Last offered as NGC AU 53 in Stack’s-Bowers March 2018 sale of the Sutton Court Collection, lot 3403. It appeared earlier in Bowers and Merena's sale of June 1985, lot 1971. Stack’s-Bowers touted the coin as the finest survivor from this late die state by a significant margin, overlooking the Overton Plate coin, graded MS 63 by NGC in 1993. (Don Parsley, owner of the Overton Collection, had settled on AU 55.) The Nomura coin is No. 2 in the Condition Census for the subvariety. Charlton Meyer’s PCGS VF 30 example is next in line. The Meyer coin sold for $6,750 in July 2008. It brought $5,500 when Dr. Charles Link consigned it to MB 53 (lot 65) a year ago.
The `05-104a is a rare and charismatic die pair. A massive cud encases the outer points of stars 9-11, foretelling an early demise of the obverse die. A network of die breaks connects the peripheral devices, obverse and reverse. The coin is untoned and softly lustrous throughout, just what we expect of a choice XF coin. A few surface marks are from short term circulation, nothing significant. A splash of light toning bisects the eagle’s right wing, hallmarking the coin for future generations. The NGC AU 53 insert accompanies the lot.Estimate: $5,000 and up
Auction Ended
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Total Price
$5,400
Reserve met
$5,603
$5,940
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Sheridan Downey, Numismatist 4400 Keller Ave.,
Suite 140, PMB 398 Oakland, California 94605 sdowney3@aol.com (510) 479-1585
