The Numismatic Bibliomania Society

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V20 2017 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 20, Number 41, October 8, 2017, Article 6

NEWMAN PORTAL SEARCH: “ONE-SIDED PROOF”

Project Coordinator Len Augsburger offers observations related to content being searched for on the Newman Numismatic Portal. This week's search term is “One-Sided Proof.” -Editor

SBG_Jul2015_Balt_TwinLeaf_Catalog_LR_0141
Stack’s Bowers auction sale catalog of the
Twin Leaf collection (July 2015, lot 2262).

The definition of “proof” within the lexicon of American numismatics is surprisingly controversial. Does any sharply struck coin with exceptionally mirrored surfaces qualify as a “proof?” Is the coiner’s intent also required to confer proof status? An anonymous Newman Portal user recently searched on the term “one-sided proof.”

NNP identifies sixty auction lots so described, the earliest being in the 1950s New Netherlands catalogs, and we can thus likely attribute the modern popularization of this term to Walter Breen, who worked for New Netherlands during this period. The term is more frequently associated with large cents of the 1820s and 1830s than with other denominations, and the cataloger of that series, Harold R. Newcomb, wrote of these coins “obverses are perfection, but reverses have the usual mint bloom as found on pieces coined for circulation.”

Stack’s Bowers sales of the Twin Leaf collection (July 2015, lot 2262, an 1835 N-13 large cent) is a typical example. The coin has a storied pedigree including Beckwith, Newcomb, and Naftzger. While PCGS declined to certify the coin as a proof, the catalogers are united on the physical description, with the Goldberg’s attribution being the most succinct: “Proof-60 obverse, MS-62 reverse.” The fact that varied issues in this era are known with proof-like obverses and uncirculated reverses (and not vice versa) certainly suggests intent on the part of the coiner. We look forward to John Dannreuther’s upcoming multi-volume work on United States proof coinage, which will hopefully shed additional light on this question.

Link to NNP auction catalog search for “one-sided proof”:
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/advancedsearch?
contenttype=Auction&title=&author=&publisher=&searchlow=
&searchhigh=&fullsearchterm=one-sided+proof

Link to Stack’s Bowers Twin Leaf collection, lot 2262:
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=3&AuctionId=517107&page=141

Link to Harold R. Newcomb’s United States Copper Cents, 1816-1857 on Newman Portal:
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/526320

Garrett Mid-American E-Sylum ad02


Wayne Homren, Editor

Google
 
NBS (coinbooks.org) Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V20 2017 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

Copyright © 1998 - 2020 The Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS)
All Rights Reserved.

NBS Home Page
Contact the NBS webmaster

coin