1804 25C B-1 MS(PCGS#38921)

The Old West & Franklinton Collections

Auktionator

American Numismatic Rarities

Losnummer

405

Erhaltungsgrad

MS65

Preis

184.000

Losbeschreibung

Amazing Gem Mint State 1804 Quarter Finest Certified By Either Service Ex. Colonel E.H.R. Green 1804 B-1. Rarity-3+. MS-65 (NGC). One of the current sale’s highlights, a simply magnificent specimen of one of the great rarities m the American coinage series. Considering all the magnificent rarities that this sale contains, we have decided to take the easy way out on this example and let the late, great B. Max Mehl describe it for us, written in his 50th year of professional numismatics. Luckily, the toning and quality of this coin have not changed in the least since the earliest photograph we have been able to trace, taken in 1950: “The most perfect example of this date Quarter-Dollar I have ever seen or handled. It is fully Uncirculated with full mint luster; slightly iridescent, nicely blended. Perfectly centered and struck. Browning No. 1. Although the envelope in which this coin came in the Kern Collection has the following notation: ‘1804 Unc. The finest specimen of the Col. Green Collection. Considered the best in existence. Ot the highest rarity. Original cost $600.00,’ 1 cannot vouch for the correctness of this statement, especially as to its cost. 1 never attribute a coin as ‘finest known.’ I can only state, especially in this instance, that this is the most beautiful and finest specimen of the 1804 Quarter-Dollar I know of The following facts give us a very good idea of the rarity and value of this coin: the great At- water Collection only had a Fine specimen. The so-called ‘World’s Greatest Collection’ |i.e. F.C.C. Boyd], which had no less than four specimens, the best one was only catalogued as ‘fine.’ The famous Ten Eyck Collection only had a tine specimen. The great Manning sale had an 1804 Quarter-Dollar in only very good. Even the funed Parmelee Sale of 1890 only could muster a very fine specimen. And going back into more or less ‘ancient his- tory, 1 find that in a sale held by Elliot Woodward, in 1888, more than sixty years ago, there was an 1804 Quarter-Dollar offered as Uncirculated and described as follows, ‘in this condition, unique. Cost $250.00, Aulick Sale.’ While, of course, there are other Quarter-Dollars and other U.S. coins in this Sale which will bring more money than this Quarter-Dollar, but 1 can unhesitatingly say that there is not a silver coin in this collection more rare than this magnificent 1804 Quarter-Dollar.” Imprecise grammar and all, Mehl could describe a coin well with a sense for its rarity and importance. In this circumstance, his evaluation was not overblown and may have even been a bit restrained. The photo of the coin in the 1950 Kern sale was of this actual specimen, and the toning pattern appears identical to how It looks today. Light golden toning outlines the obverse periphery from 9:00 to 12:00, with similar pale gold in the depths of Liberty’s hair. The fields are deep silver gray, but w'hen turned to the light yield an impressive array of violet, amber, and pale blue. Pale blue is most prominent at the borders. The only evidence of an adjust- ment mark is a very short striation under Liberty’s ear. There are no marks large enough to mention. The die state is equivalent to Breen-Browning’s state V, the rare late state. In 1974, this piece was sold by Stack’s as part of the world-class collection of quarters sold in the Phillip Spier Collection. The photo in that sale also looks precisely how the coin looks today in hand. In that sale, an earlier 1965 description of this piece was repeated, which we quote in part: “Uncirculated. Gem. Sharply struck, perfectly centered with a nice broad border. Full mint lustre, delicately toned with an iri- descence that enhances the beauty of this gem ...The 1804 quarter [m] Uncirculated far outstrips the 1796 m rarity and is perhaps the rarest silver coin in Mint State. Practically every other specimen is usually badly worn.” As we researched this coin, examining turn ot the 2()th-century catalogues hoping to find a provenance even earlier than Colonel Green’s ownership, nearly every 1804 quarter we encountered in sales by the Chapmans, Thomas Elder, and others was described with tw^o words; “Good. Rare.” Occasionally we might encounter “Very Good. Fine for coin,” but rarely did we find a