In the year 1857, the old familiar coppers disappear from among our authorized coins. They continued to be coined during the month of January, in which time 333,456 cents and 35,180 half cents were struck. - James Ross Snowden, The Mint Manual of Coins of All Nations, 1860Soft violet and pale blue steel accents are seen over much of the obverse while outlines of generous mint red remain around the stars and close to the central motif. The reverse retains more red throughout the fields while the design elements have mellowed to light olive brown. One faint wisp of hairlines in the obverse field is the only impairment worthy of mention. A pair of toning spots near stars 9 and 10 is useful for plate matching.Fine satin frost covers the portrait of Liberty while the fields are softly reflective and exhibit fine parallel die finishing lines under magnification. Though both of the 1857 Proofs in the Pogue Collection are Proof-only varieties, the die striations seen on this one differentiates them, suggesting that even four decades after the first Proof large cents were struck, the methods and standards for preparing the dies and planchets were at least somewhat left up to the individual preparing them. This said, the Newcomb-5 is another very well-made Proof. All design elements are razor-sharp in execution, and superior in this respect to the example from the Newcomb-3 die pairing. The rims are broad and high, with partial wires and fine original texture on their flat surfaces, a clear indication of just how carefully this coin has been handled over the many years by the long line of astute collectors given in the provenance below.By the end of 1856, the large cent was doomed. As one of his last official duties, just two weeks before the inauguration of James Buchanan, President Franklin Pierce signed the large cents death warrant, the Act of February 21, 1857. It called for a new, smaller cent produced of a copper alloy that included 12% nickel. Regulations issued in April 1857 dictated that the new cents would be paid out after May 25 in exchange for old large cents or the fractional foreign coins whose legal tender status had been ended up the same February act. When the news was announced, nostalgia set in, as Americans of all ages recalled the bright red copper cents of their youth. Large cents began to be saved and collected, setting off a seismic event that was the genesis of American coin collecting as we know it. The Proof large cents of 1857 are relics of that moment, coined before the denomination took its last step into the abyss, the end of their long tradition in circulation but the beginning of an even more enduring tradition: large cent collecting itself.This Proof-only variety is fairly plentiful, as Proof large cents go, but this particular specimen has the distinction of being regarded as the discovery coin for the variety. Howard Newcomb expected new varieties to appear, as he made clear in the closing commentary of his landmark book, "…there are probably a few dies and combinations of known dies that have escaped my attention." This coin might well have inspired the comment, as it represented a variety that he had not seen previously until this one was in his own hand. In his September 1945 sale catalog Barney Bluestone wrote of this coin: "Description given in Newcombs Book was taken from this cent. The envelope that contains the coin has Mr. Newcombs personal remarks: First Ive Seen. None in Newcombs Collection recently sold in New York. A very rare and valuable coin. Should bring a big price."Though the Proof large cents of this vintage were cherished by those who acquired them at the time, gems are rare today. The sole example listed as finer by PCGS has only a slight color advantage over this one. This pieces spectacular provenance perhaps equals the score.
