1788 NJ 1/2P Fox Before Legend, Maris 77-dd, BN MS(PCGS#766251)

November 2025 Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Auktionator

Stack's Bowers

Losnummer

1386

Erhaltungsgrad

XF45BN

Preis

3.120

Losbeschreibung

147.5 grains. A very desirable example of this earliest die state of Maris 77-dd. Medium brown and mahogany mingle in the fields of both sides, contrasting with lighter brown devices. Abundantly detailed on both sides, perfectly centered and well struck to showcase the devices ideally. The surfaces are finely granular but otherwise nearly choice, with no significant marks or flaws. We see a trivial short scratch left of the final date digit, a short horizontal mark left of the final quatrefoil in the obverse legend, and precious little else. The fox is nice and clear. Both dies are in their perfect states, SHI Die State 1.<p>While the three very distinctive states of this die marriage formerly were divided into Maris 77-dd, 77 1/2-dd, and 78-dd, the current descriptors call all of them what they are -- Maris 77-dd -- and segregate them into DS1, DS2, and DS3. Each of these states have been collected as their own "varieties" for long enough that most collectors still seek out all three, and the SHI Census has developed separate censuses for all three states. For this state, the SHI Census includes six coins: two UNCs, 3 AU+ specimens, and an EF+. The only examples on the list to have sold since the 2003 Ford sale are the Newman coin (formerly NGC MS-65, now PCGS MS-64+, last sold for $90,000 in May of this year) and the Eliasberg-O'Donnell-Partrick coin (NGC EF-45, sold for $26,400 in 2021). The Syd Martin coin, formerly from the Yale University cabinet, seems like a natural inclusion on the Condition Census; graded AU-55 (PCGS), it brought $21,600 in our sale of August 2022. The present example easily surpasses every other example we've sold in the last 20 years. <p>