A MEMORABLE CHAIN CENT PURCHASE

There's usually nothing of general interest to readers in any of my coin purchases, but I recently completed one that may break that rule. We all like coins having cool back stories, and this is about just such a piece.

For the past 20 years I've been rebuilding my USA coin type set that accompanies the class I co-instruct with Frank Van Valen at the ANA's Summer Seminar. My collecting activity has continued without interruption, despite the recent obstacle of the Covid-19 pandemic that precluded this event for the past two years. It's been a real challenge to either match or improve upon the type set I'd built previously during the 1970s-80s that I later sold when my numismatic passion swung to other countries for several years. I don't regret collecting world coins, but I did come to bemoan the sale of many United States coins that later proved hard to replace. Chief among these were my 1793 Chain and Wreath Cents, the values of which soared over the past two decades. These two have now been secured, with the Chain Cent providing a history that's worth relating here.

First, a little background. The example I sold a few years later had been acquired from a Stack's auction of June 19, 1991. I paid $3300 for a piece grading Good with a smooth planchet and nice surfaces. This was a big purchase for me at that time, and it proved to be the final acquisition for my type set that decade. The next 15 years or so were spent in pursuit of nice coins of the United Kingdom and The Philippines under USA sovereignty. These required additional cash, so the dormant USA type set was sold off piecemeal. It was right around the same time that I began to teach a class on United States type coins, first with Ken Bressett and then for years afterward with Frank. We attempted to get by with whatever coins the ANA had in its collection, as well as some loaners from Heritage, but there were simply too many gaps, and the condition of several coins offered little in the way of educational talking points outside of a grading class! That's when I again changed direction and began chasing United States type coins in higher grades than had been the case with my first set. Only the toughest ones are left now, so some difficult decisions have to be made.

I was on the fence about whether I'd be able to add the Chain and Wreath Cents, but the coins just seemed to find me. The Wreath Cent, though Details graded, is a pleasing piece with enough meat left on it to serve its purpose. Chain Cents are quite costly, even when not numerically graded, and I was concerned that nothing desirable would be possible within a reasonable budget. After some negotiating, however, I struck a deal for an attractive coin certified as VF DETAILS, ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE. The term "environmental damage" is sometimes applied to coins that have very little eye appeal, but it's used as well for those which are within microns of being numerically gradable, and I succeeded in securing one of the latter.

After our negotiations were completed and the purchase made, the seller told me the back story on this coin and how he came to own it. This Chain Cent, an example of Sheldon-3, was found in 1980 within the door frame of a house built around 1795 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The Amish family which discovered it brought the coin to [Dennis] Steinmetz Coins and Currency, Inc., a prominent dealership in that city, which took the cent on consignment. Shortly afterward, the father of the person from whom I purchased it came into the store looking to sell some 20,000+ Buffalo Nickels. Having a casual interest in large cents, he asked whether anything new or interesting was available, and he was shown the Chain Cent. Well, instead of leaving with spending cash from his nickel hoard, he found himself putting up supplemental money to purchase the rare coin. From him it later passed to the most recent owner, whose own son made it clear that he was not a coin collector. Thus, it was time to sell, and now I have this lovely cent, and it will be shared with my students when Summer Seminar returns.

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