1793 Flowing Hair Cent. Wreath Reverse. S-5. Rarity-4. Vine and Bars Edge. MS-61 BN (NGC). A scarce variety and one of the ever popular 1793 Wreath cents. The obverse is smooth and glossy brown with even color and no spots. Similar on the reverse where the color is perfectly matched to the obverse and the surfaces show satiny smooth copper, along with a few very minor planchet laminations which will always hallmark this particular specimen. Two very faint scratches are found on the obverse, one slides down through a couple of Libertys hair curls, ear, and chin into the right field, the other spans the same field and crosses into Libertys neck. Rather sharp in strike with fine definition on all of the hair strands as well as the minute leaf veins where the engraver bothered with a central feature. This is the only Large Letters and Large Date die pairing of the 1793 Wreath cent, all others employed punches that were of a smaller size. The letter R in LIBERTY is repunched. An early die state (Breen I), and certainly among the top dozen of those known to survive, with one of the finer examples residing at the ANS. Highly desirable for the type, date, and variety; precious few Wreath cents of this quality cross the block. Ex William Strobridges sale of the Dr. Charles Clay Collection, December 1871, lot 700; W. Elliot Woodward; Lorin G. Parmelee; William Strobridges sale of the Parmelee/Seavey Collection, June 1873, lot 130; William Festus Morgan; J.C. Morgenthau & Co.s Sale Number 287, June 1932, lot 7; unknown intermediaries; Wayte Raymond; J.C. Morgenthau & Co.s Sale Number 384, December 1937, lot 335; Frank Hussey; New Netherlands 54th Sale, April 1960, lot 1337; Corrado Romano; unknown intermediaries; our (Stacks) 85th ANA Annual Convention Auction, August 1976, lot 221; Mike Follett Rare Coin Co.; Manfra, Tordella & Brookes; our (Bowers and Merenas) Baltimore ANA Auction of July-August 2003, lot 111; our (American Numismatic Rarities) Thomas H. Sebring Collection sale, January 2004, lot 1099; our (American Numismatic Rarities) Medio and Da Costa Gomez Collections sale, June 2004, lot 4029; our (Stacks) Johnson-Blue Collection sale, August 2010, lot 195; Heritages Houston Signature Auction of December 2010, lot 3162; Heritages Chicago ANA Signature Auction of August 2014, lot 5519.
