1817 Matron Head Cent. N-16. Rarity-1. 15 Stars. MS-64 RB (PCGS). CAC.

1817 Matron Head Cent. N-16. Rarity-1. 15 Stars. MS-64 RB (PCGS). CAC.，This Choice Mint State 1817 cent is highly lustrous with extremely attractive surfaces. Pale steel overtones are seen on the obverse, which is otherwise almost perfectly blended faded mint red and medium brown. The reverse exhibits much more original color, with a bit of faint violet iridescence in places. This is a lovely coin, one of the finest 15 Stars examples in existence. Struck from an early state of the dies (Noyes A/A), with the obverse in particular being quite sharp as it was a new die. All star centers show and the radial lines of each are well defined. The reverse is a second appearance of the 1817 N-1 die, and shows a little more wear, but it is still in the "perfect" state for this variety. The reverse is aligned a little to the right, typical of the variety, and the leftmost dentils are consequentially broad.<p>This is the fourth time we have had the pleasure of offering this fine specimen over the years. We sold it for Herman Halpern in 1988, for Mr. Naftzger in 2001 and, finally, as part of the Twin Leaf Collection in 2015. The line of past owners contains several figures known for their excellent taste where choice large cents and other coins are concerned. In 2001, this coin was in the Noyes Census as tied for finest known. Today, it is ranked as tied for CC#4, although it seems to have more generous mint color than some of those ranked equal to or above it. It was called MS-63 by us in 1988, called the same by Naftzger and once again the same by us in 2001. It was the cent selected as the plate for Noyes own book, and remains so in the most recent edition. The coin is quite a bit more red than seen in the Noyes plate where it appears largely tan.<p>The 1817 15 Stars cent is unique among large cents for its star arrangement and has long been a popular variety. Though the date 1817 may be easily acquired in Mint State due to Randall Hoard coins, this variety is not known to have been found among them. The best 15 Stars to sell at auction before our 2015 sale of this piece was Goldbergs February 2009 sale of the Ted Naftzger coin (ex Homer Downing). That example was graded MS-65 BN by PCGS and remains the only piece graded finer than this one. It sold for an incredible $50,600 and is ranked as CC#2 in the Noyes Census. Again, we call attention to the generous original color of the present piece. In this respect it is much finer than the former Downing coin, and we suspect that specialists will bid strongly to win this exceptional coin and be the next name added to its illustrious pedigree.，From the Q. David Bowers Collection. Earlier ex George Woodside; New York Coin and Stamp Co., April 1892; Benjamin H. Collins; B. Max Mehl (personal collection); Emanuel Taylor; Roy E. Naftzger, Jr.; T. James Clarke; Abe Kosoffs sale of April 1956, lot 157; Oliver E. Futter; Louis Helfenstein; C. Douglas Smith; our (Stacks) sale of the Herman Halpern Collection, March 1988, lot 351; Anthony Terranova; Roy E. Naftzger, Jr.; our (Bowers and Merenas) Rarities Sale of August 2001, lot 22; our sale of the Twin Leaf Collection of United States Large Cents, Part I, July 2015, lot 2033. 1988 and 2001 auction lot tags and collector envelope with attribution and provenance notes included.，