1827/3/2 Capped BustQuarter Dollar. B-1. Rarity-6 (as a Proof). Proof-66+ Cameo (PCGS). The only one at this grade.This wonderful Gem 1827 quarter is the finest known example of one of America’s most famous rarities. When one in a much lower grade was offered at auction by the Chapman brothers in 1893 they wrote that its appearance was “the cause of rejoicing.” We can rejoice even more enthusiastically when contemplating this amazing Gem.
The present coin is yet another familiar face to us. It was in our Garrett Collection Part II sale in March 1980. We had the honor of presenting it for sale after it had been hidden away since the 19th century. We described it as choice in every respect. “It is fully brilliant with just the slightest hint of golden toning. No finer specimen could possibly exist.”
Fewer than 10 original specimens are known to exist today. These have a curled base 2 in the 25 C denomination on the reverse. In the mid-19th century restrikes were made using a different reverse die, with a straight base to the 2. These are easily distinguished and of a different appearance—the dies are rusted, and the coins are not mirror Proofs.
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Although the Mint report for 1827 indicates that 4,000 quarter dollars were struck for circulation, most if not all must have been from earlier-dated dies, probably 1825 (for which two obverse dies were made).
Numismatic tradition has it that in 1827 Joseph J. Mickley, who lived locally, visited the Philadelphia Mint and obtained four Proof 1827 quarters for face value. It seems that if he did acquire them this way, no record was kept of it. The Pogue Collection coin has been attributed to Mickley over the years, but modern scholarship suggests that this is uncertain. If it were a painting it would be “School of Mickley”! That said, it is a wonderful Gem, the very finest graded by PCGS and without competition. Provenance: U.S. Mint to Joseph J. Mickley at the time of issue, 1827, per numismatic tradition, but see above; Jeremiah Coburn; W. Elliot Woodward’s sale of the John F. McCoy Collection, March 1864, lot 508; W. Elliot Woodward’s sale of the Heman Ely Collection, January 1884, lot 244; George Massamore; T. Harrison Garrett; Robert Garrett; John Work Garrett; The Johns Hopkins University; our sale of the Garrett Collection, Part II, March 1980, lot 641. |