Morgan described himself as an ex-cent collector; his collection of cents was sold by Elder. He resigned in 1921, but enjoyed himself so much at the New York ANA convention of 1922 that he retracted his resignation in September 1922. - John M. Kleeberg, on William Festus Morgan, An Island of Civility: The Centennial History of the New York Numismatic Club 1908/09-2008/09, 2009Perhaps the best preserved Draped Bust cent in this entire collection, this cent has retained immaculate surfaces, while its color has only gently mellowed to a beautiful lustrous mix of mint color and ideal medium brown. Intact cartwheel luster glides over lightly glossy surfaces, seeking out the brightest red to highlight as it passes. Mint color clings most notably to LIBERTY, the outlines of the portrait, and the date area on the obverse, but it persists in faded form within the frosty fields. The reverse showcases even more mint color, in both its unfaded form around design elements and more mellowed tones around the fields. A tiny speck beneath the leaf that hangs over O of ONE is the only noticeable flaw; some similar dark color is seen at the leaf tips over NE of ONE. A few natural struck-throughs or "planchet flakes" are seen aside Libertys neck. The only contact marks are truly minuscule, including a few between Libertys chin and the denticles at 3:00 and one on Libertys jawline. A wavy line in the surface gloss is barely visible below the fraction and the ribbon end to its right.A clash mark on the reverse is visible left of O of ONE and into C of CENT, with other vestiges visible near O of OF and within the upper right side of the wreath. Related clash marks are less evident on the obverse, above Libertys hair bow, off the curls around the back of her neck, and off her profile. This is roughly equivalent to Breens Die State I, though he described the clash marks only at ON of ONE and saw no clash marks on the obverse. A microscopic area of spalling is seen left of the first A in AMERICA and a smaller fissure of the die face extends from a denticle far below L of LIBERTY. Concentric arcs of lathe lines are prominent across Libertys shoulder and chest, present but less visible within the hair atop her head.This near miraculous survivor was once the property of Dr. Henry Beckwith, the man Breen called "the first perfectionist." William Festus Morgan, who bought this coin from the Beckwith sale, was cut from the same cloth. J.G. Macallister and Wayte Raymond described Morgan in the June 1932 sale of his collection as "a seeker after both Quality and Variety with ample means to gratify his tastes." Consistently upgrading, Morgan was "not deterred from bidding on another of the same variety if he felt there was a chance to improve on its quality."Once Morgan acquired this coin, he no longer needed to seek a better example of this variety or date. There are only three individual cents of this design type graded MS-67 RB by PCGS, two of which are offered in the present catalog.
