1786 CT 1/2P Scholar's Head, Miller 3-D.1, BN MS(PCGS#686825)

November 2020 U.S. Coins Auction

Auctioneer

Stack's Bowers

Lot Number

4089

Grade

AU53BN

Price

66,000

Lot Description

The Finest Known 1786 Scholar’s Head The Oechsner Coin 1786 Connecticut Copper. Miller 3-D.1, W-2510. Rarity-5. Mailed Bust Right, Scholar’s Head. AU-53 (PCGS). 154.8 grains. Graded fully Mint State in the 1988 Oechsner sale, the grade assigned today is both a misunderstanding of this coin and totally irrelevant. Graded Fine-15 or MS-68, this is far and away the finest known survivor from one of the most famous die marriages in the entire Connecticut series. Some die marriages are rarer, but few have as much charisma as the Scholar’s Head, displaying a distinctively large and unusual portrait bust used only on this die (which likewise is the only one to use the punctuation AUCTORI: CONNEC:). The surfaces are lustrous, not merely glossy, but full of original mint frost. Faded mint color persists around the letters of AUCTORI, the back of the portrait, and most of the letters of CONNEC. Some hints, trending toward gold, also persist on the reverse. Most of the surfaces are a lovely deep steel, even and choice. The sharpness is leagues ahead of any other known example, showing the thoughtful expression on the obverse portrait, the curved hair strands, the large laurel leaves, and the crisp high relief triangular denticles. On the reverse, the bemused smile of the seated figure is boldly rendered, along with facial details found on no other specimen. Some planchet texture is seen at the soft centers of both sides, seemingly pitted but preexisting the moment when two dies converted a planchet into one of the most desirable Connecticut coppers in existence. The obverse is aligned a bit to the right, with bold denticles at left, while the reverse shows the heaviest denticles at upper right with its alignment to 7:00. The date is complete and intact. The dies are clashed, as typical, heaviest and most easy to see below the Connecticut shield. Among Scholar’s Heads, nothing else comes close. The second finest graded by PCGS is a VF-25, the NN56-Roper-Martin coin, which may well be second finest known. The flawed Jack Royse coin was also graded VF-25 (PCGS). While that coin had its merits (your cataloger liked it a lot), it shows the deficiencies in a numerical grading standard for things like Scholar’s Head Connecticuts. The Partrick coin, graded VG-10 (NGC), is about par for the course for these. Nearly all are in the Good to Very Good range, and even Fine is a superb grade. There is only one Mint State coin: this one. If a better one turns up, we will eat this catalog, page by page, while whistling Yankee Doodle, the official state song of the state of Connecticut. No finer example exists. Provenance: From the E Pluribus Unum Collection. Earlier from our (Stack’s) sale of the Herbert M. Oechsner Collection, September 1988, lot 1042. PCGS #328 and #686825. PCGS Population: 1, none finer. A second listing at AU-53 is a 1786 Miller 1-A ET LIB INDE misattributed in the PCGS numbering scheme.