1858 Flying Eagle Cent. Snow-PR3. Rarity-5. Small Letters, Low Leaves Reverse (Style of 1858), Type

1858 Flying Eagle Cent. Snow-PR3. Rarity-5. Small Letters, Low Leaves Reverse (Style of 1858), Type III. Proof-65 (PCGS).，This is a beautiful Gem Proof Flying Eagle cent, with warm orange-brown obverse toning that gives way to lighter pinkish-tan on the reverse. The strike is razor sharp with the design fully rendered and even the most intricate features crisply defined. Otherwise satiny in texture, there is some subtle reflectivity in the fields that further confirms this coins Proof status. Struck from near-medallic alignment of the dies, the reverse is rotated only a few degrees clockwise from 180 degrees. This gorgeous, expertly preserved Gem is equally well suited for an advanced type set or specialized collection of early U.S. Mint Proof coinage.<p>Although the Small Letters variant of the 1858 Flying Eagle cent is most readily attributable by the separation between the bases of the letters AM in AMERICA, the entire design is actually in lower relief than its 1858 Large Letters counterpart. This modification could have been carried out by Engraver James Barton Longacre or Assistant Engraver Anthony C. Paquet; Rick Snow (<em>The Flying Eagle & Indian Cent Attribution Guide, 3rd Edition, Volume 1: 1856-1877</em>, 2014) favors the latter. The lettering in the legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA on Small Letters examples matches the style seen on the 1859 James Ross Snowden Mint medal prepared by Paquet.<p>Proof 1858 Small Letters cents are underrated rarities, especially when compared to the more highly publicized Proof 1856 Flying Eagle cents. Whereas restrikes from the 1858 to 1860 era swelled the total number of Proof 1856 small cents produced to approximately 1,500, the Proof 1858 Small Letters has a much lower mintage that Snow estimates at just 120 pieces. Q. David Bowers (<em>A Guide Book of Flying Eagle and Indian Head Cents</em>, 2006) takes a slightly more liberal view with an estimated mintage of 200 coins. Regardless of exactly how many specimens were produced, survivors are elusive and market appearances are usually few and far between.<p>Snow has identified four die marriages of the Proof 1858 Small Letters cent. The author believes that Snow-PR3, offered here, was initially issued as part of the Mints 12-piece pattern Proof sets of that year (approximately 75 to 100 sets produced). For this reason, the author has also assigned this variety an alternate attribution of Snow-PT9. Both Snow and Bowers suggest that the Mint may have initially prepared the Small Letters variety as a pattern, placing it into regular issue production alongside its Large Letters counterpart after the modified design was found acceptable.，From the A.J. Vanderbilt Collection. Acquired from Rick Sear, September 2005; via Stacks.，