1830 Matron Head Cent. N-6. Rarity-4. Medium Letters. AU-55 BN (NGC).
A scarce die pairing, and one that enjoys strong numismatic demand as the only attribution of the 1830 Medium Letters Guide Book variety. This handsome Choice AU exhibits dominant medium brown patina to both sides with some underlying color of vivid pinkish-red that is more pronounced on the obverse. The surfaces are pleasingly smooth with no troublesome marks and just a trace of ancient carbon nestled around and within many of the design elements. Those same design elements are generally bold, but with mentionable softness to the top of Liberty's portrait and the bottom of the wreath. A pair of dull marks in the left obverse field - one before Liberty's forehead and the other before the throat - are the most useful provenance markers. Noyes Die State B/B. As easily attributable die pairing, Newcomb-6 is the only attribution that corresponds to the Medium Letters Guide Book variety of the 1830 Matron Head cent. (Noyes refers to this variety as the Small Letters, although both PCGS and NGC follow the Guide Book terminology of Medium Letters.) The obverse is the same die as used in the N-5 pairing, here in a slightly more worn state. The dentils are softening and the once prominent inner circle is no longer visible. The reverse was used only in this pairing and is seen only in this cracked state. This conditionally challenging Newcomb number is a formidable rarity in Mint State and, in fact, there are only two examples so graded at the major certification services. By far the finer is the incredible Naftzger specimen in PCGS MS-67 BN that realized $72,000 in our August 2020 sale of the ESM Collection. The second is a MS-61 BN listed at NGC that last appeared at auction in Heritage's January 2006 sale of the Jules Reiver Collection. Apart from the present specimen, we have offered only two AUs in recent decades, most recently the Twin Leaf coin in PCGS AU-50 that traded for $7,050 in our July 2015 Baltimore Sale. All of our other offerings of late have been for well worn examples in grades such as Good and Fine. Representing an important opportunity not likely to be repeated any time soon, advanced large cent variety enthusiasts are encouraged to strongly pursue this offering.
PCGS# 36967. NGC ID: 225L.

Estimate: $10000