1796 Draped Bust Cent. S-100. Rarity-6-. Reverse of 1797. AU-53 (PCGS).A handsome and fully original piece, both sides exhibit a pleasing blend of golden-brown and reddish-copper patina. The surfaces are generally hard in appearance with considerable semi-reflectivity in the fields. The obverse and reverse details are sharper than the EAC grade suggests (see below, and as confirmed by PCGS), with all the strands in Libertys hair crisp and fully delineated and many of the leaves in the reverse wreath showing full veins. Obverse impression close to perfectly centered, only the denticulation along the lower right border is a tad soft. The reverse border was beveled by the planchet cutter, making the obverse flat and squared off and leaving the reverse with no denticulation from 3 to 10 oclock. There is a small obverse dig in the extreme right field, other tinier marks are evident on both sides, as are a few light spots here and there around the peripheries. Obverse die state with a single set of clash marks behind Libertys head and under the chin; reverse die state with a thin crack through the tops of the letters TA in STATES into the field above the adjacent T. Breen Die State I-II, intermediate die state. EAC grade EF-40 and tied for second finest known in <em>Walter Breens Encyclopedia of Early United States Cents: 1793-1814</em> (2000); EAC grade EF-45 and listed as finest known in the 1991 Noyes reference. The CC#1 coin in <em>Breens Encyclopedia</em> is an EF-45 discovered in an old New Hampshire farmhouse in 1994. One of several prominent 1796 Draped Bust cents in the Walter Collection that we are offering in this sale, this Condition Census S-100 is sure to see spirited bidding among advanced large cent enthusiasts.From the John Whitney Walter Collection. Earlier ex Dr. George P. French, March 1929; B. Max Mehls Fixed Price List of 1929, lot 133; T. James Clarke, 1944; B. Max Mehl, 1950; Dr. William H. Sheldon, April 1972; R.E. Naftzger, Jr,. February 1992; Eric Streiner; our (Stacks) 65th Anniversary Sale, October 2000, lot 65. The plate coin for the variety in the Noyes large cent reference.
