Some additional comments c/o Collector's Universe:
"Stewart bought his first Indian cent in 1989 at the Pittsburgh ANA convention and has been buying them on and off ever since. His goal is to collect the very best quality that he possibly can, including the varieties and Flying Eagle cents. Stewart has a love of small cents; in fact, he also owns the number one Lincoln cent set in the PCGS Set Registry. His other collections include Half cents, Canadian cents, and Barber dimes. His favorite coin in the Indian cent collection is the key date, 1877, which he believes is the finest in existence. When will Stewart stop collecting coins? When he stops having fun. It is his passion!"
Special thanks to Stewart for allowing me to image 26 of his Indian cents over the past year. Here's the complete set which, began with the 1900 67RD purchased at the 1889 Pittsburgh ANA.
The current Stewart Blay collection is already one of the all-time classic sets with an average grade of 66+. A sculptor with an exceptional eye for copper coins in general, Stewart may be better known for his extraordinary Lincolns but the recent appearance (Aug/02) of his Indians in the PCGS Set Registry opened a few eyes. As for just the grades, consider this:
1) Every coin is 66RD or higher except for a run of 65RDs in the tough 1866 thru 1874 dates.
2) 13 coins grade MS67RD, including the single highest PCGS graded 1876 and 1878.
3) 28 of the 55 coins have none graded higher by PCGS.
4) Of all the Indian cents ever to pass through PCGS, only 66 total have pulled higher grades. An amazing statistic when you take into consideration the crackouts.
Many Images courtesy of the 2002 Long Beach Coin Expo, w/ special thanks to BJ Searls of PCGS
Upgrades: 1/1/03 1889 with coin of same grade (image updated)
