Owner Comments:
1859 50C
Judd-253 Pollock P-292
Rarity: High R.7 ( 3 - 7 Pieces), PF64
Struck in Silver with reeded edge
The design is, as Judd puts it, a "curious muling" of what are actually two obverses, the Paquet Liberty Seated with Fasces and the James B. Longacre French Liberty Head. Obverse1 : A homely, disproportionate Liberty is seated on a rock, shield at her lowered right (facing) hand and holding the top of a fasces in her left hand. An olive branch and three arrowheads lie--curiously so--under the shield. Thirteen stars encircle the rim. Obverse 2: Liberty with an elongated neck faces right, a scroll reading LIBERTY wrapping irregularly at the bust truncation. She has an elaborate floral wreath in her hair, and the tall, thin, stilted letters characteristic of Anthony Paquet spell out UNITED STATES OF AMERICA at the rim. The date 1859 appears in exergue on both sides.
This is strictly a fantasy piece, with "two heads and no tails"--although therein lies a tale.
Comment::
Saul Teichman of USPatterns.com writes that "these were possibly struck in 1859 as an example of this was offered as lot 1185 of Bangs and Co.'s April 1865 sale of the Joseph N.T. Levick collection." Saul Teichman also adds the interesting comment that he questions whether the French Head, traditionally attributed to James B. Longacre, was really designed by Anthony C. Paquet, as the design here uses the characteristic Paquet letter punches
The known examples are as follows:
1-Byron Reed Collection; Durham Museum Collection
2-Mitchelson Collection; Connecticut State Library Collection
3-Harry Bass Core Collection, ex Numismatics Ltd, August 1974. (PCGS PR64)
4-Sounders Collection, Bowers & Merena, November 1987, lot 459; Lemus/Queller Collection, Heritage, January 2009, lot 1580 (NGC PR65. uspatterns.com plate coin)
5-H.P. Smith Collection, Chapman Brothers, May 1906; Clapp Collection; Clapp Estate, to Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr, via Stack's in 1942; Eliasberg Collection, Bowers & Merena, May 1996, lot 237
6-Kentucky Collection (NGC PR64) This piece now PCGS64
7-Simpson Collection, Heritage, January 2021, lot 3084 (PCGS PR65+)
Provenance:
Ex: Kentucky Collection (As NGC 64)