Undated (1659) Maryland Lord Baltimore Groat. W-1010, Breen-74, Hodder 1-A. Rarity-6. AU-55 (PCGS).23.6 grains. The Crosby plate coin and the finest non-error example certified by PCGS. We offered this coin in 2015 after a five-decade absence from the market and described it as follows:<p><p>"An incredible specimen of this diminutive rarity. Both obverse and reverse are fully lustrous and lightly reflective, graced with beautiful pastel blue and pale violet toning. The obverse portrait stands out in sharp contrast to the clear fields, with well struck hair and a highly textured bust truncation, though the profile shows some of the weakness seen on many of the known examples. A thin old hairline scratch is discerned from the rim near 10 oclock through the left foot of AE into the forehead. The right periphery, outside the beaded border, shows evidence of several die clashes, some of which hides within the letters of CAECILIVS. The reverse is Gem quality, remarkably choice, aligned to 5:30 with the die edge visible in the northwest periphery. The reverse shows no die break right of the shield. No significant marks are seen, though the upper left of the shield, opposite the obverse portrait, is somewhat softly struck. The Crosby plate specimen, though not Crosbys own coin; Sylvester Crosby owned two examples of the Lord Baltimore groat, both of which were pierced (one of which was the unique piedfort example). <p><p><em>"There appear to be about 20 of these extant. Only a few are high grade, namely this one (off the market since 1973), the very nice Partrick coin (sold as NGC MS-64 for $105,750 in January 2014, previously in our (Bowers and Merenas) 1983 Connecticut Historical Society sale and quite possibly the Bushnell coin), the Eliasberg coin (recently graded NGC AU-55), and the double struck piece that Wayte Raymond showed at the 1914 ANS Exhibition and plated in the Standard Catalogue, more recently offered in several Heritage sales over the last 10 years alternatively as NGC AU-58 and NGC MS-62. Just below this tier are coins like the very nice Roper coin (graded EF in 1983, probably better now), the Ted Craige Estate coin (sold for $70,500 in our March 2013 sale as PCGS AU-53), the Laird Park coin (called EF in 1976), the Ellsworth-Garrett coin (called EF in 1980) and the Loye Lauder coin (most recently sold in Heritages February 2014 sale as PCGS VF-35 for $25,850). Most of the others grade VF or below, or show significant damage like holes or plugs. The Ford sales did not include one (though the Craige coin was ex: Boyd), nor did our 2012 sale of the "Jack" Royse type set. Mrs. Norweb owned the unique Small Head Lord Baltimore groat, later sold in the Partrick sale, but did not own an example of the more "common" variety. Examples with the large cud right of the shield on the reverse seem to be about as common as ones without the break. The VF holed example we offered in our (Stacks) July 2008 Berngard and S.S. New York sale was dug along the banks of the Rappahannock River in Virginia, proving American circulation. Earle never owned one, and both Stickney and Crosby only ever had examples with holes. This is a world class example of this rarest Lord Baltimore denomination, a specimen few modern collectors even know existed."</em><p><p>Several of the best Baltimore groats have come to market since this one last sold in 2015, but only one even arguably exceeds this one. The double struck MS-62 (PCGS) specimen sold in a March 2017 Kagins sale. The Eliasberg coin resold in 2021 in the Partrick sale as NGC AU-55, and the Laird Park coin was graded AU-53 (PCGS) when it last sold in our Archangel Collection sale of 2018. The Garrett coin sold without mention of its famous provenance in the Heritage "Long Island Collection" (Henry Dittmer) sale of May 2022 as NGC EF-45.PCGS# 32.PCGS Population: 1, 1 finer (a double struck MS-62).From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier from the Charles E. Clapp Collection; our (Stacks) June 1973 (W.L. Breisland) sale, lot 783; our sale of the Henry P. Kendall Foundation Collection, March 2015, lot 2452.
