1800 Draped Bust Cent. S-205. Rarity-4. MS-63 RB (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 1800 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-205, Breen-26. Obv: Style II Hair (a.k.a. Head of 1799) with an extra curl in Libertys hair at the shoulder. The letter Y in LIBERTY is low relative to the adjacent T, its left foot missing. There is a bald spot within Libertys lower hair curls above the digit 1 in the date, and a tiny die chip is evident in the field before the middle of the neck. This obverse also appears in the S-206 pairing. Rev: The letters ME in AMERICA touch and are repunched, the latter feature plainest at the left top of the M. The stem of the berry below the letter C in CENT is almost vertical. This reverse was also used for the S-204 variety.<p>S-205 is one of numerous die marriages that correspond to the normal date <em>Guide Book</em> listing of the 1800 Draped Bust cent.<p><strong>Die State:</strong> Noyes C/D, Breen II. Obv: Clash marks are evident in the field both in front of and behind Libertys portrait, with a crack from the border at 8 oclock, through the lower hair curls and extending nearly to the back of the neck. Die failure has weakened the letters RTY in LIBERTY at the top. Rev: Cracked from the border over the letter R in AMERICA, through the upright of the adjacent I and the base of the CA. This is the most frequently encountered die state of the variety, accounting for upward of 90% of examples in numismatic hands.<p><strong>Edge:</strong> Plain.<p><strong>Mintage:</strong> The <em>Guide Book</em> provides a mintage of 2,822,175 coins for the 1800 Draped Bust cent, which corresponds to the Mints total deliveries for this denomination during calendar year 1800, as reported by the Mint director. Some of these coins were likely from earlier-dated dies, a prime candidate in this regard the 1799 S-189 variety.<p><strong>Estimated Surviving Population for the Die Variety:</strong> Rarity-4: 118 to 158 coins in all grades.<p><strong>Strike:</strong> Boldly defined overall, centering is fairly good, although the denticulation is missing from much of the obverse, as well as the reverse border from 10 to 1 oclock. The letters RTY in LIBERTY are soft at the top, as related above under die state, reverse soft at the words OF AMERICA along the right border.<p><strong>Surfaces:</strong> Frosty surfaces retain plenty of original pinkish-orange color reinforcing the Red and Brown designation from PCGS. Otherwise pleasingly toned in medium brown with glints of pale silver and powder blue iridescence. Faint flyspecks on both sides are only really evident under close examination with a loupe; more pronounced are shallow depressions in the upper right obverse field below the letter T and after the letter Y in LIBERTY, remnants of long-inactive carbon. Overall smooth with strong eye appeal.<p><strong>Commentary:</strong> Described as "Finest Known, or equal to it," in our (Stacks) February 1965 sale of the Eugene H. Gardner Collection, this coin has retained its ranking among the highest graded survivors from the Sheldon-205 dies. Graded EAC MS-63 and ranked CC#1 in the Bland census, the 2015 Noyes census is more critical with a grade of AU50(MS60) Average and a ranking of CC#6. Equally well suited for a high quality type, date or variety set, this beautiful Mint State 1800 cent is sure to sure spirited bidding.PCGS# 1450. NGC ID: 2248.PCGS Population (all normal date die marriages of the issue): 2; 3 finer in this category (MS-65+ RB finest).From the ESM Collection. Earlier ex Eugene H. Gardner; our (Stacks) sale of the Eugene H. Gardner Collection, February 1965, lot 1132; Floyd T. Starr; our (Stacks) sale of the Floyd T. Starr Collection of United States Large Cents and Half Cents, June 1984, lot 35; Ken Goldman, June 1984; Denis Loring, February 2000; Wes Rasmussen; Heritages sale of the Wes Rasmussen Collection, January 2005, lot 3241. The plate coin for the variety in the Breen large cent encyclopedia, and also for Die State C/D in the 2015 edition of the Noyes large cent reference.
