|
Sale 8
|
|
press UP arrow key to increase the zoom ratio.
press DOWN arrow key to decrease the zoom ratio.
press RIGHT arrow key to increase the zoom window size.
press LEFT arrow key to decrease the zoom window size.
|
|
Lot 1079
1858 Flying Eagle Cent. Large letters. PCGS graded Proof 65. A fabulous deep mirror cameo example with frosty devices. A contact mark in the field between STATES and the eagle is the only mentionable impairment, but is easily overshadowed by the extremely beautiful eye appeal.
This, like all Flying Eagle cents, is very rare in proof format. A mintage of 80 is given in various pricing guides. This number represents the best guess of numismatists in the past and may be close to the number of survivors, not the original mintage. Barring the discovery of official Mint records, a good guess at the original mintage could be closer to 200. Regardless, this is a rare coin and should garner considerable competition.
The PCGS populations are slightly skewed due to the addition of the Large Letter listing in the early 1990's. Early population reports combined both Large Letter and Small Letter proofs into one figure. When the two were divided, all previously submitted 1858's were listed as the Small Letter. Both populations are small, so in the intervening years additional submissions and regrades have slowly made the listing slightly useful. Less than 20 examples of both styles have been graded by PCGS.
Only one die pair has been seen for this issue. The obverse is easily identified by two small die file marks extending from the denticles below the first 8. This die was also used for the 1858 Patterns featuring the Large Letter flying eagle obverse. The reverse die is identified by a microscopic die file mark extending from the denticles at 11:30. This die is found on a few examples paired with the Small Letter obverse.
Die diagnostics for this issue are important, as there is a group of about 20 or so high grade examples with highly prooflike fields. The prooflike examples can be deceiving except that they mostly all have a die crack by the eagles tail, an attribute that in itself should make their attribution as non-proofs easy.
Estimated Value $12,500 - 20,000.
Includes Eagle Eye Photo Seal.
|
| |
| Realized $18,975 |
|
