1794 Liberty Cap Cent. S-19B. Rarity-4. Head of 1793. EF-40 (PCGS).<strong>Type:</strong> Liberty Cap.<p><strong>Design:</strong> Obv: A head of Liberty faces right, the word LIBERTY above, the date 1794 below, and a liberty cap and pole behind the portrait. Libertys hair is partly confined by a narrow ribbon. The Liberty Cap motif closely resembles that on the obverse of Augustin Dupres famous Libertas Americana medal. Rev: A slender wreath surrounds the denomination ONE CENT, the base of the wreath bound by a ribbon tied into a bow. The legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is around the border and another expression of the denomination 1/100 is below.<p><strong>Weight Standard:</strong> 13.48 grams.<p><strong>Diameter:</strong> Approximately 29 mm.<p><strong>Die Variety:</strong> Sheldon-19B, Breen-3b. Obv: The Double Chin variety, also identifiable by wide spacing at the base of the letters IB in LIBERTY and the curvature of the date (the digits are straight on the other obverse dies of the 1794 Head of 1793 variety). This obverse also appears in the S-18A, S-18B and S-19A attributions. Rev: The denticles around the border are long and heavy. There are eight berries on the left branch of the wreath, seven on the right, with a detached berry outside the primary outer berry below the letter M in AMERICA. The inner berry on this part of the wreath is hardly present with what appears to be merely a stem in this position. This reverse die also appears in the S-19A, S-20A, S-20B and S-21 attributions.<p>Sheldon-19B is one of several die marriages that correspond to the Head of 1793 <em>Guide Book</em> variety of the 1794 Liberty Cap cent. The others are S-17A, S-17B/NC-4, S-18A, S-18B, S-19A, S-20A/NC-7 and S-20B.<p><strong>Die State:</strong> Noyes B/A, Breen II. Obv: Light die failure has resulted in an area of roughness in the left field below the cap. Rev: Perfect.<p><strong>Edge:</strong> Lettered ONE HUNDRED FOR A DOLLAR followed by a single leaf, its point and stem both pointing up. This is the Edge of 1794.<p><strong>Mintage:</strong> The Mint delivered 918,521 cents during calendar year 1794, although Walter Breen suggests that only the 11,000 examples struck from January 10 to 13 (and delivered on the latter date) correspond to the Head of 1793 <em>Guide Book</em> variety.<p><strong>Estimated Surviving Population for the Die Variety:</strong> Rarity-4: 118 to 158 coins in all grades.<p><strong>Strike:</strong> Most design elements are well struck with plenty of bold to sharp detail remaining. Centering is good, if drawn a bit to 3 oclock on both sides. The right reverse periphery is poorly defined with little detail evident, likely the result of a poorly annealed planchet; this feature, in turn, has resulted in softness of detail with original planchet roughness in the corresponding area on the obverse where the letters TY in LIBERTY are particularly faint.<p><strong>Surfaces:</strong> Predominantly medium olive-brown surfaces with intermingled golden-tan and steel-brown. Both sides are somewhat subdued and lightly granular, although handling marks are few, with none worthy of mention apart from a couple of dull abrasions on the reverse at the letters TES in STATES.<p><strong>Commentary:</strong> After its final delivery of 1793-dated coins on September 18 of that year -- the entire 11,056-coin mintage for the 1793 Liberty Cap issue -- the Mint struck no more cents until January 10 of the following year. In the meantime engraver Joseph Wright had died, a victim of the yearly yellow fever epidemic that swept through Philadelphia. Wrights new but familiar design, directly inspired by Augustin Dupres 1783 Libertas Americana medal, was used on the Liberty Cap cents of 1793. The obverse hubs Wright made, depicting the head of a young woman superimposed upon a liberty pole and cap, outlived him. This classic design would be reimagined by Robert Scot, but not before three obverse dies were sunk with Wrights device punch for the head of Liberty. Those dies are known today as the Head of 1793.<p>As related above, Walter Breen suggested that the first cent delivery of 1794, numbering 11,000 coins, composed the entire mintage from the Head of 1793 dies. Four more groups of cents were delivered before the end of January. It is unlikely the relationship between die varieties and deliveries are as crisp and definite as the literature would indicate, but these varieties were undoubtedly the first 1794 cents struck and the first to enter circulation. Most stayed in commercial channels for decades, considering their typical levels of significant wear. Indeed, any 1794 Head of 1793 cent grading EF or finer is significant. The present example is possibly the (tied for) CC#11 coin in Del Blands census, described in Breens large cent encyclopedia (in part) as: "<strong>VF-20</strong> <em>With very weak striking through ES OF AMERICA</em>...From an old estate to Charles E. Hayes Rare Coins."PCGS# 1362. NGC ID: 223M.PCGS Population (all die marriages of the Head of 1793 variety): 6; 15 finer, 3 of which are Mint State (MS-64 BN finest).From the ESM Collection. Earlier from our (Bowers and Merenas) Rarities Sale of January 1999, lot 1018; Heritages FUN Signature Coin Auction of January 2007, lot 772. Possibly earlier ex an old estate, to Charles E. Hayes Rare Coins.
