Delightful deep golden olive patina displays soft mottling of steel and traces of faded orange red. This Gem is boldly lustrous on both sides and very attractive. Almost no handling marks of any kind are seen. A tiny flaw near the dentils between stars 5 and 6 appears to be a planchet imperfection. It is as made and useful as an identifier of this lovely example, though the superb quality of this cent might well be enough of an identifier.Both sides display bold central details, though the peripheral details are irregular in their sharpness, typical of the variety. The date and lower stars are very sharp, while the uppermost stars, extending from the third to the eighth, are fairly flat. This is Noyes Die State-A/A, with just a trace of faint flowlining at the dentil tips, while the fields otherwise feature fine satin texture.It is remarkable for any collection to include an 1816 cent of this caliber, particularly one with a provenance this ancient, as Benjamin Collins was most active in the 1890s. Just three cents of this date have been graded this high by PCGS at this level, each a different Newcomb variety, and two of them are included in the Pogue Collection. This one is tied for CC#1 of the variety in the Noyes Census.
