1831 Matron Head Cent. N-3. Rarity-1. Medium Letters. MS-66+ RB (PCGS).From our April 2017 sale of the Pogue Collection, Part V, where it was cataloged as (with minor updates):<p><em>"The Most Perfect N-3 of the non-Proofs" - Jerry A. Bobbe, as documented on Ted Naftzgers original envelope, 1979.</em><p>Fine satin frost covers the entirety of the surface giving the coin a uniformly lustrous appearance. Mostly medium chocolate brown copper, though gentle faded tan mottling may be seen upon close inspection. Pale accents of light blue-green and violet are seen in the fields at a certain angle to the light and generous remnants of vibrant orange red remain close to the devices. Only a couple of extremely trivial surface marks are seen. These are not heavy enough to be useful for a plate match, though tiny carbon specks left of the coronet and right of the date would serve this purpose.<p>Beautifully struck with sharp central details on both sides. The obverse was misaligned slightly toward 2 oclock, causing the dentils in this area to be shorter, though all are still visible to some degree. The reverse is similarly imperfect in alignment, toward 10 oclock, but to a lesser degree than is seen on the obverse. Both dies were new in this marriage but they have aged slightly as evidenced by the light peripheral flowlines. This is Noyes Die State-B/B. The obverse was later paired with a different reverse to strike the 1831 N-2 coins. The reverse die followed an interesting course of use. After striking the present variety, presumably in 1831, it was used in 1835 and paired with two different dies dated that year resulting in the 1835 N-1 and N-5 varieties. After these two uses, it was paired with a leftover 1834-dated obverse to strike the 1834 N-5 coins. An example of the 1835 N-1 pairing is offered later in the present sale. This illustrates an interesting pattern of die use. While the reverse die would look the same across the years and only a numismatist would realize that one had been used across multiple years, the same is not true of the obverse, bearing the date. In this case, it seems clear that the 1834 N-5 coins were struck in 1835, or later, reflecting either an urgent need for more coins that outweighed norms of usage, or simple carelessness on the part of the coiner. This said, it is difficult to imagine that any 1830s mint employee would have ever considered that any person would care to discover the occurrence more than a century later.<p>Of all the 1831 large cents seen by PCGS, this one stands as the single finest graded, taking all varieties into consideration. It is also worthy of mention that PCGS has graded just five coins of the Medium Letters variant as red brown. These are quite scarce with this much original color remaining. It is ranked as tied with one other for finest known in the Noyes Census. A simply superb example with outstanding aesthetic appeal.<p>The provenance of this coin prior to Helfenstein is unclear. William Noyes reports that it came from New Netherlands sale #50, 1957, lot 1515, while the Naftzger catalog says it came from Abe Kosoffs 1958 ANA sale, lot 545. There is no indication on Mr. Naftzgers envelope or in the Helfenstein catalog of the source, and neither earlier catalog has a plate for the lot in question. Both lots are Mint State 1831 N-3 coins, however, so it could well be either or both.PCGS# 36998. NGC ID: 225M.Ex Louis Helfenstein; Lester Merkins sale of the Louis Helfenstein Collection, August 1964, lot 136; Dr. E. Yale Clarke; our (Stacks) sale of the Dr. E. Yale Clarke Collection, October 1975, lot 96; American Rare Coin Investors; Jerry A. Bobbe; R.E. "Ted" Naftzger, Jr. Collection, by sale, June 1979; R.E. "Ted" Naftzger, Jr. estate, October 2007; Ira and Larry Goldberg Auctioneers sale of the Ted Naftzger Collection, February 2009, lot 250; D. Brent Pogue Collection; our (in conjunction with Sothebys) sale of the D. Brent Pogue Collection, Part V, April 2017, lot 5171. Dr. E. Yale Clarke Collection sale lot tag included.
