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Summary

Sold $10,800. LOT DESCRIPTION: "1823 Matron Head Cent. N-2. Rarity-2. AU-58 (PCGS).

Design: Obv: A head of Liberty faces left with 13 stars around the border and the date 1823 below. She is wearing a coronet inscribed LIBERTY, her hair tied into a bun at the back of her head by a plain cord. Rev: A circular wreath encloses the denomination ONE CENT with the legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around the border.

Standard: 10.89 grams, Diameter: 28-29 mm.

Die Variety: Newcomb-2. Obv: Normal Date, which is definitive for this variety since the only other die marriage of the 1823-dated Matron Head cent issue is the 1823/2 N-1 overdate. The letter L in LIBERTY is repunched, and there is a strong coronet line under the letters ER. Rev: The left top of the letter N in CENT is slightly lower than the right top of the adjacent E. This die also appears in the 1824/2 N-5 pairing.

N-2 is the only die marriage that corresponds to the normal date Guide Book listing of the 1823 Matron Head cent.

Die State: Noyes B/A. Obv: Five denticles over and before star 5 are fused, as are three denticles at and after star 6. Rev: Perfect.

Edge: Plain.

Mintage for the Issue: Unknown, and included in the 1,262,000 coins reported for calendar year 1824.

Estimated Surviving Population for the Die Variety: Rarity-2: 751 to 1,000 coins in all grades.

Strike: Sharply to fully defined overall from a nicely centered strike, softness is confined to stars 1 to 7 on the obverse, which are blunt and more or less devoid of centrils.

Surfaces: Lustrous and satiny, the surfaces are predominantly medium brown with faint traces of faded tan-olive in the protected areas around some of the design elements, especially on the reverse. A faint hairline scratch from below the earlobe down the back of Liberty's neck, light rim bruise at star 10, and shallow planchet voids on the reverse at the letter O in ONE and between the words ONE and CENT are the only blemishes of note; the surfaces are otherwise smooth and certainly appealing.

Commentary: The 1823 is a key date in the middle date large cent issue. The normal date Newcomb-2 variety, offered here, is scarcer than its N-1 overdate counterpart, especially in the finer circulated and Mint State grades. We last offered a PCGS-certified AU-58 from these dies in our March 2018 offering of the Q. David Bowers Collection, a more recent offering of the Eliasberg-Twin Leaf specimen. The ESM specimen offered here is also a very sharp and appealing example of both the issue and die variety and should find a home in another advanced early copper cabinet. From the ESM Collection. Earlier ex Carl Wutrzbach; Judge Gaskill; New Netherlands Sale #50, December 1957, lot 1438; C. Douglas Smith; Denis Loring; our (Bowers and Ruddy's) Fixed Price Lists of November 1970 and November 1971; Dr. John M. Tondra, 1980; Joe Haines; Harmer Rooke's Gemini II Collection sale, September 1980, lot 87; Denis Loring; Herman Halpern; our (Stack's) sale of the Herman Halpern Collection, March 1988, lot 389; J.R. Frankenfield; Superior's sale of the J.R. Frankenfield Collection, February 2001, lot 793; Dr. Wallace Lee; Superior's sale of the Dr. Wallace Lee Collection of Half Cents & Large Cents, May 2003 Pre-Long Beach Elite Coin Auction, lot 682."