1810 $5 Small Date, Tall 5 MS(PCGS#8106)

1810 $5 Small Date, Tall 5 MS (PCGS#8106)

The Midwest Summer Sale 2018

Lot Description: M. Diatom Collection. Bass-Dannreuther 1, R.3 has a small date, large 5 combination as proscribed on the PCGS slab, and additional pickup points include a raised dot off the front of the chin, a thin die crack through the digits of the date, another branching off the top of the extreme right end of the scroll. Unlike a technical grading scheme (viz., the Sheldon grading scale for early copper), the commercial grading scale is non-linear, and astute collectors frequently consider an accurate and true AU-58 coin to be in higher grade (and possibly better preservation) status than MS-60, MS-61 and sometimes even MS-62. There could hardly be a better representation of this fact than that which is offered here today, in an 1810 half-eagle that has all the finer qualities of an MS-63 example, save a faint touch of rub on the curl above the forehead, and on the drapery folds at the bottom of the portrait. The top of the eagle's head concedes a mere touch of friction, as do a couple of the outermost feathers. Amazingly, the fields retain full, original luster and the entire occasion has been buoyantly wrapped up in shimmering crimson-gold patina that looks utterly original (although that is always a presumptuous pronouncement on a 200 year old coin). The delicate, frosty surface admits absolutely zero mentionable abrasions.