Walter Breen's Encyclopedia of Early United States Cents

Obverse 6. Small dates henceforth. Short 7. Close LIBERTY with I high and leaning left. R is larger than on later obverses. TY nearly touch with y nearer end of the fore-lock than on any other obverse; Sprig leans right with left leaf nearly touching both the double curl and lowest lock. Straight bulge from the rim to hair, about 9:00.

Reverse C.

Die states: I. Bulge faint, ending in the hair.
II. The bulge extends through the hair to jaw.

III. The bulge continues through the jaw to the right border.

IV. Plain crack along the bulge from the left rim through hair, below earlobe, through lower lip to right rim. The flaw at TED is more pronounced, with faint extensions through UNI and to the border above D.

V. Faint crack from the sixth bead right of Y into the field pointing to the brow.

VI. Bulge now covers most of the left obverse field.

Heavy chip out of the die just within the border opposite the throat; possible cracks from the B to hair, and through TY: all may be lamination defects.'

Equivalents: Crosby-Levick 5C. Frossard 5. Proskey 8. Doughty 8. Crosby 7-F. McGirk 2D. Sheldon 6. EAC 7. Encyclopedia 1638.

Rarity 3.

Remarks: Crosby called this the "Warped or Sprung die."

Formed the majority of the 12,000 struck April 4-9 and delivered April 9: possibly 7,500 to 8,000 in all.

Carl Wurtzbach had "an unc. full weight Crosby 7-F with plain edge Either this, or another specimen, appeared in James Kelly's 1961 ANA sale, lot 1400 and was consigned to Bowers and Merena's March 1998 auction, lot 98. This specimen, illustrated above, is also double struck and weighs 205.9 grains with a diameter of 26.8 rom. See "Oops!" chapter.

Condition Census:

MS-65 Clarence S. Bement • Henry Chapman 5/1916: 288 as "The King of the 1793 Cents" $360 • Dr. George P. French, 3/21/1929 • B. Max Mehl FPL,1929: 5 as "a red and olive proof" $1,200 • Henry A. Sternberg • J. c. Morgenthau & Co. #305, 4/1933: 4 $350 • B. Max Mehl Collection, 1944 • T. James Clarke, 1950 • Dr. William H. Sheldon, 4/19/1972 • R. E. Naftzger, Jr., 2/23/1992 • Eric Streiner • Jay Parrino (The Mint). State III. Obverse and reverse illustrated in Noyes.

MS-61 George F. Seavey • William H. Strobridge, 1873: 208. Lorin G. Parmelee, 2/6/1892 • Dr. Thomas Hall, 9/7/1909 • Virgil M. Brand • New Netherlands Coin Co., privately 7/30/1951 • Harold Bareford, 9/13/1985 • Herman Halpern • Stack's 3/1988: 6 $46,750 • Ed Milas (Rare Coin Company of America) • unknown. Superior Galleries 8/1992: 10 not sold. State II. Obverse illustrated on the Crosby-Levick Plate and in The United States Coinage of 1793 by Sylvester S. Crosby (1897).