1796 Draped Bust Cent. S-103. Rarity-4. LIHERTY Error. AU-58 (PCGS).<strong>Type:</strong> Draped Bust.<p><strong>Design:</strong> Obv: A draped bust of Liberty faces right with the word LIBERTY above and the date 1796 below. Libertys hair is tied with a ribbon, the ends of which are plainly evident at the back of the head. Rev: A 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> 29 mm.<p><strong>Die Variety:</strong> Sheldon-103, Breen-27. Obv: The popular and readily identifiable LIHERTY variety, the letter B in LIBERTY first punch inverted, then corrected. This obverse is also used in the S-104 pairing. Rev: Reverse of 1794 with 14 leaves in the left branch of the wreath, 17 in the right, berries six left and seven right. There is a double leaf cluster outside the wreath below the letter O in OF, which is diagnostic for S-103 since on the reverse of the only other LIHERTY variety -- S-104 -- there are three leaves in this cluster. This reverse also appears in the S-101 and S-102 pairings.<p>Sheldon-103 and S-104 are the only die marriages of the LIHERTY <em>Guide Book</em> variety of the 1796 Draped Bust cent.<p><strong>Die State:</strong> Noyes A/C, Breen II. Obv: Perfect. Rev: Cracked through the top of the letters AMERIC in AMERICA and continuing, faintly, to the A, right ribbon end and below the denominator in the fraction. Additional faint cracks are present at the top of the letters NITED in UNITED, and through the word OF to the border above the first A in AMERICA.<p><strong>Edge:</strong> Plain.<p><strong>Mintage:</strong> The mintage of 363,375 coins for the 1796 Draped Bust cent provided in most numismatic references corresponds to the Mints deliveries for this denomination from October 13 through the end of calendar year 1796. With additional examples produced during calendar year 1797, and possibly also 1798, the exact mintage from 1796-dated dies is unknown. Walter Breen (2000) asserts that the mintage for the S-103 variety is included in the Mints delivery of 411,510 cents from February 6 to March 13, 1797.<p><strong>Estimated Surviving Population for the Die Variety:</strong> Rarity-4: 118 to 158 coins in all grades.<p><strong>Strike:</strong> Obverse impression a tad off center to 5 oclock with denticulation evident only from 8:30 to 12:30. The reverse is well centered within a fully denticulated border. Both sides are uniformly bold throughout the design with plenty of sharp detail to Libertys portrait and the wreath. A touch of softness in the center of the reverse involves the letters ENT in CENT, but this word is still fully legible.<p><strong>Surfaces:</strong> Dominant light brown patina with intermingled sandy-tan highlights. The surfaces are hard, tight and frosty, and there are traces of faded mint color. Smooth with no significant blemishes, even close inspection with a loupe reveals only a few wispy marks. A tiny nick behind Libertys eye and equally faint marks in the reverse field above the N in ONE and below the right foot of the A in STATES are perhaps the most useful provenance markers.<p><strong>Commentary:</strong> The popularity of this variety stems not only from the readily identifiable LIHERTY error, but also its listing as a major variety for the issue in the <em>Guide Book</em>. Sheldon-103 is the Reverse of 1794 variety of the LIHERTY error, and it is scarcer than its S-104 Reverse of 1797 counterpart. (The <em>Guide Book</em> does not distinguish between reverse varieties of this error.) A well known specimen that has long been ranked among the finest known for the S-103 dies, the ESM specimen is CC#3 in the Bland census with an EAC grade of AU-50, also CC#3 in the 2007 Noyes census, albeit with a slightly different grade of XF45(AU50) Average. With no examples from the S-104 dies graded finer than EAC VF35 in the Noyes census, this coin is also CC#3 for the LIHERTY <em>Guide Book</em> variety as a whole.PCGS# 1413. NGC ID: 223X.PCGS Population (both die marriages of the LIHERTY variety): 1; 3 finer in the BN category (MS-65 BN finest). There is also an MS-64 RB certified by PCGS.From the ESM Collection. Earlier ex Abe Kosoffs sale of the Edward H. Schwartz Collection of United States Large Cents, October 1961, lot 118; Hollinbeck-Kagin Coin Co.; Federal Brand Enterprises 1964 ANA Sale, August 1964, lot 55; Hollinbeck-Kagin Coin Co.; unknown intermediaries; our Boys Town and Charles S. Mamiye Collections sale, March 1998, lot 140; Anthony Terranova; Denis W. Loring; Robert C. Clark; our (Bowers and Merenas) sale of the Robert C. Clark Collection, August 2000 ANA Sale of the Millennium, lot 257; Al Boka, October 2007; Walter Husak; Heritages sale of the Walter Husak Collection, February 2008 Long Beach Signature Auction, lot 2104.
