1843-O $5 Small Letters MS (PCGS#8217)
August 2011 Chicago ANA - Rarities Night
- Auktionator
- Stack's Bowers
- Losnummer
- 7678
- Erhaltungsgrad
- MS65
- Preis
- 69.000
- Losbeschreibung
- 1843-O Liberty Half Eagle. Small Letters. Winter Variety One, the only known dies. Die State I. MS-65 (PCGS). The first of two varieties of 1843-O half eagle produced, the Small Letters was struck from the same reverse die as the 1842-O five. The letters in the legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and the denomination FIVE D. are small in size, and the O mintmark has a distinct small, round shape. Scarce in all grades, the 1843-O Small Letters vies with the 1855-O and 1856-O as the fifth rarest New Orleans Mint half eagle. Writing in the 2006 edition of the book <em>Gold Coins of the New Orleans Mint: 1839-1909</em>, Doug Winter accounts for a mere 80-90 coins extant, the vast majority of which are at the VF and EF grade levels. Uncs are exceedingly rare and probably number fewer than 10 coins.<br /> This important Gem is the finest known 1843-O Small Letters half eagle, and it may be the coin listed first among the significant pieces pedigreed in Winter's aforementioned book. It is also the Winter plate coin (page 91), identifiable for pedigree purposes by a thin, arcing graze in the lower left obverse field above and inside stars 1-2. Otherwise we see only small, wispy abrasions that are singularly inconspicuous to the eye. Bright, satiny, yellow-gold surfaces also reveal a blush of pale-apricot iridescence in and around the center of the obverse. An early die state has imparted full denticulation to the stars around the obverse periphery, the balance of the devices also bold to sharp in detail save for a touch of softness to the central highpoints on both sides. A remarkable condition rarity, and also a beautiful Liberty half eagle irrespective of date or issuing Mint, this coin belongs in the finest collection of Southern gold.<br /> The aforementioned New Orleans Mint gold coin book by Doug Winter seems to pedigree this coin to Bowers and Merena's Lindesmith Collection sale, March 2000, lot 239
Ursprüngliche Auktion ansehen