PARMELEE BIRCH CENT REDISCOVERED

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V20 2017 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 20, Number 25, June 18, 2017, Article 17

Alan V. Weinberg had alerted me earlier this week about this rediscovered Birch cent - thanks. Heritage sent out this press release on June 15, 2017. -Editor

Birch Cent Not Seen in 55 Years Appears in Time for Heritage Auctions ANA Platinum Night

The consignment deadline for Heritage Auctions’ 2017 American Numismatic Association Auction July 31-Aug. 7 is June 21, so sellers still have a few days to submit their high-end collections to appear along with special offerings, such as a 1792 Parmelee Birch Cent offered at auction for the first time in 55 years.

“This elusive Birch Cent has finally been found and is heading to auction,” said James Halperin, Co-founder of Heritage Auctions. “Our numismatists have spent an entire year cultivating our ANA events and we think collectors will be delighted by what they find with Heritage.”

The Birch Cent (PCGS certified and encapsulated as Genuine – Edge Filed, Denticles Repaired – XF Details) is the Plain Edge example offered at the Lorin G. Parmelee Collection auction in 1890, during which was noted the coin’s strong, sharp impression, paired with a curiously filed-down plain edge. The traditional history of the Parmelee coin has it going to DeWitt Smith-Virgil Brand-Dr. Judd.

The weight of the coin is 262.2 grains, very close to the 264 grain standard of the Mint Act of 1792. If filed down, the missing weight would make it a Judd-5, changing the census of known specimens to one Judd-3, seven Judd-4s, and three Judd-5s.

“The Parmelee provenance is very exciting,” Halperin said. “We’re delighted this specimen will be offered during ANA – a special event suitable for a special coin.”

The press release doesn't detail the scholarship that went into discovering the coin's pedigree, but it was a community effort and made use of digitized research material on the Newman Numismatic Portal. The coin's lot descripton will reveal more I'm sure. Below is a link to one of the catalogs consulted. Thanks to Alan, Saul Teichman, Heritage cataloguer Dave Stone, Ron Guth and others for their efforts. -Editor

To read the 1890 Parmelee catalog, see:
Parmelee Collection of American Coins (https://archive.org/stream/parmaleecollection1890chap#page/n117/mode/2up)

The press release did not contain an image of the coin's reverse. Alan noted that Ron Guth has placed both images on the CoinFacts site. Here they are. -Editor

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