| Description |
1848/1--8 25C VP-001 MS67 S NGC. Briggs 2-B. Seated quarter expert Larry Briggs aptly describes this variety as 1/1/1-8/8, as the 1 is triple-punched, the last 8 double-punched. U.S. Mint Chief Engraver Christian Gobrecht died at age 58 on July 23, 1844. Mint Director Robert Maskell Patterson began an intensive search for his replacement, but two months afterward was forced, for political reasons, to appoint Mint outsider James Barton Longacre, age 50, to the position. Patterson and Chief Coiner Franklin Peale opposed him; although Longacre was a talented engraver, he lacked skills as a die-cutter, and numismatists have long laid the blame on him for the many repunched, blundered, and reengraved dates on circulating coinage from 1844 to 1850. The base of the 1 shows a second base just below the final base, and a prominent left-bottom serif of a 1 appears far higher than the proper position. The last 8 shows prominent repunching at the bottom. The date digits are connected by a wispy die crack which continues to the denticles in the exergue on each side of the date. This Superb Gem offers stunning surfaces and color, silver centers ceding to concentric rainbow patina on each side, the obverse featuring a bit more blue. The strike is quite sharp, and mentionable contact is simply a nonissue. Ex: Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society.
Realized $21,150.00 . Description courtesy of Heritage Auctions, ha.com. |
