| Description: |
Fully lustrous rich red surfaces with deepening tones on the high points. Struck from
lightly clashed dies. The Snow plate coin! A pleasing example of a popular variety (once
thought to be an overdate, 1869/8, but now known for its true nature, simply a repunched
9), the discovery rights of which go to Walter Breen way back in 1953. A prized variety
that is eagerly collected alongside the "regular” issues in the series, especially
where gem Mint State specimens are concerned.Obverse 4: Bold repunching at the 9, less so
at the 6, small die chip on Liberty’s cheek, small die line through lips.Reverse E:
Snow’s "die stage C,” light clash marks, crack from rim across top of shield to
opposite rim, crack in wreath at 3:00 extends downward and then to the rim at 5:00, a
vertical crack in the wreath at 9:00.In 1953, the year Walter Breen discovered this
variety, he was a 23 year old prodigy only a few years removed from a VA hospital in
Massachusetts. He lived in New York City at the time, having been hired in 1952 by New
Netherlands Coin Company according to Pete Smith’s American Numismatic Biographies. Five
years later, he would be named a coauthor of Penny Whimsy. |
