A gem of the first water — Henry Chapman, 1912 An absolutely stunning specimen of this rarer major type of the first year of quarter eagle production. Both sides are fully mirrored, powerfully reflective throughout the fields. The color is rich and even, bright yellow gold on both sides. The natural adjustment lines have been almost completely obliterated by a definitive strike, with traces remaining at the extreme left obverse periphery, at R of LIBERTY, and a few other places outside the obverse stars. The details are complete, with good centers on both obverse and reverse stars but for obverse stars 13 through 16. The highly reflective surfaces make even the faintest hairlines appear more pronounced, and examination will find some in the obverse fields, including between Liberty s profile and stars 12 and 13. Jimmy Hayes, a previous owner of this coin and many other notable gems, has pointed out to us that all high grade 1796 With Stars quarter eagles have many of these hairlines in common, present in identical form on different specimens, suggesting they were part of the planchet polishing process, a very important consideration. A tiny struck-through or lint mark is present at the base of 6 in the date, and a larger struck-through is noted atop the reverse right of the final S in STATES. The die damage at TATE in STATES, as seen on all known specimens from these dies, is present here. A very faint die crack is barely visible right of the 6 of the date, another light crack connects the stars at right with L of LIBERTY, two short die flaws above stars 6 and 7, no crack visible at right side of second T in STATES, probably the earliest known die state. An extraordinary coin! David Akers, a well-known authority on United States gold coins for most of the late 20th century, called this coin the finest 1796 With Stars quarter eagle known to us by far. Known for his eye for quality, Akers graded this coin Choice Uncirculated 63+ in 1989. With an estimated total mintage of 432 pieces, this is by far the rarer of the two major design types of 1796 quarter eagles. About 10% of that number survives today in all states of preservation, including the three specimens in the National Numismatic Collection and the Harry W. Bass, Jr. coin on display in a special gallery at the American Numismatic Association. PCGS has registered just four grading events in Mint State, and PCGS CoinFacts estimates that no more than five exist in all Mint State grades. In the legendary George H. Earle, Jr. sale of 1912, Henry Chapman described this coin as Proof, the obverse field showing the slightest hairmarking by attrition; microscopic nick back of head. Sharp, even impression and probably the finest known example. Of excessive rarity and a gem of the first water. Thirty years had passed since Chapman s first great triumph, the Charles Bushnell sale. He was no longer a babe in the woods, having cataloged most of the spectacular collections of American coins sold in the intervening decades. His office was just a dozen blocks from where this coin was minted at 7th and Filbert Streets in Philadelphia, putting Chapman in a prime location to see the finest coins from the first Philadelphia Mint and the lion s share of major collections formed in the principal numismatic seats of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. Between 1912 and 1974, this coin traded hands exclusively in private transactions, including stays in some of the most famous collections of the 20th century. Owned by the legendary Col. E.H.R. Green until his death in 1936, this coin likely followed the rest of the coins in the Green estate to St. Louis, where Burdette G. Johnson, assisted by Eric P. Newman, broke up the enormous holdings. Dr. J. Hewitt Judd acquired this piece, likely from Johnson directly. Later, it was illustrated in Abe Kosoff s 1962 book, An Illustrated History of United States Coins, a love letter to Judd s enormous collection and the only printed reference describing his federal coin collection. Listed as Coin 39, Kosoff described this coin as Superb-Proof; a magnificent gem of the first water. Ex-Col. Green, liberally borrowing Henry Chapman s phrase from the Earle sale. Walter Breen later mentioned this coin in his Complete Encyclopedia of United States and Colonial Proof Coins, noting three 1796 With Stars quarter eagles seen in presentation-piece form. One of these was Earle:2496; another went in the M.I. Cohen sale of 1875, and may or may not be among the three seen by me. Cf. also Maris:12 (1886); Winter sale (1974), $33,000. The coin in the 1875 Cohen sale was described as With Stars. Proof. Very rare. It sold for $16 against $6.12 for the lot previous, a 1796 No Stars. Unfortunately, it was not plated. In the 1886 Maris sale, his 1796 With Stars quarter eagle was described as With stars. In beautiful Proof condition, showing, as they all do, slight drift marks. With one exception, believed to be the finest known. Extremely rare in any condition, and exceptionally desirable in this. Valued by its former owner at $100. While plated in the Maris sale, Maris catalogs with their photographic plates are almost as rare as Mint State 1796 With Stars quarter eagles. While modern ideas on specimen strikings and presentation pieces have evolved beyond Breen s conception of them, and Breen s provenance chains are not always verifiable, it is a testament to this coin s quality that it would be mentioned as a potential presentation piece. Further, with so few high quality 1796 With Stars examples surviving, it is very likely that this coin is the 1875 Cohen piece, the 1886 Maris piece, or both. It is certainly both the Earle coin and the Winter coin. Since this piece last appeared at auction, an example impounded in the collection of Byron Reed of Omaha, Nebraska since his death in 1891 came to market. That example, rediscovered by the modern generation of numismatists in 1996, was graded MS-65 by PCGS and last sold in 2008 for $1,006,250. It now resides in the Bob Simpson Collection. PCGS CoinFacts records two modern offerings of a PCGS MS-61 (the same coin, ex Eliasberg, sold in 1999 and 2005, almost certainly upgraded by now), and one offering of a PCGS MS-63 (the former Whitney:1790 coin). The Byron Reed coin has twice sold, both times as NGC MS-65. The Whitney:1790 coin and the Reed coin are the only specimens to have ever drawn a higher grade at PCGS. Beyond its rarity and importance as the first year of the With Stars type, the 1796 With Stars holds special relevance for the significance of its 16 stars. That unwieldy number represents the last time the Philadelphia Mint attempted to recognize each state in the Union with an obverse star. After Tennessee s admission as the 16th state, a decision was made to return to 13 stars rather than tempt even more crowded designs in the future. United States coins continued to use a 13 star count well into the 20th century.
