by Greg Reynolds for CoinLink
Walter Husak’s collection of early large cents, 1793-1814, sold for an unbelievable $10.7 million on Friday, Feb. 15, at the official Heritage auction of the Long Beach (CA) Coin, Stamp & Collectible Expo. (For an introduction to the collection, see my preview article on CoinLink.) A 1793 Liberty Cap large cent, and a 1794 Liberty Cap cent of the famous variety with the Starred Reverse, each sold for $632,500, an auction record for a one cent piece and for a copper numismatic item of any kind.
This Husak 1793 Liberty Cap cent is graded AU-55 by the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS). Further, there is agreement among many large cent experts that this coin is indeed of Almost Uncirculated grade. It is characterized by a very small amount of even, honest wear. Before analyzing the $632,500 price for this Liberty Cap cent, it makes sense to review auction records for copper items, particularly large cents.
A copper numismatic item is at least 90% copper and is a coin, another monetary instrument (including certain tokens), a pattern of a coin, or a medal. From May 1996 until January 2008, the auction record for a copper numismatic item stood at $506,000, which is the price realized for the Eliasberg 1796 ‘No Pole’ Half Cent that Bowers & Merena auctioned in New York.
At the same 1996 Eliasberg sale, an auction record for a regular issue large cent was set when a 1793 Liberty Cap cent sold for $319,000. The large cent record was broken when ANR auctioned the Oliver Jung 1793 Chain Cent, PCGS certified ‘MS-65 Brown’ for $391,000 in July 2004, in New York City. This record lasted for only a few months. In Nov. 2004, ANR auctioned a NGC certified Fine-12 Strawberry Leaf 1793 Wreath Cent for $414,000. Soon afterwards, in Jan. 2005, a new record was set when ANR again auctioned a a different PCGS certified ‘MS-65 BN’ Chain Cent, coin, for $431,250. Steve Contursi was the buyer.
On Jan. 10, 2008, in Orlando, a 1792 ‘Fusible Alloy’ cent pattern was auctioned on Heritage’s Platinum Night for $603,750. As I explained in my article about it, this result clearly was an auction record for a one cent piece, though a 1792 ‘Fusible Alloy’ pattern is not a coin. Moreover, this ‘Fusible Alloy’ cent may consist of the experimental silver and copper “fusible alloy,” or of some other alloy. It thus may not be correct to categorize it as a copper numismatic item. (more…)
, Liberty Cap 1793 Large Cent Brings Record $632,500, http://www.coinlink.com/News/us-coins/liberty-cap-1793-large-cent-brings-record-632500/, http://feeds.feedburner.com/CoinlinkUsCoins?format=xml, Coin Collecting News » US Coins,
