 1866'S' No Motto. Choice Brilliant Uncirculated. Exquisite frosty silver underlies delicate gold and champagne toning on this meticulously struck, early die state example. Only 60,000 No Motto pieces were struck at a time when collectors were few and interest in varieties and mintmarks was non-existent, contrasting with the 994,000 With Motto coins of this date. The Eliasberg cataloguer knew one higher grade coin, none other equal in grade to the present coin. It is safe to say that virtually all of the surviving examples today are in the well-worn, circulated grades. This coin once formed a part of the collection of Elmer S. Sears, partner of Wayte Raymond in the 1904 United States Coin Co., and was subsequently in the John H. Clapp Collection that was absorbed by Baltimore numismatist Louis E. Eliasberg. A richer pedigree would be hard to imagine. PCGS MS63 ELIASBERG.
Ex Louis E. Eliasberg Collection (Bowers & Merena in cooperation with Stack's, April 1997, lot 2002; previously ex John H. Clapp and Elmer S. Sears Collections.
| |
|
