1812 Classic Head Cent. S-289. Rarity-1. Large Date. MS-64 BN (PCGS).<strong>Type:</strong> Classic Head.<p><strong>Design:</strong> Obv: A head of Liberty faces left with 13 stars around the border arranged seven left, six right. The date 1812 is below. Liberty is wearing a fillet inscribed LIBERTY. Rev: A circular wreath encloses the denomination ONE CENT with the legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around the border.<p><strong>Weight Standard:</strong> 10.89 grams.<p><strong>Diameter:</strong> 29 mm.<p><strong>Die Variety:</strong> Sheldon-289, Breen-4. Obv: Large Date, the individual digits evenly spaced and nicely curved. The right base of the letter T in LIBERTY is boldly repunched, and a loupe reveals minute die rust pits around the center dot and Libertys earlobe. S-289 represents the only use of this obverse die. Rev: The point of the highest leaf in the wreath is almost midway between the final letter S in STATES and the letter O in OF -- the farthest right on any reverse of the 1812 cent issue. S-289 also represents the only use of this reverse die.<p>Along with S-288, S-289 corresponds to the Large Date <em>Guide Book </em>variety of the 1812 Classic Head cent.<p><strong>Die State:</strong> Noyes B/B, Breen II. Obv: The die is beginning to deteriorate with flowlines evident in the field, especially around the periphery, and a slight bulge developing past star 7. Rev: The reverse die is also worn with flowlines around the periphery that are most advanced between the letters in AMERICA and the border. There are multiple sets of clash marks in the center around the denomination ONE CENT.<p><strong>Edge:</strong> Plain.<p><strong>Mintage for the Issue:</strong> 1,075,500 coins.<p><strong>Estimated Surviving Population for the Die Variety:</strong> Rarity-1: More than 1,500 coins in all grades.<p><strong>Strike:</strong> This is a sharply struck coin despite the somewhat advanced die state, softness confined to the reverse border from 12 to 8 oclock, where we note scant to no denticulation. Obverse denticulation from 2 to 6 oclock is a bit thin due to a slightly off center impression. All stars display at least partial radial lines, and the central design elements are crisp.<p><strong>Surfaces:</strong> Frosty surfaces are richly toned in ruddy-brown with swirls of deep rose-red that are more extensive on the reverse. There is a pair of extremely faint slide marks in the left obverse field off the tip of Libertys nose. The reverse is quite smooth overall, in fact, and we note only a tiny, ancient carbon fleck below the left foot of the final letter A in AMERICA. The obverse is microscopically pitted in isolated areas with tiny speckles of verdigris also scattered about, the most significant concentrations of which are in the field above Libertys portrait, on the lower neck in front of the curl, and on the lower ribbon end at the back of the head.<p><strong>Commentary:</strong> Coinage of cents from 1812-dated dies commenced after a shipment of approximately 20 long tons (44,800 pounds) of copper arrived in Philadelphia from the Mints supplier Matthew Boulton in England. Breen says that this shipment arrived before May 9, 1812, and it allowed production of this denomination to resume after the Mint exhausted its previous supply from Boulton in March of 1811. The Boulton shipment of early 1812 represented the Mints final delivery of copper before the end of the Classic Head series in 1814, and it provided all of the planchets for the combined mintage of 1,851,330 cents from 1812 through 1814.<p>The 1812 Sheldon-289 is one of the more readily obtainable die marriages in this challenging early copper series, so much so that Breen speculates that there may have been a small hoard of minimally circulated and/or Mint State coins at one time. If so, the coins therein have long since been dispersed, for high quality examples in AU grades are scarce in todays market. Uncirculated survivors are decidedly rare, the present example numbering among the finest known. The exact ranking of the ESM specimen in the census for the S-289 dies may actually be in need of review. Del Bland grades this coin EAC AU-55 and ranks it tied for CC#3 in his census published in 2000, while the 2015 Noyes census says AU50(AU50) Average and tied for CC#6. Both rankings appear to be based on this coins earlier auction appearances during the early to mid 1990s, at which time it displayed a number of prominent verdigris spots on the obverse. These spots have been vastly improved since then, leaving only the tiny verdigris speckles and microscopic pits noted above. The appearance has been improved to such an extent, in fact, that both the Heritage cataloger and Noyes did not associate this coins 2006 auction appearance with its provenance from 1993 to 1995. Regardless of its exact ranking in the current census, this 1812 S-289 is a solid Mint State coin with pleasing eye appeal, and it would do equally well in a high grade type or variety set.PCGS# 1564.PCGS Population (both die marriages of the Large Date variety): 8; 2 finer in this category (MS-66 BN finest). There is also an MS-64+ RB known to this service.From the ESM Collection. Earlier ex our (Stacks) sale of January 1993, lot 1169; Lee J. Bellisario; unknown intermediaries(?); Superiors May 29, 30, 1995 Auction, lot 2031; our (Bowers and Merenas) Greenwald and Jackson Collections sale, September 1995, lot 1139; later, Heritages sale of the Joshua and Ally Walsh Collection of United States Cents, January 2006 FUN Signature Auction, lot 3031.
