A key-date 1884 10-cent coin in Gem Mint-State (MS) is expected to bring upwards of $37,000 US during the New York International Numismatic Convention next week.
In Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) MS-65, the coin is described by auctioneers as the “undisputed key date of the series and a truly magnificent representative at that.” It will be offered during Heritage Auctions’ Jan. 12-13 World Coins Signature Auction.
Only one other example ranks finer – and only by a single grade point – out of 104 examples certified by both PCGS and Numismatic Guaranty Corp., another U.S.-based third-party grading service.
“Beginning after a hiatus of 13 years, in 1871 the Royal Mint in London again began striking 10 Cents pieces for circulation in Canada,” reads the auction catalogue. “While most of the subsequent dates in Victoria’s reign saw between half a million to one million coins struck per year, the 1884 stands at fewer than a quarter of the pieces produced as those other dates, with half as many minted as the next scarcest date, the 1883-H.”
Auctioneers describe the coin as the ‘undisputed key date of the series.’
Most known examples are in circulated grades; these include the Henry Norweb, John Jay Pittman and Gary Burhop example – all in the Very Fine to Extremely Fine range – while the recently offered specimen from the George Cook Collection was only certified as “UNC Details” and the example from the Sid Belzberg Collection was in MS-62.
“We have offered just one other MS65 of this date, as part of our sale of the Canadiana Collection, which brought an impressive $34,500 in 2010, though even that piece appears to have contained notably more wisps than the present offering,” reads a statement issued by Heritage Auctions.