1856-S $5 MS(PCGS#8270)

August 2020 U.S. Coins Auction

Auctioneer

Stack's Bowers

Lot Number

1405

Grade

AU53

Price

1,320

Lot Description

1856-S Liberty Head Half Eagle. AU-53 (PCGS). A sharply struck, satiny to softly frosted example with subtle pale pink highlights to dominant honey-gold patina. Because of distrust of paper money, gold coins were the workhorse medium of exchange in the Old West. The entirety of the 105,100 mintage of 1856-S half eagles immediately entered circulation with little notice and went to work helping to make a dent in the enormous demand for lower denomination gold coins. And stay there they did -- the half eagle denomination had long been popular in commerce throughout the United States and especially so in California. In all degrees of preservation, the issue is notably scarce: PCGS CoinFactsestimates that only 225 examples exist in all grades. Of those, the typically offered grades are VF to low end AU. For the Western Americana specialist, here is a significant opportunity to acquire an uncommonly high grade survivor from the earliest days of the San Francisco Mint and an underappreciated rarity. PCGS# 8270. NGC ID: 25UZ. Click here for certification details from PCGS.