1794 1C The Plicae, S-45, BN MS(PCGS#35600)

Spring 2026 Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Auctioneer

Stack's Bowers

Lot Number

2092

Grade

VG10BN

Price

3,600

Lot Description

Heck DS1, Breen Die State I. Generally deep chestnut-brown on the obverse, but with deeper steely olive-brown in the recesses that dominates on the reverse. Centering is good, the detail bold for the assigned grade save for some minor softening along the lower left obverse border that involves the bottoms of the digits in the date. Most marks are minor and insignificant give how much handling this coin experienced, although for provenance purposes we do point out dull obverse marks on Liberty's forehead and in the field below the letter L in LIBERTY. Dr. Maris' nickname for this variety, "The Plicae," stems from his belief that it shared a resemblance with his "Roman Plicae" varieties S-62 and S-63, the latter attributed to John Smith Gardner. The 2000 Breen large cent encyclopedia conjectures that "Gardner probably did use a specimen from this obverse die as a prototype for his lower relief device punch." In any event, Sheldon-45 is a notable rarity, and the present example ranks CC#11 in the Noyes census and tied for CC#10 in the Bland census, in both cases with an EAC grade of VG10.