Lot Number 16
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1806 Pt. 6, Stem - O.122, T-25 R.6 PCGS AU 58 CAC
In April 2002 I offered a newly discovered `06-122, graded AU 55 by PCGS. (Mail Bid Sale No. 27, lot 158 @ $12,870.) There were then but 14 known examples. I stuck out my neck to proclaim, “This new discovery should forever head the [Condition Census].” Oops. Seventeen years later a wonder coin appeared in Heritage’s January 2019 FUN Show auction, graded MS 62 by NGC. It brought $10,200. I was the unhappy underbidder. Steve Nomura pilfered the coin when it showed up again in a Stack’s/Bowers sale of August 2020, lot 1198, this time in an MS 62+ NGC holder. It brought a pitiful $7,500. Blame it on the cancellation of the Pittsburgh ANA, when COVID kept everyone home. The S/B auction was Internet only, with limited opportunities for lot preview. Steve sent the coin off to PCGS for crossover. It came back AU 58 and was quickly sanctified with a green CAC sticker. Is it AU 58 or MS 62? An honest answer ... who cares? What’s a little cabinet friction among friends? The coin is lovely. I detect hints of prooflike surfaces under the ancient, tobacco-hued toning. The coin is head and shoulders above any other 1806 O.122. (Behind the aforementioned PCGS AU 55 lies a lowly XF 40.) Dare I repeat myself and suggest that it will forever head the Condition Census? Estimate: $10,000 and up
