Houston Jan 2025

 SHARP S-103 LIHERTY

LOT 363 1796 S-103 R4+ LIHERTY Error VF20 . Glossy medium chocolate brown. The obverse is sharp and has great eye appeal in spite of a few small nicks on the neck and delicate smoothing on the rim over the H, but there are some intentional tooling marks at STATES, especially at the first T. Otherwise the reverse is choice. LDS, Breen state II, with a die crack through AMERICA. The LIHERTY error (actually a B over inverted B) is bold. Graded VF30 net F12 and tied for CC#9 honors in the Noyes census, his photo #25562. An impressive example of this popular “Redbook” variety in spite of the obvious defects. Considerably rarer than the S-104 variety that used this same obverse die.

Ex R. L. Miles, Stack’s 4/10/1969:89 (as Extremely Fine, plated, realized $1350)-Charles E. Heck, McCawley & Grellman Auctions/Superior 5/2005:1257 (as VF20)-Chris McCawley-Bob Horn

LOT 364 1796 S-118 R5+ Draped Bust G4 . Choice glossy medium chocolate brown and steel with slightly lighter toning at the date due to a gentle rub in that area. Smooth with choice surfaces, just worn. A light contact mark in the hair under the B is the best identifying mark. The date and legends are clear, although a few letters are just starting to flow into the rim. Graded G5 and tied for CC#19 in the Noyes census, his photo #62049.

LOT 365 1797 S-137 R2 F15 . Attractive glossy light chocolate brown blending to medium chocolate in protected areas. Smooth with minor marks including a nick at RT in LIBERTY, a tiny rim nick below the first 7, a tiny pin prick under the left ribbon end, and a very fine hairline scratch through ONE. E-MDS, Breen state III, with a fine die crack from the right ribbon end down to the dentils. Softly struck in the central hair area and at UNI as often seen on earlier die states of the variety. The date and rest of the legends are strong. Struck on a planchet that shows some small lumps or “beads” on the edge, Breen’s edge variety II, which he considered to be quite rare.

Ex Frank Obermeyer 1971-Thomas P. Wolf, McCawley & Grellman Auctions/Goldbergs 2/10/2008:1115 (via Douglas F. Bird)-Richard A. Weber (lot ticket included)

Ex Arville Decker (FUN Show Bourse) 1/7/2023-Richard A. Weber

101 Photos of all lots can be found at www.earlycentsauctions.com