1836 50C Reeded Edge MS(PCGS#6175)

November 2025 Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Auktionator

Stack's Bowers

Losnummer

2089

Erhaltungsgrad

AU53

Preis

7.800

Losbeschreibung

A highly desirable example of this iconic issue. Both sides are beautifully toned with halos of reddish-gold and powder blue peripheral iridescence framing warmer silver-rose centers. Much frosty luster remains on surfaces that present as smooth and without trouble during in hand viewing. Boldly to sharply defined throughout.<p>The 1836 Reeded Edge is the first half dollar struck on a steam press, and it is a key date issue with a limited mintage. Though Walter Breen divined a mintage figure of 1,200 circulation strikes decades ago, the true figure is undoubtedly several thousand coins higher. Given the population of surviving 1836 Reeded Edge half dollars today, Robert W. Julian has estimated that the mintage was actually closer to 5,000 pieces. Between the legendarily elusive Small Eagle half dollars of 1796 and 1797 and the scarce Philadelphia Mint dates between 1879 and 1890, no other half dollar issue approaches the low mintage of the 1836 Reeded Edge. Beyond its evident historical importance, the 1836 Reeded Edge has always been admired as a rarity. For most of the 19th century, this issue was deemed a pattern, too rare to have been issued for circulation. While listed in J. Hewitt Judd's <em>United States Pattern, Trial, and Experimental Pieces</em> as Judd-57, a listing that remains in modern editions out of a sense of tradition, the 1836 Reeded Edge half dollar is now acknowledged as a regular issue coin. The vast majority of survivors show significant wear; premium AU survivors such as this CAC-approved example are very scarce and always in demand.