Well I drove by the VFW hall on the way home from church which was having a crisis preparation conference. I noticed it was hosting the Annual Coin show for Orange and it usually had little to offer me as an early date Large Cent Specialist. But it was too convenient being less than a 1/2 mile away. Si in I went paying my $2 entry fee. Seeing nothing in the first half of the tables there, I al;most went home. But on I went and came across a couple of nice 1794s at one table. One like it had a CUD on the reverse at UNITED so it peeked my interest. I went home to look at my references and took my Breen and my jewelers specs back with me. The two turned out to be an S-22 and an S-57, each priced over $1,000 which was a little too rich for R1 varieties for me. Well I found four more early dates at another dealer's table and as I looked, I confirmed the first two 1803s were misattributed. After offering my attributions, I think he was getting a little perturbed. Then came the 1802. I quickly identified the reverse as the missing loops variety, Breen's Rev B so I made sure to look at ALL of the obverses since we sometimes forget that is was used after Rev C interrupted the sequence. All of the obverses except two were easy to eliminate since the 0 and 2 were distant from each other. Now I'm down to S-226 and 1802 NC-1 and I've reached this point many times in my searching days. But this time it was different. There appeared to be a feint crack between the bust and the rim right of the 2 exactly where THE crack of NC-1 should appear. But the coin does have some corrosion, so that wasn't enough. Next I looked to see if the LIB were further apart than on the S-226 and it looked like it, but was too close for positive ID. The I looked at the space between the top of the 1 and the hair and EUREKA! Confirmation of the NC-1. There was space there where the S-226 lacked space. I confirmed again with space from the curl to the middle of 1 which is closer on the S-226. If I'm correct, this is a die state between I and II showing the famous crack started at the bottom and worked it's way up the coin to the rim above B. Now I will need to decide how much it's worth. The dealer knows what I found since we were together as I attributed it. He's giving me first shot and indicated he would be fair about it since I discovered it's added value. But I'm concerned he see's it as a fine coin without netting it down due to the corrosion. I went $650 for a coin that eventually sold for just over $1,000 in January but was superior to it. Even the Holmes early die state only went for $810. I wish I had photos since my eyes are bad and I'd hate to get this wrong. I'll let you know what I decide.
Awesome find, Marshall. I hope the dealer is appreciative and gives you a good price for the NC-1. I look forward to hearing how it turns out.
Wow, good luck i hope you get it for a fair price and then you can add another rarity to your vast collection
I certainly hope the seller is fair about pricing the coin for sale to you. After all, if it had not been for your diligence he probably would have sold it as a (somewhat corroded) 1802 in fine.
Well I learned that my eyes are as bad as I thought. After photographing the coin, I was able to verify it as a S-226 with damage and corrosion mimicking the NC-1. The tail tail clue was the position of the dentils over the upright of the E. The upright is dotted on the S-226 and double dotted on the NC-1. it's one of those not mentioned diagnostics which distinguish the two obverse dies. On good coins the identification is easy. On this one, the usual diagnostics were in damaged areas, though I didn't realize this yesterday. I'd send photos, but I can't get photoscape or photobucket to load up. I'm getting tired of redoing the computer when it crashes. It was a shame too because while damaged and corroded (obviously in the ground for some time), it had great detail (~XF) and the dealer was fair on the price and let me photograph it and study it before completing the sale.
The incomplete loops on the bow reverse is S-226, 227, 229, and NC-1. On 226 the 1 is joined to the hair above and always has a cud below 802. (Due to centering of the planchet the cud may not always show well.) On 229 the 1 is well away from the hair. On 227 and NC-1 the 1 is close but clearly separate from the hair. On 227 the R is very close to the hair and the highest wave is below the upright. On NC-1 the R is further from the hair and the wave is below the center of the R.
There was apparent separation between the top of the 1 and the hair which I saw on Saturday. But this must be damage and there is damage in this area. The CUD is there, though lower than on most comps. but again looked like damage and what appeared to be the lower part of the well known crack from the rim to the drapery appeared to be there, but must be corrosion. The left foot of Y was confusing since it was there at some angles and not at others. I'm much better off when I have a decent photo. With the photo, I could see the dentilation above LIBERTY and found it's match in the S-226. The wide separation of the 0 and 2 narrowed it down to S-226 and NC-1 pretty quickly. It was just hard to imagine the problems with the usually simple diagnostics on this coin. But I offer this new diagnostic between those two obverses. The upright of the E has two dentils on the NC-1 and a single dentil over the upright of the E on the S-226. S-226------------------------------------------------NC-1 Now whether this damage was natural or intentional is another matter for conjecture. But I don't not believe the last two owners would be a potential culprit. Neither tried to pass it off as an NC-1.
