As the authorized successor to Early American Cents, Penny Whimsy became the standard text. A generation from now, whether or not collectors will remember Crosby or Hays numbers, many will still be using Sheldon numbers. -Walter Breen, Walter Breens Encyclopedia of Early United States Cents 1793-1814, written before 1991, published 2000.Extraordinary cartwheel luster covers the frosty surfaces, showing splendid variation among tones of olive, steel, violet, rose, and gold. The luster is exceptionally bright and swift on both sides. The devices are well-detailed, all surrounded by fields that show only trivial evidence of handling. A few contact marks gather on Libertys jawline and throat, and some very light lines are barely visible inside the obverse rim near 3:00. OF in the reverse legend is a bit soft, owing to its location opposite the deep relief of Libertys bust, as is the lowest of Libertys curls. A microscopic speck adheres to the curl on Libertys neck, and smaller ones are scattered near the left obverse periphery. Die clashes are seen on both sides, evident on the obverse above Libertys hair bow, while a deep impression of the portrait surrounds much of the central reverse. Concentric arcs of lathe lines hide in Libertys hair and within her shoulder drapery. The raised dashes beneath Y of LIBERTY may remain from attempts to obscure clashing. The cause of the cloud-shaped bulge right of the date, a product of a shallow depression in the die, is unclear. A very light die crack barely extends out of the denticles near 7:00, perhaps placing this as late as Breens Die State IV, though most aspects align better to Breens Die State IV. Major spalling eruptions extend from below I of AMERICA and through the adjacent C to the leaves below; light spalling on the obverse may be seen beneath Libertys chin and along her bust line. Faint nearly horizontal lines near the date appear to be the result of a light layer of applied gloss, rather than anything present on the die face or in the metal of the coin.Its doubtful that any second edition has ever made as profound an impact upon numismatics as Penny Whimsy, the 1958 revision of Dr. William Sheldons Early American Cents. Sheldon brought on two new collaborators: Dr. Dorothy Paschal, a cent collector and Dr. Sheldons longtime companion, and Walter Breen, the enfant terrible of numismatics since the late 1940s. Breen first attracted the attention of numismatists when he began corresponding with Raymond Williamson, the author of the "Cent Collectors Forum" in The Numismatist, about 1949, while still convalescing in a VA Hospital following a rough turn in the Air Force. Within a few years, Breen had taken the column over from Williamson, began doing advanced research in the National Archives, and embarked on a cataloging career with New Netherlands Coin Company. Reprinted four times since 1958, Penny Whimsy endures as a classic, and coins depicted on its photographic plates, shot by Kenneth Bressett, have taken on a special aura of desirability.With prodigious aesthetic gifts and an ancient, impressive provenance, this ranks near the top of the census of this major variety. The only finer 1807/6 of any variety, apparently listed twice as both MS-66 RD and MS-66 RB on the PCGS Population Report, is the Beckwith Sheldon-273, found in a trunk before 1909 and sold to Beckwith in 1917. The Jasper Robertson-Walter Husak coin from these dies, also highly ranked in the published Condition Censuses, has been certified MS-65 BN by PCGS. The Beckwith Sheldon-271, sold as PCGS MS-65 RB in the American Numismatic Rarities sale of March 2005, had been off the market for 65 years before surfacing. It is one of the few 1807 cents of any die variety that rivals this examples quality and provenance.
