He may well be termed the father of advanced collectors in America. — Farran Zerbe, on Matthew A. Stickney, 1907The offered Pogue coin is the finest known specimen of its variety and an old friend of the firm. Sea green borders surround magenta and a wide expanse of peach on the obverse, while the reverse is lively silver gray, enriched by hints of blue, violet, and brilliant silver. Exceptionally lustrous and simply beautiful, this example boasts a world-class strike, with every star in the reverse star cluster fully realized, centers to most of the obverse stars, complete tail and breast feathers, a bold shield, and more. This strike must rank high among all examples of this date, and probably the entire design type as well. The fields are pristine, fresh and new in appearance, and few marks of any consequence are found anywhere, just a few little trivial ones on Libertys cheek. The die state is early, with a short crack from the top left of L of LIBERTY not yet reaching star 7. The die bulge below the eagles wing on the right is minimal. Besides being the finest preserved Browning-10, this is likely the most beautiful, too. It undoubtedly also ranks highly among the very best preserved and most original of all specimens of this date.Unknown to Browning until his book was at the binders and thus discovered too late to be included in that 1925 reference, this is one of several varieties of 1806 to later rate Rarity-5 or higher, making 1806 an extremely challenging date for specialists. This example was just the fourth specimen of the variety identified, apparently spotted by Walter Breen unattributed in the 1958 American Numismatic Association sale, then sold correctly identified a few months later for a quick 30% profit. Breen called this coin Gem Uncirculated, beautiful pale purple tone; just about superb, and a wonderful coin aside from its importance as a variety. Noses out the Johnson coin as finest of the four specimens known ... From the 1958 American Numismatic Association Convention auction at $210, but worth a great deal more properly attributed and described. It brought $275, a case study in the value of proper cataloging. Breen didnt know of its earlier provenance to the Stickney Collection, a pedigree that places this in Stickneys holdings certainly before his death in 1894 and almost certainly before the end of his active collecting days in 1854. This spectacular quarter remained hidden away after the 1958 New Netherlands sale until it appeared again in Auction 86. It was described there as an extraordinary coin, certainly the finest of the date we have seen and quite possibly also the finest of the type. The strike, color (warm russet, greenish gold, violet, and blue rather than pale purple) and surfaces are all exquisite and could not be improved in any important respect. The ultimate type coin for the collector who is satisfied with only the very finest. The very finest: three words that capture the essence of the D. Brent Pogue Collection.
