Rarely Offered 1793 S-16 Liberty Cap Cent
1793 Liberty Cap Cent. S-16, B-19. Rarity-6. Fine-12 (PCGS).
An important offering for early copper enthusiasts. Both sides are deeply toned in a blend of steely-brown and olive-copper, the reverse a bit darker overall, the obverse with a few scattered spots of the latter color. There are no significant handling marks, although the surfaces are microporous with some light encrustation in places. A thin planchet lamination from Liberty's eye to the right obverse border is as made and serves as a useful identifier for provenance purposes. As does a second, lengthier flan flaw that bisects the right half of the wreath on the reverse. There is a minor disturbance at 12:30 on the latter side that appears to also be an as-struck planchet flaw. The border disturbance affects the detail along the lower right obverse border, where the date is faint, yet discernible, and there is no beading from 3 to 7 o'clock. The reverse is more universally bold, and on the obverse we note good detail (for the assigned grade) to Liberty's portrait and the word LIBERTY. Breen Die State II. Walter Breen ( Encyclopedia of Early United States Cents: 1793-1814, 2000) credits the discovery of this variety to Mortimer L. Mackenzie in 1869. This obverse die evidently failed after a brief press run in the Sheldon-16 marriage, perhaps after fewer than 700 pieces were struck as estimated by Breen; the reverse was subsequently used to coin S-13, S-14, and 1793 NC-6. The finest known is an EAC VF25, out of a population of approximately 20 pieces. The offered coin is ranked sixth in the 2000 Bland census, and tied for CC#4 in the 2006 Noyes census. It is one of the finer examples in private hands, and is an important representative of the third-rarest die marriage of the 1793 Liberty Cap cent after S-15 and NC-6.
PCGS# 35498. NGC ID: 223L.
Ex Thomas L. Elder's sale of July 1913, lot 573; Numismatic Galley's sale of the Charles M. Williams Collection, November 1950, lot 14A; Christian M. Petersen; Superior's sale of the Dr. Charles L. Ruby Collection, Part III, February 1975, lot 16; Denis W. Loring; Heritage's sale of the Jules Reiver Collection, January 2006, lot 19172; Heritage's Long Beach Signature Auction of February 2008, lot 2016.