Last week Jim Neiswinter asked:

In the last issue of The E-Sylum, JimNeiswinter asked "Who was the only person ever to complete a collection (100%) of all the varietiesof 1793 cents?" My initial reaction is that no one ever had them all. The unique 1793 NC-5 wasdonated to the ANS in 1946 and the NC-6 was not discovered until about 1978. In discussion withJim, he clarified that he was looking for a collection that was 100% complete according to thecurrently known varieties.

The Dr. Thomas Hall collection was cataloged by Frossard number. In his inventory he did notlist Frossard 6 which is now believed to be the same as Frossard 7. He also did not have Frossard13 with the second reverse (S-15). He had only one edge variety for Frossard 9 (S-11a) Hisinventory also included new cents discovered after the publication of Frossard.

When Sylvester Sage Crosby wrote his description of the cents of 1793, he relied heavily on thecollection of Hall. He described 21 different varieties. Although he mentioned two edge varietiesof 11-J, he did not assign them different numbers. By 1897, Hall's collection included all theknown 1793 varieties with the exception of 12-K, the variety now known as S-15. Hall died in May of1909, and his collection was acquired by Virgil Brand on September 7, 1909.

On May 25, 1919, Brand acquired the collection of Carl Wutzbach including his 1793 12-K (S-15).Wurtzback also had two edge varieties of Crosby 11-J (S-11a and S-11b) Wurtzback was missing the NCvarieties. This then gave Brand the complete collection to meet the requirement of the Neiswinterchallenge. However, Brand did not have one of the edge varieties or the NC-6 that had not yet beendiscovered. Thus Brand's collection is considered complete but had one coin fewer than DanHolmes.

Virgil Brand died in 1926 and his estate passed to his son Armin. On February 7, 1941, Arminconsigned a group of 17 condition census 1793 cents to St. Louis dealer Burdette G. Johnson. Thegroup included all five known varieties that Dr. Sheldon would later designate as"non'collectible."

In describing the varieties of the cents of 1793, Dr. Sheldon gave numbers to the varieties ofS-1 through S-16. There were two additional edge varieties of S-11 and five varieties with NCnumbers NC-1 through NC-5. That made 23 different varieties. A new variety, NC-6, was discoveredabout 1978.

Dan Holmes acquired a set of 1793 cents that included all the varieties except the unique NC-5that was impounded in the ANS collection. The collections of Hall and Holmes were remarkable forbeing assembled one coin at a time. Brand, on the other hand, just bought up large collections.

I also teased Jim that he should include Tristram Dalton. Dalton was the Mint Treasurer whoreceived all struck coins from the coiners. Thus he really had 100% of the 1793 cents.

Jim writes:

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
QUIZ: WHO HAD ALL VARIETIES OF 1793CENTS? (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n39a21.html)