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

Flying Eagle Cent. [485+] Really patterns, as the design and alloy were not officially adopted until the Act of Feb. 21, 1857 became law as of the following May. At least 5 obv. and 4 rev. dies; proofs are known from most of these. No one collection has examples of all obverses properly classified. Actual number of survivors unknown, estimated from 1,500 to 2,500 (the higher figure probably being nearer the truth), many Good to EF including some ex-proofs, a smaller number unc., somewhat over 1/3 proofs, the majority of which are restrikes from a single pair of dies. For variety details, see chapter XV, pp. 243-248. Auction records are up to date only for the common restrike variety; see Value Guide, below.

Trime. Shallow date, horizontal and southeast-pointing striae. Star point nearer to 5 than to 8. Extra outlines to star thinnest and shallowest at the southwest re-entrant angle, about 7 - 7:30. Rev. Plain doubling on two stars below C and one at 1: 00. Rare but not extremely so. (1) SI ex Mint. (2) ANS, ex Brock, Morgan set. (3) J. C. Morgenthau 10/5/39:552, Phila. Estate. (4) Essex Institute :314, $3,100. (5) Garrett: 87, $3,250. (6) Newcomer, Boyd, WGC :20, possibly later Golding: 587. (7) Davis-Graves: 192. (8) Straus, NN 53:409. (9) NN 48:843. (10) Cass, "Empire": 460. (11) Wolfson: 292. (12) Brand-Lichtenfels II: 1663, Jay: 377. There are other auction records. I am reasonably sure that the above dozen are all different; I have seen about 8 others not covered in the above enumeration. There may be 30 to 40 around, probably not many more, including some drastically cleaned or impaired pieces.

Half Dime. *V-2. Date high, closer to base than to border but all digits free. Shield point left of tip of 1 -date farther right than usual; skirt pendant nearly over tip of 5 (usual position is between 56 or over 6). Upright 5 as always (first gold dollar logotype), 5 less strong than 18-6, 6 heavy. Full dentils, unlike business strikes in which they are usually quite weak. Possibly 30 to 40 around; seen about as often as the trime or minutely more often.

In the Neil sale, lot 1648 (ex sale of S. Hudson Chapman collection, 1929) was an 1856 described as follows: "1856. Recut date. Listed by Mr. Neil as an overdate, over 1854. Perfect brilliant proof. The date is larger than on the other varieties and it appears to be entirely recut. Broad borders with wire edge .... Memo by Mr. Neil states that this is the only specimen ever noticed having been offered at auction and valued by him in the three figure mark." It brought only $10, not very high even in 1947. Since then, two pieces - now believed to be from an early die state of V-2, before repolishing -have been offered as possible overdates because of traces of another digit within the 6; yet neither of these has completely recut date, so probably the Neil piece is still waiting to be identified. They are Ruby I: 864, at a reasonable $575, and Herstal: 132, at $4,400.

Dime. *B-2. Small date, slanting 5; plain shift, the doubling most obvious at skirt. Rev. Plain line up to border from loop of R of AMERICA. In a rarity class with the smaller silver. (1) SI ex Mint proof set. (2) ANS, ex J. P. Morgan, Brock proof set. (3) WGC:556. (4) Reed Hawn: 715 at $750, ex 71 ANA: 677, ex LM 4/66:160 at $600, H.W. (5) George A. Powers :219. (6) MacMurray:1189 ex Lohr:416. (7) NN54:1209. (8) NN50:404. (9) Jay:378 -Scanlon:60, $575. (10) (11) Phila. Estate. Cf. also, among others, Atwater:951, Neil:1264, J. B. Wilson:717 (1908), Miles:678, etc. Q. David Bowers estimated about 35 extant, which is not too far from correct.

Quarter. Upright 5 only. Date about centered. Rev. *Peculiar die failure showing as a bulge on coins, extending from AM through r. wing vertically down through field to arrows. Many survivors have been poorly cleaned. (1) SI ex Mint. (2) ANS, ex Brock, Morgan set. (3) Phila. Estate. (4) Woodin: 456, Newcomer, Boyd, WGC:190. (5) Davis-Graves: 373, very dull, probably subsequently cleaned. (6) Atwater: 710. (7) B. Frank: 685, cleaned to death, thence to Kagin. (8) MacMurray: 1334. (9) Brand-Lichtenfels II: 1441, Jay: 379. (10) A. B. Stewart:815, S 3/74:64 at $2,100. (11) James A. Stack estate:94, $550, rev. drastically cleaned. (12) LM 2/71:575. Of four others examined, three are cleaned. Probably slightly rarer than the dime, less than 30 surviving.

Half Dollar. Beistle 2-Aa. Upright 5. Centered date, foot supported, toe enclosed, full drapery. Rev. Center red stripe not clearly joined to base of shield. Some have top of first red stripe hollow - different die? 1972 ANA:2145. (1) SI ex Mint, rev. not checked. (2) Elder 50th (6/6/11):1065, Ryder, Wayte Raymond estate, NN 50:601. (3) Cass, "Empire"1407. (4) Frank., H. Chase:327. (5) Newcomb II:863. (6) Dr. Green: 1686.
(7) Lohr:756. (8) Brand, Lichtenfels 1:2845, R. E. Cox:1940, S 5/68:1473, $1200, Louis Engel: 349. (9) Maurice Bauman, poorly cleaned. (10) Miles: 1329, Winner Delp:607. (11) 1974 ANA:121, cleaned, $1900. There may be a few duplications. At least three others seen, of which one is badly cleaned. One of the above reappeared as Reed Hawn: 189, $1,800. Possibly the rarest denomination of the year.

Silver Dollar. *B-2. Slanting 5. Date larger than on any other denomination, even the $20. Style of numerals more like those of 1854 than 1855. Reverse is a die used in later years. Early state: clear lines in field above ITE and between ES; on later impressions these lines become fainter though they do not vanish. Small unpolished curved areas at bottoms of rightmost and next to right white stripes as well as at upper corner of former. Two arrows join, claws almost join, extremely slight unpolished area between upper leaves only; lines join bases of AM and RI. (1) SI ex Mint. (2) ANS ex Brock, Morgan. (3) Eliasberg. (4) Phila. Estate. (5) Essex Institute: 1019, $3200. (6) Heman Ely, Garrett:274, $3,600. (7) Boyd, WGC: 151, probably reappearing as one to follow. (8) Atwater:237, Neil: 52, ditto. (9) T. James Clarke, NN 48:661, Kagin. (10) Holmes:2289. (11) Brand, Lichtenfels II: 1169, Jay:380, Scanlon: 1745. (12) Davis-Graves: 1355. I have seen at least eight others and can well believe that these represent not much over half the survivors.