1862 50C PR(PCGS#6416)

Spring 2025 Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Auctioneer

Stack's Bowers

Lot Number

4118

Grade

PR64

Price

3,000

Lot Description

Richly and originally toned surfaces exhibit a target-like distribution to vivid undertones of cobalt blue, salmon-pink and silver-apricot iridescence. Dominant olive-copper patina to both sides with a full strike and appreciable reflective qualities in the fields. This issue has a Proof mintage of 550 pieces, and survivors are scarcer than that figure might imply given the chaotic conditions during the second year of the Civil War. It is likely that many examples went unsold at the time. A provenance to one of B. Max Mehl's most celebrated sales further enhances the desirability of this scarce Choice specimen.<p>Will W. Neil was a pharmacist from Abilene, Kansas who ended up with an 1804 dollar, an 1894-S dime, and other high profile issues before his collection was sold in 1947. "His interest in numismatics began while serving his apprenticeship in a drug store in Solomon, Kansas," B. Max Mehl related in the catalog's foreword, telling the story of a three-dollar gold piece received as a Christmas bonus that inspired Neil's numismatic interest. Selling his business upon his retirement, Neil was able to afford some of the rarities he had long coveted.