Wurtzbach Colln. Gem coin. Finest seen. CW exhibited this one at ANA Convention, Chicago, 34, as the most beautiful 1802 cent - Dr. William H. Sheldon, typewritten envelope, ca. 1960Desirable chocolate brown with areas of mint color on the obverse, lighter brown with olive highlights on the reverse. The reverse is particularly fresh and lustrous in appearance, while the obverse shows strong cartwheel and high gloss. The strike is exceptionally well detailed for this variety, whose profusion of die clashes often leave specimens from these dies with a soft, muddy appearance. No substantial marks are seen, just a trivial short mark in the expanse of the central right obverse field. The applied gloss on the surfaces is somewhat built up in the lower right obverse, close to the bust tip, and is heavier on the obverse than reverse. A tiny reddish spot blends into the patina within the drapery near the bust truncation. Extensive die clashes surround the portrait of Liberty and have taken a toll on the detail within her drapery, leaving her bust somewhat roughly textured. The reverse shows faint clash marks within the reverse wreath, but remains quite crisp and sharp. A light die crack connects the tops of F AMERI, and a less visible crack connects the top of the last S in STATES to the top of O of OF. This die state is a bit earlier than Breens State II, which calls for a crack connecting all of F AMERICA, but clearly later than his uncracked state I.So much of the legend and lore of the large cent community has been passed down through Dr. William H. Sheldon, the father of modern grading and the author of beloved works on early date cents. Beyond Early American Cents (1949) and Penny Whimsy (1958), Sheldon wrote relatively little for numismatic publication. He cataloged Part I of the Anderson Dupont catalog for Stacks in 1954, and penned a few numismatic articles, including the occasional obituary. His short Penny-Wise contribution from March 1971, "Notes on the Big Four of the Early Copper," is typical of his oeuvre, nostalgic and conversational. Many of Sheldons preserved bon mots and stories are recorded in the pages of the Early American Coppers Club journal Penny-Wise, told by his friends and colleagues, both before and after his death in 1977. Many of Sheldons letters survived him, as did the envelopes he carefully typed up for cents that found their way into his collection or the collection of his longtime associate Dorothy Paschal.Many of Sheldons charming stories and turns of phrase have been adopted into the large cent canon, but the envelopes he so carefully composed suggest a note of caution. The provenance information Sheldon typed ranged from poorly remembered to demonstrably concocted. There may have been a kernel of truth to his tale of Wurtzbach displaying this coin at the 1934 Chicago ANA convention and terming it "the most beautiful 1802 cent;" then again, the 1934 ANA convention wasnt in Chicago, and Wurtzbach exhibited at neither the 1933 Chicago convention nor the show in Cleveland the following year. He did, however, exhibit often, including at nearly every ANA convention between 1912 and 1917, and could well have called this the most beautiful 1802 cent. Or, perhaps, Dr. Sheldon believed the sentiment and preferred to attribute the phrase to the much beloved Wurtzbach, whose obituary he penned for The Numismatist in November 1947.This cent deserves the title of finest known of the variety. It has received the highest grade of any Sheldon-227 from PCGS, topping the Reynolds PCGS MS-64 BN that was sold in January 2016. These two specimens are the only two Mint State examples of the variety listed by either Noyes or Bland. We suspect Dr. Sheldon would have preferred this one.
