1799/8 NC-1 R7 PCGS graded VG8. Glossy medium chocolate brown and steel. The surfaces are smooth showing only faint roughness under strong magnification and the eye appeal of this cent is excellent. There are traces of dirt in some of the protected areas, mostly around the wreath. The only notable marks are a scuff of light scratches on the second 9 in the date, a shallow dimple in the field between the neck and rim, and a small chip at the right foot of the I in AMERICA. The bottom edge of the date is weak but visible while the upper two-thirds of the date is strong. The legends are complete except for the usual weakness at ES-OF at the top of the reverse. This is a new discovery of the variety. Noyes lists eight examples (not including this piece) but one of those is the more common S-188 (the Richard V. Punchard example) and another among those eight is questionable due to the very low grade and surface roughness. In fact several of the known examples have significant surface problems and substandard eye appeal; this one is clearly superior in spite of the few imperfections. Our grade is VG7, tied for CC#2 honors with the R. S. Brown, Jr. example (Superior 9/30/1986:264) that has a sharper date but several obvious rim nicks. The finest known is the F12 (PCGS F15) that brought $66,125 as lot #348 in our 9/6/2009 sale of the Daniel W. Holmes, Jr. Collection. More recently the clearly inferior NGC graded AG3 example sold in the Adam Mervis sale (Heritage Auctions 1/14/2014:2698) brought $18,800. A great opportunity for the serious collector of early large cents. Our grade is VG7. The attribution is noted on the PCGS label. PCGS population 1; 2 finer: 1 in 10, 1 in 15. Only 4 graded at PCGS. PCGS #36134. Estimated Value $15,000 - UP
Discovered by Henry T. Hettger.