1796 Liberty Cap Cent. S-81. Rarity-3. MS-62 BN (PCGS).<strong>Type:</strong> Liberty Cap.<p><strong>Design:</strong> Obv: A head of Liberty faces right, the word LIBERTY above, the date 1796 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> 10.89 grams.<p><strong>Diameter:</strong> Approximately 29 mm.<p><strong>Die Variety:</strong> Sheldon-81, Breen-2. Obv: Close date with the digit 1 touching the hair and the digit 6 nearly touching the bust. The left base of the letter L in LIBERTY touches the cap, and the pole touches the bust. This obverse also appears in the S-82 pairing. Rev: Nineteen leaves and five berries on the left branch of the wreath, 18 leaves and four berries on the right, with a double leaf cluster under the letter N in UNITED and a triple leaf cluster under the letters CA in AMERICA. A light die scratch slants up to the right between the letters NI in UNITED. The letter M in AMERICA is lightly repunched at the upper left, first digit 0 in the denominator of the fraction repunched at its base. This reverse was later used in the S-178 pairing of 1798.<p>There are no individual <em>Guide Book</em> varieties of the 1796 Liberty Cap cent.<p><strong>Die State:</strong> Noyes C/A, Breen II. Obv: A linear bulge extends from the border at 10 oclock, through the lower center of the cap to the hair. Lightly cracked from the denticles after the Y in LIEBRTY, touching the upper right corner of that letter and continuing to the bridge of Libertys nose before the eye. Rev: Lapped with both ribbon ends and the outer leaves below the letters IT in UNITED and CA in AMERICA incomplete. Faint repunching at the base of the first digit 0 in the denominator of the fraction remains visible under magnification.<p><strong>Edge:</strong> Plain.<p><strong>Mintage:</strong> The accepted mintage of 109,825 coins for the 1796 Liberty Cap cent is associated with the Mints deliveries from April 18 to approximately May 10, 1796.<p><strong>Estimated Surviving Population for the Die Variety:</strong> Rarity-3: 301 to 400 coins in all grades.<p><strong>Strike:</strong> The strike is well executed for the variety with virtually all design elements sharply to full defined. Border denticulation is nearly even and complete despite a touch of softness at 8 to 9 oclock, reverse impression drawn minimally to 11:30 with the denticulation thin and soft along the upper left border.<p><strong>Surfaces:</strong> Handsome medium brown patina with faint steel-blue undertones evident. The surfaces are satiny and overall smooth. Original planchet roughness is seen on the reverse at the letters EN in CENT and, to a lesser extent, in the opposing area on the obverse due to minor softness of strike, a common feature for this die pairing. A short, noncontinuous flan flaw on Libertys cheek behind the eye and a shallow planchet pit in the reverse field at the upper right corner of the letter E in ONE are perhaps the most useful provenance markers; there is also a dull mark in the obverse field near the border at 8 oclock.<p><strong>Commentary: </strong>The Liberty Cap is widely admired as the most beautiful cent design ever produced by the United States Mint. Inspired by Augustin Dupres famed Libertas Americana medal of 1783, it was coined for just four years, 1793 through 1796. Though depicting the same basic design, each of those years is distinctive. The 1793, featuring a high relief portrait by Joseph Wright and beaded borders, is considered the most desirable, especially in high grade. The cents of 1794 appear with a wide variety of portrait styles, divided into three main groups: the Head of 1793, the Head of 1794, and the Head of 1795. Devoted variety specialists pursue all 69 different die marriages, making the cents of 1794 the most celebrated year of the early cents. The cents of 1795 show less variety in portraiture, even as other distinctions are widely collected: thick and thin planchets displaying lettered and plain edges, the rare reeded edge Sheldon-79, and the Jefferson Head pieces, made outside the Mint by John Harper. The 1796 Liberty Cap is the last of the type, composed of six different obverses and 11 total die marriages before the motif was replaced with the Draped Bust of Liberty in the middle of the year. The portrait on the 1796 Liberty Caps is elegant, refined, and artistic, attracting attention from specialists and novices alike.<p>None of the 1796 Liberty Cap varieties are terribly rare, nor can any of them be called common, even in low grades. In Mint State, or even choice upper circulated grades, they are rarities, avidly sought but rarely found. The present example, missing from the Bland census, is ranked CC#7 in the 2007 Noyes census with an EAC grade of XF45(AU50) Average. A lovely and significant survivor from this challenging transitional year in the early large cent series.PCGS# 1392. NGC ID: 223V.PCGS Population (all die marriages of the issue): 10; 13 finer in this category (MS-66 BN finest).From the ESM Collection. Earlier ex Gene Sherman, January 1999; Robert C. Clark; our (Bowers and Merenas) sale of the Robert C. Clark Collection, August 2000 ANA Sale of the Millennium, lot 254; Heritages sale of the Joshua Collection, July-August 2008 Baltimore ANA Signature Auction, lot 1505.
