1797 HALF CENT - COHEN 3b
Edge: Lettered
Edge
Notes:
In the December 1953 issue of The Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine, Walter
Breen described an interesting 1797 Lettered Edge Half Cent:
"With the Frank Stewart coin collection now reposing in Congress
Hall, Philadelphia, is a lettered-edge half-cent of 1797 about 1/3 of
which is obliterated by being overstruck with the dies of 1796 draped
bust cent S-115. The bust and date 1796 show quite plainly, and
were impressed after the half-cent dies. The cent dies show no
cracks. It is therefore certain that February to May 1797 is the
earliest period during which perfect-die S-115's could have been
made. The piece is sufficiently well-preserved to make
identification absolutely certain; yet it was bought by Frank H. Stewart
in 1916 as a 1796 half-cent (!) for $75 and later presented by him to
the Congress Hall exhibit."
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Images courtesy of Gene
Braig
Significant example:
"VF-20+".
Ex - Superior Galleries "Pre-Long Beach" Elite Coin Auction, May
25-27, 2003, Lot 132,
sold for $12,650.00 Ex Lester Bernstein-Stack's 4/30/86:30-Dr. Wallace
Lee.
Sources and/or
recommended reading:
"American Half Cents - The 'Little Half Sisters' (Second
Edition)" by Roger S. Cohen, Jr.
"Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia Of U.S. And Colonial
Coins" by Walter Breen
"Half Cent
Miscellany" by Walter Breen, The Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine,
December 20, 1953, page 1170
Relevant collector
organizations:
Early American Coppers Club
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