Owner Comments:
NGC graded MS 66 BN
Variety: N-1
This coin is very lustrous, with highly attractive color for a BN designation. The reverse and central obverse are highly detailed, but most of the stars lack full definition. The only signs of contact are several very minor ticks on the portrait. It rivals the Naftzger specimen of the variety, which is in a PCGS 66BN slab and rates number 3 or 4 in the condition census.
This coin appeared in an April 2009 Heritage auction, but I was unable to acquire it then, having recently spent a lot in the sale of the Naftzger middle dates. I noticed it in a dealer's case at the Summer 2009 Baltimore show and got to look at it in hand. I really wanted to get it, but I still had too little money, especially considering it now had a 30% markup from the auction result. It remained unsold and in the dealer's case at the Fall 2009 Baltimore show, where I examined it again and discussed it with the dealer. I still had too few dollars, but I had in mind to buy it at the Spring 2010 Baltimore show if the dealer still had it then. When that show opened to the public, I made a beeline to the table of that dealer. Both he and the coin were there. After giving it another examination. I made an offer that was accepted. The dealer said he normally does not give discounts, but was rewarding me for my patience.
Then it was time to add the coin to the registry. It was still listed in another set, about a year after that owner consigned it with Heritage! But now it has a happy, new, long-term home.
From the Heritage catalog:
1832 1C Medium Letters MS66 Brown NGC. N-1, R.2.
Sharply struck in the centers with some softness evident on the left-side stars. Impressive cartwheel sheen illuminates the virtually unabraded rose-gold and ice-blue surfaces. A remarkably beautiful example of the scarce and underappreciated Medium Letters subtype.
Neither NGC nor PCGS has certified any finer (3/09). EAC 60+.
Ex: Long Beach Signature (Heritage, 2/2003), lot 5130, which realized $2,530.
Photo credit: Electric Peak Collection