“Three names tower well above all the rest, and are indeed the standards by which other sales are judged ... the Anderson Dupont sale was the biggest of the big three.” — Denis Loring, Penny-Wise, September 1969 With toning of extraordinary beauty, reflective surfaces, and die work of the finest style, the D. Brent Pogue 1793 Sheldon-5 Wreath cent is among the most desirable specimens of this short-lived type. Struck for just a few months in 1793 before making way for the Liberty Cap design that would persist until 1796, the Wreath cent ranks near the top of every connoisseur’s list of the most beautiful coins struck by the first Philadelphia Mint. Among the 11 different varieties of this design, none are more acclaimed than the Sheldon-5, distinctive for its large obverse legend and date, elements that create an artistic balance no other variety of the type can approach. Among the few high grade survivors from these dies, this specimen is not only one of the most technically perfect, but also among the most aesthetically superb. The surfaces have faded from mint color magnificently, blending electric blue, pale violet, rose, and gold tones that enflame under direct light and mellow with indirect light to a perfectly placid deep tan. The lightest color, that closest to mint red, surrounds the peripheral legends. Deeper tones halo the date and LIBERTY on the obverse, and appear to pull away from the legends on the reverse. The fields are lively and reflective, vigorous with luster and prooflike in texture, framed by high upset rims on both sides. The detail is definitively raised, showing each engraved hair strand and leaf vein. The beaded borders are boldly rounded, each fully defined but for a small group in the upper left obverse. As expected at this level of quality, there are few noteworthy flaws. A tiny rim nick is seen on the reverse above the upper left serif of F in OF, and a few nearly invisible hairlines are seen in the lower left obverse near the tips of the lowest tresses. Some impurities in the planchet manifest here as darker streaks in the surface of the planchet, nearly hidden among the lower curls of Liberty’s hair and in two places high on her cheek, near the corner of her eye. Some shallow and microscopic planchet voids collect near the rim in the southeast quadrant of the obverse. This specimen was struck from a very early die state, which may help explain the prooflike appearance. As described in Breen’s state I, there are some very faint defects visible in this die state, including a very small area of crumbling at the die edge outside of the beads above the right side of L of LIBERTY and just barely beginning above the space between B and E of that word. Subtle bulges, caused by depressions on the die face, are seen between NI, IT, and the tops of TE of UNITED. Very fine lines left from the finishing of the die connect the berries below ST of STATES, range upward to the left of C in CENT, and descend from the center of E to the base of the N right of it. A faint striation in the die surface that crosses the berries beneath the space between OF and A of AMERICA is in its earliest state here. These dies, uncracked and unclashed, show the design as the artist intended, showcasing one of the best efforts of its era. While Chain cents often attract the most interest for their position of historical primacy, there is not a collector alive who would assert that Chain cents are more beautiful than their Wreath cent counterparts. Breen boldly suggested that the elegance of the Wreath cents “was Director David Rittenhouse’s answer to the newspaper criticisms” lodged against the Chain cent. Though no evidence exists to support this, the fact remains that the Wreaths represented a substantial step up in both design artistry and engraving execution. The details of this fine style design are lost with even light wear, making Mint State Wreath cents the crown princes of the early copper world. While many large cents of this quality have provenance that extends decades into the 19th century, this coin seemingly appeared out of nowhere, along with dozens of other gem early cents, as part of the 1954 Anderson Dupont sale. Offered by Stack’s and cataloged by Dr. William H. Sheldon, with assistance from C. Douglas Smith, the sale was named for the two men who discovered and consigned the collection. The identity of the collector who formed it remains unknown. Five years after Early American Cents redefined the way collectors pursued and evaluated large cents, Dr. Sheldon cataloged the Anderson Dupont pieces “in the spirit in which one might prepare a laboratory manual to accompany a textbook.” The lustrous copper-tinted covers of that catalog illustrated just one coin: this one. Featured as lot 7 beneath a headline that read “One of the Most Perfect Examples of 1793 S.5 (C. 6-F),” Dr. Sheldon called this specimen a “superb, flawless coin with original surface and not a trace of wear ... one of the three or four most perfect examples of the variety.” It brought $1,200, a fortune at the time. Today, the only clearly finer Sheldon-5 is the legendary Atwater Coin, which has been graded SP-68 RD (PCGS) since 1992. The Hall-Sisson-Sheldon-Naftzger-Holmes coin, once certified SP-65 BN by NGC, was sold as MS-65 BN (PCGS) in the 2009 Holmes sale. It has been ranked as tied with this piece in some published censuses. PCGS has offered the higher grade to the presently offered cent, which seems to have a slight technical edge over the Holmes coin. Preference, like eye appeal, is a matter of opinion. Bill Eckberg’s 2010 Penny-Wise article entitled “Coinage of the 1793 Wreath and Liberty Cap Cents” drew on little-known Mint records to help lay a documentary footing for the emission sequence of these coins, along with a more precise idea of when they were struck. He determined that Wreath cents were struck April 4 through 6, April 8 through 10, April 13, April 15 through 19, June 28 and 29, and July 1, 1793. Casting aside the commonly received emission sequence espoused by both Sheldon and Breen, Eckberg suggested that “S5, 6, 7, and many or all of the NCs must have been included in the April 18th and 19th deliveries, though in what order they were struck is anyone’s guess.” Sheldon placed his number 5 as the first Wreath cent on the basis of its uniquely large LIBERTY and date. Even if that characteristic does not place it first on the time continuum, it still makes this variety the most distinctive of the Wreaths and this coin one of the most desirable of all examples of this type. PCGS# 35447. NGC ID: 223H.
