Stack's Bergstrom & Husky Collections - 1792 H10C half disme. Judd-7, Pollock-7. Rarity-4 WOW!!
Goldbully
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Current Bid: $250,000.00
Description
1792 half disme. Judd-7, Pollock-7. Rarity-4. MS-63 (NGC).
Gleaming silver underlies a wealth of blue and lavender toning on this exciting example of the earliest silver coinage of the infant United States. The sharply detailed obverse presents a bust left in legend LIB. PAR. OF SCIENCE & INDUSTRY. The reverse bears a somewhat big-headed eagle flying left with legend UNI. STATES OF AMERICA over the bold denomination HALF/ DISME. Striking weakness is observed on the eagle's breast as the highest point on the reverse design, and the blue toning is deeper on this side. This coin was once regarded as a pattern, though 1,500 are believed to have been struck and most known are well circulated and sometimes show various forms of damage as well. This example is relatively flawless. The elusiveness of its grade is shown by the fact that NGC has certified 34 specimens in all grades, exactly two of which are MS-63! An idea of the continuing popularity of this type may be gained by the performance of of the VF-35 (NGC) specimen in Stack's March 2008 sale that realized $74,750.
The word disme almost certainly had a silent 'S' and would have been pronounced 'deem,' and this early spelling persisted in the Mint's internal bookkeeping for years after. It first appeared in Simon Stevinus' mathematical treatise De Thiende, The Tenth in 1585, the pioneer work on the decimal system, translated into French as La Disme by Thiende's printer Christoffel Plantjin. The striking of the half disme marked the definitive arrival of the decimal system in the new nation, preparing the way for the eventual abandonment of the Spanish real and half real as divisions of the dollar. Legends abounded around this coin, including the long-held notion that the bust was an actual portrait of Martha Washington. That Washington himself supplied metal for its coinage is more likely, and he alluded to them in his address of April 1792, "There has been a small beginning in the coinage of half dismes, the want of coins in circulation calling the first attention to them." No reference was made to the fact that the officers of the Philadelphia Mint were not permitted to strike coins in precious metals (silver and gold) until appropriate surety bonds had been obtained, which was not done until 1794. As a separate situation, the half dismes were struck in mid-July in the coach house of John Harper, a local sawmaker, as the Mint cornerstone had not been laid (and would not be until July 31). Once the Mint did go into active production of silver and gold coins, its presses were not able to handle a coin with a diameter larger than a half dollar without problems. Coinage was not resumed until the summer of 1795 when new equipment was on hand.
The half disme remains to this day as a treasured reminder of the birth of American coinage and any Mint State example will make numismatic headlines by its auction appearance. Certainly this is one of the great "story coins" of American numismatics.
NGC Census: 2; 7 finer (MS-68 finest).
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Comments
I remember I sold one to Stacks, in VF for roughly 15K when I worked at Heritage. Again, once upon a time.
Ahhh, the oooooold days heh.
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
800-624-1870
<< <i>Do you think Stack's takes souls as legal tender? >>
Yes, yes they do.
<< <i>One of my favorite coins. I remember getting one from Don Kagin, with Anacs cert, in I think Fine, for $4,000.00 once upon a time.
I remember I sold one to Stacks, in VF for roughly 15K when I worked at Heritage. Again, once upon a time.
Ahhh, the oooooold days heh. >>
man, are you THAT old Tom?!
<< <i>
<< <i>One of my favorite coins. I remember getting one from Don Kagin, with Anacs cert, in I think Fine, for $4,000.00 once upon a time.
I remember I sold one to Stacks, in VF for roughly 15K when I worked at Heritage. Again, once upon a time.
Ahhh, the oooooold days heh. >>
man, are you THAT old Tom?!
Hey, watch it! I probably certified that coin!!!!
TD
Stefanie
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CoinsAreFun Toned Silver Eagle Proof Album
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Gallery Mint Museum, Ron Landis& Joe Rust, The beginnings of the Golden Dollar
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