1838 Gobrecht Silver Dollar. Name Removed. Judd-85 Restrike, Pollock-94. Rarity-7+. Silver. Plain Edge. Die Alignment III. Proof-66 * (NGC). A beautifully toned, highly appealing Gem that will serve with distinction in the finest collection of silver dollars or Liberty Seated coinage. Delicate silver-gray toning blends with antique-gold, lilac, and a splash of cobalt-blue on the obverse. The reverse exhibits lilac-gray through the center with soft sunset and gold tones intermingled around the periphery. Fully impressed with razor sharp definition, this feature combines with the truly exceptional level of preservation to provide outstanding visual appeal. As with all known examples of Judd-85, this coin was struck in Die Alignment III, Libertys head opposite the letter N in ONE. The eagle flies level following a normal coin turn. The dies are the same as those of Judd-84, but here the edge is plain rather than reeded.<p>For the collector assembling a complete date set of Gobrecht dollars, the 1838 will likely prove to be the most challenging to acquire. While traditional numismatic wisdom states that a small number of originals were struck that year in Die Alignment I, modern scholarship has discounted this theory. In fact, no Die Alignment I examples of this date are known to exist. The Die Alignment I-II reverse die cup was already starting to deteriorate on late die state 1836 Gobrecht dollars, so it seems likely that the Mint simply abandoned it in favor of the Die Alignment IV cup when it came to striking the 1838 coins. An example of this issue in Die Alignment IV is part of the National Numismatic Collection in the Smithsonian Institution, suggesting that this is the alignment used to strike originals of this date. Those coins were made as patterns to illustrate the revised Gobrecht dollar design with 13 stars added to the obverse periphery and the 26 stars omitted from the reverse field.<p>Original 1838 Gobrecht dollars were exceedingly rare in their time, as they are now, leading the Mint to create restrikes for sale to contemporary collectors. These pieces were struck in both Die Alignment III and IV with either a reeded (Judd-84) or plain (Judd-85) edge and display light cracks through some of the peripheral letters on the reverse. The present specimen was struck circa April 1869, near the end of Henry R. Lindermans first term as mint director (April 1867-May 1869), an era during which many restrikes and other numismatic delicacies are known to have been produced expressly for distribution to collectors. Mintages were not recorded as these are not regular issues, although with fewer than a dozen specimens known in two die states - all of which are in Die Alignment III - the variety now known as Judd-85 was obviously produced in small numbers. The offered coin represents DTS Die State A with light granularity to Libertys portrait and the surrounding field areas due to obverse die rust. All examples of this Judd number were produced after the latest Judd-84 Restrikes with a reeded edge. As one of the two finest certified Judd-85 specimens known to NGC (PCGS has not graded an example of this attribution finer than Proof-65+), this is an outstanding representative of one of the rarest Gobrecht dollar varieties.<p> PCGS# 11354. NGC ID: BLXU. NGC Census: 2, only one of which has been awarded a * designation for superior eye appeal; 0 finer. There are no specimens graded finer than Proof-65+ at PCGS. From our (Stacks) sale of the L.R. French Family Collection, January 1989, lot 17; Heritages sale of the Lemus Collection, Queller Family Collection Part Two, January 2009, lot 1521; our Americana Sale of January 2013, lot 13218.
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