1916-S $10 MS(PCGS#8880)

The August 2013 Chicago ANA World's Fair of Money

Auctioneer

Stack's Bowers

Lot Number

4563

Grade

MS67

Price

111,625

Lot Description

The Bentley Shores-Farouk-Norweb-O'Neal 1916-S Indian Eagle Population: 2/0--Tied For Finest Known 1916-S Indian Eagle. MS-67 (PCGS). Secure Holder. Coruscating luster greets the viewer with swirls and swaths of yellow-gold and greenish-gold blending over both sides. This incredible and memorable coin has a sharp strike and all the lettering and devices are well formed. The quality of the surfaces is outstanding. Few Indian eagles have been assigned such a stellar grade. While the mintage of 138,500 pieces falls into the scarce range for this series, much today depends on the number that escaped the melting pots of the 1930s. There are probably 2,000 or so 1916-S eagles today, with half of those in various lower Mint State grades, the balance showing circulation evidence. This is an historic offering of a particularly famous coin. Its first appearance was in the famous Palace Collection Sale of the King Farouk Collection of Egypt. The Norwebs bought this coin either then or shortly after (as they assigned some of their bids to Abe Kosoff and Sol Kaplan). Other famous collectors owned it after the Norwebs as noted below, but the quality was superb enough even for the Jim O'Neal Collection. It then entered into the now famous Bentley Shores Collection and from here will go on to another advanced collection as a major highlight. PCGS# 8880. Provenance: From the Bentley Shores Collection. Earlier ex: King Farouk of Egypt; Sotheby's sale of the Palace Collection, February 1954, lot 224; our (Bowers and Merena's) sale of the Norweb Collection, March 1988, lot 2324; our (Bowers and Merena's) sale of the Great Lakes Collection, November 1998, lot 4036; Heritage's sale of the Bill Dailey Collection, January 2002, lot 8355; Superior's sale, August 2002, lot 2119; Heritage's sale of the Belle Glade Collection, August 2007, lot 2007; and Heritage's sale of the Jim O'Neal Collection of Saint-Gaudens Eagles, January 2009, lot 3526. PCGS Population: 2; none finer.