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Sheridan Downey Numismatist - Coins

Mail Bid Auction 53

Auction ended on January 15, 2022

Lot Number 102


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1814 -  O.107a R.5 PCGS MS 61


Ex Dr. Charles Link   Link provenance noted on label.  Here is the 2nd finest known example of the rare late die state, with a “mouse” on Liberty’s nose.  Okay, it’s only a die chip.  But veteran collectors prefer to honor Russ Logan’s apt description of the tiny lump.  The mouse was especially important to Logan.  He owned one of the two confirmed examples of the 1814 O.107 struck in platinum, J.44.  (Owned today by Dr. Link.)  For a time, it was uncertain whether the platinum coins were struck at the Mint or sometime after, from discarded dies.  Since the platinum coins do NOT have the mouse, we know they are Mint issues, struck before the dies were retired.  The coin is a pure white blazer.  The surfaces, while rumpled by clash marks, are utterly free of hairlines, cabinet friction or contact marks.  This is a very important coin for the advanced collector.

The PCGS label lists the coin as O.107, not 107a, probably because Don Parsley’s 1990 and later revisions of Overton’s work suggest that late die states should have the die chip AND a die break between 81 of the date to bust.  I’ve not seen an example with the die break. Dr. Glenn Peterson’s guide to attribution does not mention the die break and the BHNC has concluded that the O.107a requires only a die chip on the nose.  See p.118 of Steve Herrman’s latest AMBPR for confirmation.  Even PCGS waffles on the issue.  The AU 58 in my last sale [MB 52, lot 73] was attributed by PCGS as O.107a.  The die state was identical to the coin offered here: mouse on the nose, no die break at the date.  

Estimate: $3,000 and up


Auction Ended

High Bid Maximum Bid Total Price
$3,800
Reserve met
$4,000 $4,180

Sheridan Downey, Numismatist
4400 Keller Ave., Suite 140, PMB 398
Oakland, California 94605
sdowney3@aol.com
(510) 479-1585

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