1799 1C, BN MS(PCGS#1443)

November 2025 Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Commissaire-priseur

Stack's Bowers

Numéro du lot

2020

Grade

VG8BN

Prix

11 400

Description du lot

Breen Die State II. An attractive Draped Bust cent for the grade. Glossy dark steel surfaces show very fine granularity under a glass, though the roughness is not significant enough to be immediately apparent to the naked eye. The word LIBERTY and the reverse peripheral legend are intact, the date is a trifle weak at base - typical for this die state - but remains distinct. Only scattered marks commensurate with the grade, including a short scratch from Liberty's nose to base of jaw. Relatively problem-free for a 1799 cent, this is an appealing opportunity for date and variety collectors who lack an example of this key date.<p>This is the most famous large cent issue, second rarest in the series behind the 1793 Liberty Cap. Generally conceded as the rarest date in the series, if all 1793 varieties are considered together. Most of this date's fame, today, is from the often repeated story that Joseph Mickley, born in 1799, vainly searched for a cent from his birth year. In different variations this comment has been repeated often, although numismatic researcher Karl Moulton has stated that he had difficulty attributing this comment to Mickley himself - it seems that others other than Mickley were fond of saying this.<p>While federal records indicate that 904,585 cents were delivered during calendar year 1799, the vast majority of those coins were struck from 1798-dated dies. A small percentage of that total is believed to represent the mintage for the S-188 and NC-1 overdate varieties; the S-189 perfect date coins are thought to have been struck in 1800 since most examples are on the same dark planchets as many of the 1800-dated varieties.