1788 VT 1/2P Bust Right, RR-22, BN MS(PCGS#800836)

November 2025 Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Auctioneer

Stack's Bowers

Lot Number

1429

Grade

VF20BN

Price

2,160

Lot Description

108.1 grains. A really pleasing example of this challenging variety. Two tone olive brown with golden tan devices. Microscopically granular on both sides, but retaining good eye appeal and nice gloss, particularly on the reverse. Both sides are well centered and display their full complement of legends and a nice clear date. A few old horizontal scratches mostly blend into the right obverse field. The reverse is in its late state, with a substantial crescent-shaped bulge from the field adjacent to the branch hand down to the seated figure's ankles. An arc crack connects the left side of the exergual line to the tops of IN; another runs on a concentric arc from her ankles to the base of D and the top of E. <p>Though RR-22 is not a great rarity today, very few really nice, high-grade examples have survived. The EF-45 (PCGS) Syd Martin coin, ex-Hinkley, is about as nice as they come and very well may be in the condition census; it brought $5,280 at the time and is still the highest graded example in our digital archive. The lustrous Ford example, in Mike Hodder's classic undergrading, was called "Very Fine, sharpness in places of Extremely Fine" and was graded EF-45 by PCGS in its last appearance in our August 2011 ANA Sale. Both the Ford and this Hinkley coin have the luster and look of an AU but were undoubtedly net-graded due to the flan flaws and scratches, respectively, on those two coins. This piece offers a nice balance of an unflawed planchet, strong eye appeal, and a desirable grade.