if not for the mint-made defects. M-LDS, die state b. The die lines behind the head and neck are gone but the dashes under the 8 remain visible. Tied for CC#4 in the Grellman census. Removed from a PCGS slab graded MS65RB (old green PCGS label included). Comes with a nice provenance. Now housed in a PCGS MS65 RB holder. (PCGS # 406022).
Estimated Value $500-UP.
Ex Walter Breen-Lester Merkin-Louis Helfenstein, Lester Merkin 8/1/64:296-unknown-Chris McCawley, Superior 2/8/98:1275-R. S. Brown, Jr., McCawley & Grellman Auctions/Superior 6/2/2002:1199, The Northwest Collection.
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| Realized $1,438 |
