5 coins (including 1857-C $5) from former #1 1857 mint set + a 1909-O 50c ex: Pittman at HA Thurs

FredF

Hi everyone.

This is the last round of coins that I am selling from my 1857 mint set. My set had the top ranked position at the NGC registry for 9 years from 2009-2017. Earlier this year I started selling pieces and this is the last round of what I'm going to sell. All coins are for auction in the November 2021 Heritage sale. All images below are straight from the Heritage website.

1857 S$1 NGC AU58 CAC

Only CAC in AU58, with 13 finer at CAC. Most of the 1857 mintage was shipped overseas and melted, and PCGS coinfacts estimates there are only 1100 survivors. Coinfacts also notes that most of the mintage had prooflike surfaces, and as Heritage notes, that applies to this coin. Original skin. Note that the 1857 is notorious for its weak strike on Liberty's head, so do not mistake that for wear.

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1857-O 10c PCGS MS65 Toned

A splash of blue covers half of the front of the coin, and the obverse is a rainbow with blues and greens on the periphery and red, orange, and yellow in the center. I've shown the slab picture below and the zoomed-in reverse so you can better see the colors.

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1857-C $5 NGC AU55

Always wanted a Charlotte gold piece, and this was the one I picked up for this set. I feel the strike is solid for C-mint gold, with some weakness noticed on stars 1 and 13. The luster is strong. As with most C-mint gold for the date, there are scattered marks on the surface. The most obvious contact mark is at 3 o'clock on the obverse but is not distracting in hand.

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1857-S $20 PCGS AU58 CAC

What drew me to this coin was the strike on the reverse. Too many 1857-S $20's have mushy stars that blend into the rays. I felt that this coin earned the AU58 grade and CAC agreed.

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1857 25C NGC MS65

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1909-O 50c NGC MS64 Ex: John J. Pittman

At the same time I was working on my 1857 set, I was putting a 1909 set together. The commonality of the cent changeover mid-year was the initial draw, and also those two years combined create a pretty solid foundation of a type set. This is the only coin I have ever owned with a pedigree. I tried to imagine what Mr. Pittman was thinking as he acquired the coin, whether he bought it at an auction like this or by some other means.

coinbuf

Some very beautiful coins all, I noticed that you did not list any prices. Just my opinion but it might help if you do so.

Crusty

That 57$ is a rare opportunity for anyone building a PQ Seated Dollar set…. It definitely won’t go cheap.

FredF

ttt

Some very beautiful coins all, I noticed that you did not list any prices. Just my opinion but it might help if you do so.

Thank you for the compliment

These are all for auction at Heritage in their November 2021 Signature auction, sorry if the subject wasn't clear. I'll add that to the original post

FredF

ttt

FredF

ttt

shish

What are your thoughts on the area around the "R" in America on the seated dollar?

Collectorcoins

May be a repair. There are people out there that are that good, then again who knows , it may be fine. I've been at this for over 50 years and you never know. From what I see in the photo it most likely would not stop me from buying it. If your thinking about a cleaning then its minor. Want to sell it contact me.

shish

Wasn't thinking about a repair, just seems a bit odd to have so much dirt around all the other letters and be so much lighter in that one area. Would want to see this one up close before making any conclusions.

Namvet69

Could be an acetone dip that dissolved away some surface goop. IMO. Peace Roy

shish

That seems very plausible.

FredF

@shish - I could never figure out what it was. It didn't change over the 10 years that I owned the coin, so I don't believe that there is anything active going on. As far as anything unsavory, my experience is that CAC is pretty strict on dark coins, because dark toning can hide defects.

I viewed the lack of toning on the R as giving the coin a little character - also would be a very clear way to tell provenance if the coin were reholdered.

coinlieutenant

Prices?

mark_dak

@coinlieutenant said:
Prices?

From OP:

"All coins are for auction in the November 2021 Heritage sale. All images below are straight from the Heritage website."

Mark

coinlieutenant

@mark_dak said:

@coinlieutenant said:
Prices?

From OP:

"All coins are for auction in the November 2021 Heritage sale. All images below are straight from the Heritage website."

Mark

Sorry. Long day.

shish

Thanks Fred, I agree that there doesn't look like anything active or unsavory in that area.
I like Namvet69's hypothesis "Could be an acetone dip that dissolved away some surface goop."
In other words only that area may have been exposed to acetone. It looks exactly like what I would expect to see after removing the foreign material with acetone.

Regardless, it's a tough date to locate.

FredF

ttt

FredF

ttt - first lots are in in Thursday's live auction