1797 1C S-135, BN MS(PCGS#35936)

Spring 2026 Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Auktionator

Stack's Bowers

Losnummer

2140

Erhaltungsgrad

MS62BN

Preis

10.800

Losbeschreibung

Breen Die State IV. A beautiful Mint State Draped Bust cent irrespective of date or die pairing, this frosty and smooth-looking piece will please even the most discerning numismatist. Strike detail is razor sharp to full over most design elements, and nowhere is it less than bold. The impression is also ideally centered, and both sides have uniformly crisp denticulation around the borders. The surfaces are a bit muted beneath dusky olive and gray-brown patina to explain the MS-62 numeric grade from PCGS, but faint traces of mint red color persist through the legend on the reverse. Marks are minor and more prevalent on the obverse, one of slightly greater size behind Liberty's eye serving as a useful identifier.<p>Sheldon-135 is one of the most frequently encountered Draped Bust cents of any date in Mint State, due to the fact that it comprised a major portion of the Nichols Find. During the late 1850s David Nichols of Gallows Hill, Massachusetts began distributing an outstanding cache of approximately 1,000 Mint State 1796 and 1797 Draped Bust cents. The most plentiful varieties associated with the Nichols find are S-119, S-123 and S-135 (as here), although S-104, S-118, S-136 and S-137 were also represented. The coins were supposedly acquired directly from the Mint by Benjamin Goodhue of Salem, Massachusetts in late 1797 or early 1798. Goodhue, a congressman from 1789 to 1796 and senator from 1796 to 1800 as a member of the Federalist party, passed the coins to his daughters, after which they went to Nichols, who dispersed the last examples in 1863. Fortunately for today's type collectors and early copper enthusiasts, many of the Nichols Find cents were subsequently handled with great care and have remained in problem free Mint State. Almost certainly from this find, the Widmer Family specimen offered here would make an impressive addition to either a type or Sheldon number set, as well as a collection of <em>Guide Book</em> varieties as an example of the Reverse of 1797, Stems to Wreath of the 1797-dated Draped Bust issue.