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

Cent. Small date, as in 1841. N-1. Curl point over center of upright of 4. (1) SI, ex Mint collection. (2) ANS, ex R. D. Book via Clapp. (3) Hines-Downing-1952 ANA: 2198. Rev. Rim dent. (4) Dr. French - T. J. Clarke: 317 - Kagin. (5) Philip G. Straus - 1959 N.Y. Metropolitan: 371 - D. N. (6) Parmelee: 1137, to Frossard: "Only one other ... seen, sold in [Charles James] Stedman collection [:740. HPS 4/17-8/1882] for $40". Later Mougey: 225, Beckwith: 98, Morgan: 328, B. Max Mehl, T. J. Clarke, Calif. Specialist. Cf. also Stickney: 1628. The small date is many times scarcer in business strike form than the large, only two obv. dies being used for it compared to at least six of the large; and N-I is much rarer as a business strike than N-2, the other small date coin (latter with curl point above r. edge of upright of 4).

- Large Date, as in 1843. N-3. Curl point above left edge of upright of 4; rev. apparently of N-I proofs. (1) Beckwith:99, Clapp, ANS. (2) Schilke proof set. (3) Homer K. Downing, privately sold before 1951. I have the impression that a few others survive but cannot document it.

Half Dime. V-I. High date, 184 almost touch base. (1) Brock, Morgan, ANS set, allegedly from mint? (2) Bullowa, May 1952. (3) Valentine Plate, exhibited by Valentine at ANS 1914. (4) Newcomb 1:809. (5) Norweb. (6) E. M. Wharton: 1072, unverified. (7) LM 4/66:75.

Dime. B-1. (1) Brock, Morgan, ANS set. (2) Norweb. (3) Morgenthau 1/43:176, Phila. Estate. (4) Mint, SI -is it still there?

Quarter Dollar. *Small date, as in 1841. Six said to exist of this famous and extreme rarity, all from the same dies. (1) ANS, ex R. C. W. Brock, J. P. Morgan proof set. Said to have come from the mint in the year of issue, unverified. (3) Oscar Schilke estate, in the proof set. (4) Q. David Bowers, ex Steckler sale:39, ex "Vermont private coll.", ex Miles:918 at $12,000, "Century" :872, at $8,250, said to have cost $11,000; ex Jerome Kern: 1432, possibly originally H. P. Smith:801. (5) James A. Stack estate:55, $41,000. (6) SI, ex Mint.

- Large date. WGC: 151, probably reappearing in N.Y.state specialist set. Two others reported plus a couple ofother impaired pieces. Cf. 1950 ANA: 1060, cleaned; Kern:1431.

Half Dollar. Small date: Beistle I-A. Only the one obv. die of this type; I cannot identify the reverse except that it has large letters (1842-65 hub, different from the 1839-41 series). (1) SI ex Mint. (2) ANS, ex Brock, Morgan set. (3) Norweb. (4) Boyd, WGC:255, Adolph Friedman, 1946, ANA:816, E.M. Seneca, S 3/65: 443. Believed to be the Col. Green coin known to Beistle; possibly Winsor :545, Earle :2973. Cf. "Dupont": 2117.

- Large date. Unverified. Cf. Brand-Lichtenfels I: 2812, impaired.

Silver Dollar. *B-1. Date about central; die file marks slant down to r.) near shield thumb, and nearly vertically from pole to crook of elbow. Rev. Minute defects on r. side of final A, the die described above under 1840 as "rev. of 1842-52." (1) SI ex Mint? (2) ANS, ex Brock, Morgan set. (3) Schilke set. (4) WGC: 130, Kern: 812, Golding: 233. (5) DavisGraves: 1339. (6) An impaired proof I sold to A.M. Kagin about 1958. (7) "Regal" :776, B. M. Eubanks, J. Cohen, "Golden II":3056, QS 9/73:490, Joe Flynn, Bowers & Ruddy, Julian Leidman. (8) Amon Carter Sr. & Jr. (9) LM 9/67:271,10/69:376. (10) Col. Green, Roe:437, nicked.

Silver-minor proof sets. (1) The ANS set, filed by denomination - apparently lacking the cent -ex R. C. W. Brock, J. Pierpont Morgan, allegedly obtained from the mint in the year of issue. (2) Oscar Schilke, complete, half cent through dollar. These two contained the small date quarter, therefore evidently made early in the year -probably January. The identity of the cent and quarter dollar in those next to be listed are not ascertained, unless indeed Schilke's set is one of the two next to be mentioned. (3) Cleneay: 838, containing original half-cent, small date cent; quarter dollar not specified, but may have been small date from the time element. (4) Winsor: 1066, not described in full, but supposedly from the mint as issued in 1842. An anomaly is (5) Cleneay: 837, containing small date cent and quarter and a restrike half-cent. It is probable that the half-cent originally present was damaged or lost -or put into a date set of half-cents -and replaced by the restrike. I find it incredible that the restrike half-cent was originally present; that would have required some extremely improbable ad hoc assumptions about the manufacture of restrikes at the mint. Early sets, therefore, made in January, contained small date cent, quarter dollar, half dollar; later sets contained large date cent and quarter dollar and possibly half dollar as well. The NY Specialist set (assembled?) has small date cent and half dollar, large date quarter dollar.

Quarter Eagle. For long considered one of the rarest dates of this denomination; small date only, and very seldom available in business strike form save in well worn condition. Smithsonian, ex Mint Cabinet collection. Two others seen by Wayte Raymond. Two (the same?) impaired pieces seen in the 1950's.

Half Eagle. Small date, small letters; first type, probably coined only January-February. (1) Smithsonian, ex Mint; bisecting vertical rev. crack. (2) Cleneay: 619, to Woodin, exhibited ANS 1914, not lately seen. The type is rare in business strike form.

Eagle. Small date, centered, rev. of 1840.Smithsonian, from the Mint's proof set. I have heard of one other.

Complete proof sets. The Mint Cabinet collection had one but it is almost certainly lacking several denominations now. Matthew Adams Stickney, in his letter of 1867 quoted in The Fantastic 1804 Dollar, 72ff, said that he had been receiving proof sets regularly from the mint for twenty-five years. Now 1867 - 25 = 1842, but there was no 1842 proof set in the Stickney collection; probably this and some later proofs were privately sold.