Large Cents 1794 S-42 R4 MS66 Red & Brown PCGS. Superb

Large Cents
1794 S-42 R4 MS66 Red & Brown PCGS. Superb lustrous brown fading down from mint red with underlying mint color in the fields and protected areas on both sides. The hair details are needle-sharp and the eye appeal of this cent is breathtaking. No spots or stains, and the only contact mark is a tiny tick in the field above the pole. There are some of the usual tiny planchet imperfections that tend to plague our early cents. These are visible near the dentils on the lower part of the obverse and the opposing dentils at the top of the reverse (all thanks to the axially misaligned dies). EDS, Heck die state 1, Breen state I, with no die clashmarks. Graded MS65 Choice and finest known by 15 points over the second best example in the Noyes census, his photo #21361. This cataloger's EAC grade is MS65. A highlight of this superb collection, one of the finest 1794 cents of any die variety. The attribution and Merkin-Naftzger/Noyes Plate provenance are noted on the PCGS Gold Shield label. PCGS population 1; none finer. 35592.66/20383874.
Discovered in Europe-Lester Merkin 3/1968:166-R. E. Naftzger, Jr. 2/23/1992-Eric Streiner-Jay Parrino (The Mint)-Tom Morley, Superior 1/31/1994:780-Anthony J. Terranova-Thomas D. Reynolds and Chris McCawley-Dr. Thomas Turissini 5/2/2014-The Liberty Cap Foundation.

Lester Merkin was born on March 17, 1916, in Philadelphia and died in New York City on July 26, 1992. His parents, William and Rose Merkin, immigrated from Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. Merkin was a coin dealer and auctioneer whose first auction sale was the Louis Helfenstein Collection. He epitomized the term "gentleman dealer." He conducted 31 auctions, many cataloged by Walter Breen. He was also a talented jazz musician.
From The Collections of Walter J. Husak and The Liberty Cap Foundation.

https://coins.ha.com/itm/large-cents/1794-s-42-r4-ms66-red-and-brown-pcgs/a/1370-2036.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-USCoins-1370-01042024

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