1801 1C, BN MS(PCGS#1458)

June 2025 Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Auctioneer

Stack's Bowers

Lot Number

1302

Grade

MS62BN

Price

8,400

Lot Description

Both sides are fully original with dominant autumn-brown patina enhanced by swirls of olive and steel-blue that are mostly confined to the obverse. Faint traces of faded mint color are discernible on both sides as the coin rotates under a light. There is some softness to the high points, perhaps as expected, and primarily at the top of Liberty's portrait and in the opposite area within the lower right portion of the wreath on the reverse. The surfaces are hard and frosty and, while they show no sizeable marks, close inspection shows some light residue and carbon build up that helps to explain the MS-62 numeric grade from PCGS. Breen Die State II.<p>The Mint began calendar year 1801 with no copper on hand to make cents, helping to explain why no examples of this denomination were delivered prior to August. Director Elias Boudinot had written to the Mint's primary supplier, Boulton & Watt in England, several times from December 3, 1800 through June 12, 1801, ordering additional planchets. Delays caused by the Napoleonic Wars meant that the shipment dispatched from Boulton & Watt on March 12 on board the <em>Swanwick</em> did not arrive in the United States until July 11. The 20 tons of copper planchets included therein provided the stock for the Mint's entire delivery of 1,362,837 cents during calendar year 1801 (August 17 to December 30, as above). A shortage of die steel likely explains the additional delay between the planchets' arrival on June 12 and the first delivery of the year on August 17, and it certainly explains the unusually large number of broken and blundered dies used in production of 1801-dated cents. Any functional die was sorely needed, and used accordingly.<p>Sheldon-216 was coined from one of the better die pairings of the date and, with a substantial surviving population, it is one of the most popular candidates to represent both the Draped Bust cent as a type and the normal fraction <em>Guide Book</em> variety of the 1801 issue. A number of nice Mint State examples are known, as here, although they are rare in an absolute sense.