1670-A French Colonies 15 Sols. Paris Mint. Martin 1.1-A.1, Breen 1-A (1976), Breen-255 (1988), W-11610, Gadoury-3, Breton-501, Zay-1, Ciani-255, Lecompte-187a. Rarity-7. EF-40 (PCGS).

104.2 grains. A coin whose visual appeal matches its provenance. Handsome and antique medium silver gray surfaces alight with the kinds of soft blue, pale gold, and pastel highlights that only a century in a cabinet can imbue. Supremely visually appealing, choice and pristine on the obverse and showing only the most trivial hairlines on the reverse. A subtle batch of adjustment marks crosses the upper right fleur-de-lis on the shield, present without diminishing any details, and a few light scratches are seen at LO of GLORIAM, including one that bisects the O. The centering is close to ideal on both sides, though the right reverse periphery is softer than the border on the left. For the grade assigned, it's challenging to imagine a more attractive or well preserved specimen. The die crack present from the left corner of the crown across the base of 1 in the date to the right serif of T in DICENT hallmarks this reverse, as Martin notes it has been seen on all known specimens. The seven examples known to Syd from these dies, listed in his 2015 book, are the same seven examples known to us. With 17 known examples on this entire type, this is the rarer die variety. Of the seven known, three are in museum collections, making the collectible population of this die variety just four coins. Institutional Collections: 1)Bank of Canada Collection. Martin 1 (EF). Ex Parsons 6-1914:2321 and W.W.C. Wilson 11-1925:371. Former Standard Catalogue of United States Coins and Standard Catalogue of Canadian Coins plate coin. 2)Bank of Canada Collection. Martin 2 (F). Ex R.W. McLachlan - Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Montreal - Chateau de Ramezay. 3)Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Martin 3 (F). Ex Ulex 5-1908:6 - Henry Chapman 1908 ANA sale 9-1908:168 - Virgil Brand - Jacques Schulman - Richard Margolis FPL #35 1969:308 - Roper Collection - Stack's Roper sale 12-1983:181 - Joseph Lasser via Anthony Terranova. Private Collections: 4)The Siboni specimen. Martin 5 (EF). Ex Archbishop John Sharp (died 1714) - Baldwin's - John J. Ford, Jr. Collection - Stack's 1-2006:23. Finest known of this variety. 5)The Dittmer specimen. Martin 7 (VF). Ex Argenor Paris 4-2000:379 - Heritage 1-2022:30191. NGC XF-45. 6)This specimen. Martin 4 (VF). Ex Ellsworth-Garrett-Gordon. See full provenance below. 7)The Salvesen specimen. Martin 6 (AVF). Ex Canada Coin Exchange 1960 CNA sale 8-1960:1001 - Superior Galleries 10-1977:131 - Spink Zurich October 1988:65. This coin's long accorded status as the most desirable rarity of pre-Confederation Canada and all of the French Colonies in America matches its esteem among American collectors, few of whom have ever gotten to include a 15 sols in their collection. Since the sale of the Ford specimen in 2006, just three examples of the type have sold in American auctions: the Dittmer coin (NGC EF-45, this variety), the Kendall Foundation coin (PCGS VF-35, the other variety), and the Partrick coin (NGC VF-30, the other variety). Each of these represented advanced collections of decades-long standing, and only the Dittmer coin (acquired 2000) had been previously offered in the last 45 years. In the years before the 2006 Ford sale, there had not been a 1670-A 15 sols sold in the United States since the Lasser-CWF coin sold in the 1983 Roper sale, an interval of 23 years. This piece bears one of the most august provenance chains of any 15 sols extant. After decades in the Ellsworth and Garrett collections, it spent 16 years in the collection of Ralph Gordon, whose research and writing on coins of the West Indies reinvented the field. PCGS has certified just four examples of this entire type. The two finest, and the only ones better than VF, are offered in this and the following lot.

PCGS# 170185.

PCGS Population: 1, 1 finer (AU-53).

From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier ex Col. James W. Ellsworth Collection; John Work Garrett Collection, via Wayte Raymond, 1923; our (Bowers and Ruddy's) sale of the Garrett Collection, October 1980, lot 1297; Ralph C. Gordon Collection; Baldwin's sale of the Ralph C. Gordon Collection, October 1996, lot 234; Anthony Terranova, May 2006.