1794 Liberty Cap Cent. S-64. Rarity-5-. No Fraction Bar. MS-65 BN (PCGS). CAC.<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 (although see below for a blunder in the fraction that defines this particular variety).<p><strong>Weight Standard:</strong> 13.48 grams.<p><strong>Diameter:</strong> Approximately 29 mm.<p><strong>Die Variety:</strong> Sheldon-64, Breen-50. Obv: The Shielded Hair variety with the denticulation along the left border deep and heavy. This obverse also appears in the S-65 and NC-6 pairings. Rev: The No Fraction Bar variety, most readily identifiable by the missing fraction bar in the denomination 1/100. Close inspection with a loupe also reveals repunching to the left foot of the letter N in ONE, faintly at the letter E in CENT and, most prominently, to the letter N in CENT. S-64 represents the only use of this reverse die.<p>Sheldon-64 corresponds to the No Fraction Bar <em>Guide Book</em> variety of the 1794 Liberty Cap cent.<p><strong>Die State:</strong> Noyes A/A, Breen I. Obv: Perfect. Rev: Perfect, before the die cracked through the letter D in UNITED. This crack becomes quite heavy in late die states.<p><strong>Edge:</strong> Lettered ONE HUNDRED FOR A DOLLAR followed by a single leaf.<p><strong>Mintage:</strong> The Mint delivered 918,521 cents during calendar year 1794. Walter Breen asserts that this variety formed a small percentage of the 40,000 cents delivered on July 9, 1794.<p><strong>Estimated Surviving Population for the Die Variety:</strong> Rarity-5-: 61 to 75 coins in all grades.<p><strong>Strike:</strong> This is a sharply struck Gem with intricate detail to all elements of the design. The individual strands of Libertys hair are crisply delineated, and even the finest elements in the wreath on the reverse are full. Denticulation is broad and deep along the left side of the obverse, thin and shallow along the right, characteristic of the Shielded Hair variety, and attributable to vertical misalignment of the die. The denticulation is more uniformly bold and broad on the reverse.<p><strong>Surfaces:</strong> Visually stunning, both sides are beautifully toned in medium brown with hints of faded mint luster; pale powder blue undertones also exist to treat the more persistent viewer. Satin to modestly semi-prooflike, the surfaces are hard, tight and overall smooth. Natural planchet roughness is extremely minor and out of the way along the lower left obverse border. There are few blemishes of note, commensurate with the assigned grade from PCGS. Provenance markers are limited to a couple of faint spots in the upper left obverse field between the cap and the letters LI in LIBERTY, two trivial marks over and before Libertys neck.<p><strong>Commentary:</strong> Drastic polishing of the reverse die has resulted not only in attenuation of the left ribbon end (which terminates in a single sharp point), but also fine detail and excellent spacing between all of the leaves and berries in the wreath. Of this die Sheldon wrote:<p><em>"beautifully executed reverse, with excellent spacing throughout and fine engravings of the leaves. All the detail about the ribbon bow and fraction is perfect and symmetrical, except for the strange omission of the fraction bar."</em><p>Could Sheldons "strange omission" actually be the result of (re)polishing of the die? In other words, could the fraction bar have been included when the die was engraved, as customary, and if so, could a "perfect fraction" example from the Sheldon-64 pairing exist? None have surfaced as of this writing and, although the three varieties share the same obverse, it is unlikely that an early die state S-64 could be misattributed as S-65 or NC-6 due to the differences in certain elements of the wreath. For example, S-64 has two berries outside the wreath below the letter D in UNITED, while for S-65 and NC-6 there is only one berry in that position.<p>Only two Mint State examples are known from the Sheldon-64 dies. The present example is ranked CC#1 in most census listings, including Bland (EAC MS-67 Prooflike), Noyes (MS62 Average Plus) and Boka (MS62 Prooflike). The other Mint State coin is the Miller-French-Clarke-Naftzger-Holmes-Mervis specimen certified MS-64 RB by PCGS, but with a lower EAC grade in most census listings (Noyes even says MS60, net AU55 for planchet flaws). Here is an extraordinary coin to represent this distinct variety among 1794 Liberty Cap cents, a PCGS-certified Gem that stands tall among the highlights in the ESM Collection.PCGS# 35708. NGC ID: 223P.PCGS Population: 1; 0 finer in this category. There is an MS-64 RB (Mervis:2503) listed at this service.From the ESM Collection. Earlier ex S.H. and H. Chapmans sale of the John G. Mills Collection, April 1904, lot 1243; Henry Chapmans sale of the George H. Earle, Jr. Collection, June 1912, lot 3386; Henry Chapmans sale of the Clarence Bement Collection, May 1916, lot 296; J.C. Morgenthaus sale of the Howard R. Newcomb Collection, Part I, February 1945, lot 61; Dr. William H. Sheldon, April 1972; R.E. "Ted" Naftzger, Jr., February 1992; Eric Streiner, August 1992; Dr. Allen Bennett, 2001; Walter J. Husak; Heritages sale of the Walter J. Husak Collection, February 2008 Long Beach Signature Coin Auction, lot 2066. The plate coin for the variety in the 1991 edition of the Noyes large cent reference, and also pictured in <em>The United States Cents of the Year 1794</em> by S.H. Chapman, <em>Early American Cents</em> and <em>Penny Whimsy</em> by Sheldon, and Morley.
