1787 NY 1/2P Excelsior, Eagle Left, BN MS(PCGS#427)

October 2018 Baltimore U.S. Coins Auction

Auctioneer

Stack's Bowers

Lot Number

7089

Grade

AU55BN

Price

36,000

Lot Description

Rare 1787 New York Arms Excelsior Copper From the 1904 John G. Mills Sale 1787 New York Excelsior copper. New York State Arms, Heraldic Eagle, Eagle to left. Breen-980, W-5785. AU-55 (PCGS). 145.2 grains. Very attractive medium brown with olive highlights around the devices on both sides. Well detailed on both sides, with a sharp strike and fairly good centering. The reverse is aligned left, leaving the tops of PLURIBUS at the rim and some denticles visible on the right. A natural planchet flange or fissure blends into the rim above the reverse eagle, and a couple of minuscule natural pits are seen in and right of the figure of Justice on the obverse. Smooth and appealing, just a lovely example of this desirable coinage. Remarkably, the Ford Collection included two of these, both of which later graded AU-53 (PCGS). The only example ever graded higher than the present specimen is the remarkable Garrett coin, earlier from the collections of Lorin Parmelee, Harlan Page Smith, and Col. James Ellsworth. This one has a similarly august provenance, from the famed Mills sale of 1904, where the coin was apparently purchased by the Chapmans and sold privately. It next resurfaced in the Laird Park sale in 1976, after which it was used as the Guide Bookplate coin for this rare variety. There are perhaps 15 of these extant, mostly in low grades and typically with one sort of surface issue or other. This example would be all but impossible to improve upon, even with unlimited time or resources. Provenance: From the Archangel Collection. Earlier, from Stack’s sale of the Laird Park Collection, May 1976, lot 58; Henry and S. Hudson Chapman’s sale of the John G. Mills Collection, April 1904, lot 349. PCGS Population: 2; 1 finer (MS-63 BN) PCGS# 427 Click here for certification details from PCGS.