"Unrivalled and Unsurpassed 1852 Gold Dollar"
When catalogued as lot 7421 of Bowers and Merena’s October 2005 sale, this was then one of five “Type 1” Coronet Gold Dollars certified as MS69 by PCGS, the others including a single 1849 Open Wreath, and a trio of gold dollars dated 1853. Today, those five coins remain the only MS69s of the type at PCGS, with no new contenders. Of those original five, only one of the 1853s, PCGS #29582964, and this lone 1852 have qualified for the CAC Census.
While today’s coin market reduces each coin to a simple number grade and a related registry score, what can easily be forgotten is that the existence of a classic coin of any type at this grade level is a result of simple good fortune. These coins were made in quantity by a machine, and were meant to be used as money. Modern coinage is made to be perfect, or nearly so, and certified grades for many modern coins are regularly assigned as MS69 and MS70. Yet, for any coin of the mid-19th Century, a grade of MS70 is unheard of, and MS69 a pure anomaly.
Perfectly struck, Longacre’s Coronet design is rendered here in bold relief, with every fine detail sharp, and the surfaces frosty and finely granular with coruscating luster. The color is clear in shades of rose, honey and yellow-green, free of any film or discoloration. There is one slight, grazing reverse mark below 5 of the date which is visible under magnification, but insignificant in normal viewing.
PCGS #06541571
Provenance
Bowers and Merena, October 2005, lot 7421 at $50,600; Heritage, February 2006, lot 2516 at $92,000; Tom Bender; Heritage “The Bender Family Collection, Part I”, August 2022, lot 3812 at $312,000 as PCGS/CAC MS69; “The Black Cat Collection” by William Anderson.
