Walter Breen's Encyclopedia of United States and Colonial Proof Coins 1722-1989

1823

Cent. 1823/22. N-1. Earliest die state, no rim breaks. (1) Mint ColI., no 1202, SI; cleaned. (2) Philadelphia Estate, tiny field chip high above N of ONE. Ex Newcomb II :556, probably ex Haseltine, Crosby, Parmelee: 494 via Chapman Bros. (3) Beckwith:62, ex Wetmore:616, ex Mills: 1308, ex Cleneay: 1860, ex McCoy and Zanoni back in the 1860's. Pictured in the Guidebook. Not recently traced. (4) Calif. Specialist, ex RF. Batchelder, Sept. 1971 (discovered summer 1969).

- 1823 normal date. N-2. Philadelphia Estate, ultimately ex Finotti (1862): 805.

Dime. 1823/22, large E's in legend. B. 2-B, C-2.The only one seen with any claim is lot 514, 1954 ANA Convention sale, obv. proof, rev. unc .. One other rumored to exist.

Quarter. 1823/22, only the one variety. Only one specimen, Reed Hawn:272 (3/77), ex Speir sale: 16, ex Miles: 893 at $11,500 (1968), ex F.S. Guggenheimer: 334 at $2750 (1953), ex Mehl's "Golden Jubilee" sale,: 1407, at $1050, ex Jerome Kern (the songwriter), ex Clinton Hester, ex George H. Hall, ex A.J. Allen, ex Waldo Newcomer, ex Elmer Sears, B.G. Johnson, and reported variously to have come from Adolph Weyl in Berlin before the turn of the century or from Britain. Mehl claimed that several others exist but they have never turned up.

Half Dollar. Normal date. Repeatedly reported but not seen by me, though several deceptive early strikes are around. First auctioned in the J .N.T. Levick sale of October 1864 (W. Elliott Woodward, auctioneer). Cleneay: 1154, illustrated; several flat stars. Waldo Newcomer had one, #1440 in his private catalogue, unattributed, possibly the Levick (?) - Cleneay coin; it cost him $25 back in the early 1920's, which was then a high price even for proofs. The A.C. Gies H-7 (one of the "ugly" or "patched 3" varieties) reappeared in the T.J. Clarke collection, and NN 47: 1250, and both Gies and Clarke were doing some wishful thinking on this one. It does not even come close.

Half Eagle. Only the one variety. One reported from the Randall sale of 1885, lot 928. Not since traced, unless Golden I: 2484. It is unlikely that any sets were made.

1824

No cents even rumored to exist in proof state.

Dime. Only the one variety; earliest state, 1824 over 23 over 22! (1) Harold Bareford, possibly ex McCoy:562, Zanoni, Cleneay:1495; called "second finest" in the Cleneay sale. (2) Phila. Estate, ex Newcomb (private sale), Atwater:912; exhibited by Newcomb at ANS 1914. (3) 1954 ANA:515, doubted, possibly cleaned.

Quarter. Only one variety. The unique example:Haseltine Type Table sale: 1331, R. Coulton Davis, Davis-Graves: 333 at a then high $550.

Half Dollar. Perfect date, unattributed. (1) Bart Holmes, R.T. McPherson:852, C.A. Cass, "Empire": 1315. (2) Lichtenfels I :2760, impaired. One of these is possibly ex McCoy: 443, Ely coll.

Quarter Eagle. Only the one variety, generally catalogued as 1824/21 though the overdate is very obscure. (1) SI, ex Mint, cleaned. (2) Winsor:506, "slight double profile." (3) Randall: 969 (1885), Parmelee:952, Harlan P. Smith, later reportedly in Adolphe Menjou coll, One of preceding is possibly (4) Emerson Gaylord:101, Russell C. Heim:784. (5) Woodin:940, ex Cleneay, obv. proof, rev. unc.; Ronnie Carr reported seeing this in a private collection (1960's).

Half Eagle. Only the one variety. SI, ex Mint, cleaned.

No sets are likely to have been made.

1825

Half Cent. Breen 65, Gilbert 2, wide date, curl above 5. Earliest die state, guide line showing between bases of S-O. Only one seen, in the hands of Bruce Abrash (ca. 1965), so drastically cleaned as to have lost its proof surface; evidence of at least two impressions from the dies.

- Breen 66, G-1. Close date, curl above 25. Proof yunc. This writer, ex F.C.C. Boyd through intermediaries. (2) David O. Hughes, Bogota, N.J., ca. 1947. Obv. die repolished, rev. lapped, probably to remove clash marks, after some business strikes had been made.

Cent. N-6. Small A's, tiny cluster of rust pits below TE(S). Third variety in striking order (N-8, 3, 6, 1, 7, 9, 10, 4, 2). Two reported, one ex Dr. French, not confirmed.

- N-9. Large A's, wide date, recut T of CENT. (1) Bement:354, minor obv. field nick, possibly same as one of next two. (2) ANS ex Mougey:149, Beckwith:67, R.D. Book (5/1930), G.H. Clapp. (3) Parmelee:963, Mougey:148, H. Chapman. (4) Sargent:658 -Ryder:859, Gallo. (5) Morgan: 215 - Mehl personal coll. - ??, bright red. Others exist, borderline cases, full proof surface but variable striking quality, e.g. French: 457 -Clarke: 204 (dubious), "Dupont":633 - Clarke:205 - Sloss -Lahrman, Kagin 9/56 - Helfenstein: ll0 - G. Reale, etc.

- N-10. French:477 (as "A-8"), MacAllister, Clarke, Calif. Specialist. Has been doubted. Widest date of the year; large A's.

- N-2. Divided date, large A's, U D low.French:451, 'steel and iridescent purple,' unconfirmed, doubted.

Dime. Wide date, 1 high (Breen 2-A). One seen in 1950's, not now traced.

- Divided date 18 25. (Breen 3-B) (1) Bareford. (2) Mrs. Norweb. It is barely possible that one or other of these is a 3-C; the differences are very slight. TA almost touch on reverse C, less close on B.

-B. 3-C (see above). (1) Earle:3172, Ryder, Wayte Raymond, NN 50:382. (2) Cleneay: 1496 is possibly this variety, possibly same as (1). (3) Parmelee:962 to Steigerwalt, same comment. (4) Winsor:679 (obv. proof, rev. unc.) is possibly this variety. (5) Mills:ll05, probably same as one of above. (6) H.G. Brown (Low 10/04), Jenks, Sternberg, Alan Weinberg, Jon Hanson.

Quarter. B-2. Close date (generally "1825/23," actually 1825/4/3). Rev. Small 5, not taller than 2. (1) Boyd, WGC:86, Kern: 14ll. (2) A.J. Fink, 1950, cleaned, offered to me, refused. (3) I saw another that same summer in Malcolm Chell-Frost's stock. In all I have met with nine (probably representing six different ones). The deceptive early strikes lack the central sharpness of real proofs.

- B-3. "1825/24," 4 plainer under 5 than 3, same obv. die. Rev. Large 5, taller than 2. One seen, not traced. First described as 1825/24 in Woodward's "European" sale, July 1884.