Lot 2442

Description

U.S.A., large cent, 1793 chain Ameri type (Breen 1, dies 1-A, die state III). Edge knocks, dark oxidised areas, otherwise good very fine and rare, especially in this condition, probably less than 7000 struck, this example one of the finest known in this die state, only 16 examples recorded as EF40 to MS61.

Considered the first Chain cent produced. Struck at the end of February 1793, the first coinage of the United States Mint, shortly after it had opened. The abbreviated legend on the reverse was considered to be a layout problem stemming from the engraver's inexperience. Some also suggest that the abbreviated legend was deliberate symbolism, after the style of the Masonic unfinished pyramid on the Great Seal of the United States. $$ The current vendor's great grandfather was a colonel in the British Army. He served as an advisor during the American Civil War. After the war he returned to the U.K. with this and other U.S. coins. The coins remained in the family which immigrated to New Zealand in 1948. The vendor was given this coin by her father in 1956, where until now, it resided in her china cabinet.