Here is another piece that isn't exactly the type of item I like most, but, is of definite interest. Check your red books - this coin holds the auction record for the 1793 strawberry leaf cent at $862,500 in January 2009.
Did you photograph that in person? If so... wow. I'd take that over half a dozen 1804 dollars, I think.
I can imagine it, but that's about all. But spending that much on a little disc of metal might be a bit too much, even though I've been obsessed by little discs of metal for fifty years now. If I had that kind of money, I'd buy a house with it.
The 2009 sale is here https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-B08QN/1793-nc-3-rarity-8-strawberry-leaf-fine-12-ngc. Very long lot description. Note the depiction at the end, of a brawl between two dealers at the auction of another specimen in 1894.
Lots of history behind this coin, no? I once found a Large Cent in a Strawberry field. Does that count.
Close, maybe, but no cigar. Still… get back out there, and who knows? I remember an article in Western & Eastern Treasures magazine in the ‘90s about a fella up North like you who was detecting along the base of an old stone wall. He got a signal and popped a large cent. Then another, and then another, and then a huge signal which proved to be a buried large cent hoard. I forget the number. 400 of them? Something crazy like that. Anyway, that hoard contained a Chain cent and a super-rare “Ugly Head” Washington copper. The stuff is out there. Before he died suddenly and too young, my dig buddy Tim Buck from New Hampshire went out with a bang. This is one springtime’s worth of silver he posted for his last season in the field. Look really closely at what’s in there…
I just read most of that lot description, and while it was fascinating, good Lord, they should’ve broken that wall of text up into paragraphs to make it digestible!
I read it too, and that is the coin. My Mother in law was a friend to the woman that inherited the SLC. They worked in the school district together. After my (numismatic) Father in law passed away, my wifes sibling where given the opportunity to sit and listen to this woman tell her story of the ordeal that she went through when she sold the coin. To say the least, she did not shine a favorable light on some of the people she had to deal with, mostly those that attached themselves to a % the sale price. As an inheritance the remainder had to be split four ways.
This more recent sale (August 2020) has the same blurb but with better formatting. $660,000 that time, so whoever bought it in 2009 for $862,500 took a big hit. https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/l...erse-nc-3-rarity-8-strawberry-leaf-vg-10-pcgs Stack's also sold it in 2004 for $414,000. https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-AO8QC/1793-nc-3-rarity-8-strawberry-leaf-f-12-ngc Also interesting is that it went from NGC F12 in the first two sales to PCGS VG10 in the 2020 sale. I don't see how that means anything for a coin like this.
My understanding is that she wanted it sold quickly (which was when it sold at the Baltimore show in '06(+/-) instead of waiting for the FUN auction which would have had stronger bids. Regardless, commission is rather standard when it comes to handling this stuff. Yes.