1804 1/2C C-13, BN MS(PCGS#35176)

November 2025 Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Auctioneer

Stack's Bowers

Lot Number

3002

Grade

MS65BN

Price

15,600

Lot Description

Manley Die State 2.0. A lovely, fully original, uncommonly well preserved example that will delight early copper enthusiasts as well as high grade type collectors. Both sides are predominantly toned in beautiful glossy antique copper, although areas of lighter golden-brown at the left obverse and upper reverse borders represent faded mint color. Lustrous and satiny with a hard, tight texture. A faint, old pin scratch through the letters TY in LIBERTY and continuing on to the border past those letters is the only mark of note on otherwise smooth, carefully preserved surfaces. Boldly struck with many design elements sharp to full.<p>This is an extremely popular, easily attributable variety of the 1804 Draped Bust half cent. The Plain 4 date logotype combined with the Stemless Wreath reverse immediately identifies the Cohen-13 die marriage, the only one of this <em>Guide Book</em> variety. This is also the most plentiful die marriage of the issue. Given the number of Mint State coins known Walter Breen (<em>Walter Breen's Encyclopedia of United States Half Cents: 1793-1857</em>, 1983) believed that a hoard of Uncirculated examples may have existed at one time. More modern scholarship on this subject is provided by William R. Eckberg in his 2019 reference<em> The Half Cent, 1793-1857: The Story of America's Greatest Little Coi</em>n, in which an estimate of more than 100 Mint State survivors from an estimated mintage from these dies of 600,000 pieces is given. In either case, Uncirculated 1804 C-13 half cents are widely dispersed throughout numismatic circles, and the opportunity to acquire a coin as exceptionally well preserved and attractive as the present Gem is particularly noteworthy.