specimen described as anything near Mint State, even in collections famous for their prodigious quantities of high-grade rarities. We scanned our records of auction sales from the past several decades hoping to encounter an appearance of this or another high-grade specimen that we hadn’t previously found, but what we instead discovered was telling; most calendar years since 1980 did not include even one appearance of a specimen graded better than Very Fine, and some whole years passed with nothing better than Fine on the market! We also found that the Norweb com, graded Choice AU m 1988, certified as MS-63 by 1999 and perhaps even finer now, was the most frequently re-offered specimen, made easily trace- able by its distinctive blue toning (which, hopefully, has not been dipped off just yet). Only cabinets famous for quality have included 1804 quarters graded AU or better, collections like Norweb, Garrett, Eliasberg, Pittman, Bareford, James A. Stack, and Hayes, the kind of sales that old-timers remember fondly for the overall condition of the specimens sold. The Garrett-Dannreuther auction records text lists nothing better than MS-61 selling in recent years, and the best one ever offered by Heritage was the MS-63 (PCGS) sold last year, previously offered in 1998asNGC MS-62 by Bowers and Merena. The Pittman coin, offered by us in September 2003, was initially offered as Choice AU, then certified as MS-61 (NGC) and most recently certified as MS-62 (PCGS). In all those years of catalogues scanned and the many years of grade graduation, this piece has re- mained out of the public eye; in every appearance we have located for it, it was graded as an unquestioned Uncirculated coin. Breen’s update ofBrowning lists this coin, included as specimen #4 (though Breen did not attempt to rank them, just list “the best ones known to me.”) He mentions just six Mint State specimens, including the Auction ‘80 piece (“borders partly weak”), the Cass- Empire example (“adjustment marks at top obverse”), the Stack coin (“field nick below obverse ribbon”), the Higgy-Bareford coin (“Uncirculated, weak”) and two with no negative comments at- tached to them — this piece, and the marvelous coin from Merkin’s 10-72 sale and later in the Jimmy Hayes Collection. Perhaps only the latter example could be called better than this one. He noted the Garrett and Norweb coins as “AU+” and did not mention either the Pittman coin (which he never saw) or the Eliasberg coin (which he had seen in the 1950s but apparently forgot). The true number of Mint State specimens is somewhere between Breen’s six and the combined population report total of 13; it depends upon what your definition of “true Mint State” is. Our best guess is that about 10 exist m Mint State, including one that we doubt has ever been certified. To put the rarity of an Uncirculated 1804 quarter in perspec- tive, if you piled every catalogue to contain a Mint State 1796 quarter atop each other, the pile would topple and hurt someone before you ever finished it, even if you used a step ladder to reach the top. If you piled every catalogue containing an 1804 quarter in Uncirculated atop each other, the pile would barely be tall enough to serviceably help you reach the top shelf of your kitchen cabinet. The grade-population chart of the 1804 quarter would look like the slope of an Olympic downhill skiing event, with abundant AGs and Goods, fewer VGs, and an incredibly steep curve down to the tiny numbers of EF, AU, and Mint State examples. The observa- tion noted above that there is no rarer silver coin in Mint State is likely true. Further, there is no finer 1804 quarter likely to appear on the market in upcoming decades, the Hayes coin having found a very happy long-term home. For saw 7 connoisseurs, for those who appreciate rarity, and for those trying to assemble collec- tions like those mentioned above — Bareford, Eliasberg, Pittman, Norweb — the chance to buy such an incredible 1804 quarter is very rare indeed. NGC Census; 1 ; none finer. PCGS has never certified a specimen of this date finer than MS-64. From the Coloticl E.H.R Green Collection; Stack’s privately to Jerome Kern in 1945; B. Max Mehl’s Golden Jubilee Sale, May 1950, Lot 1385; Stack 's sale of the Eugene Gardner Collection, February 1965, Lot 1620; Stack’s sale of the H. Phillip Spier Collection, March 1974, Lot 2; Superior’s 1975 ANA Sale, August 1975, Lot 352. PCGS #005312