1926 $2.50 Sesquicentennial MS(PCGS#7466)

June 2025 Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Auctioneer

Stack's Bowers

Lot Number

2493

Grade

MS66+

Price

5,040

Lot Description

Lovely rose-gold surfaces are uncommonly smooth for a type that is typically offered no finer than MS-64. Lustrous and satiny with a sharp strike to boot. Through the Act of March 3, 1925, Congress authorized the Mint to produce 200,000 quarter eagles and 1,000,000 half dollars of this commemorative, and the Philadelphia Mint struck these coins during May and June of 1926. (Additional examples of both denominations were produced for assay purposes.) These mintage figures proved wildly optimistic, with 154,207 quarter eagles and 859,408 half dollars eventually being melted as unsold. The resultant net mintage is 46,019 and 141,120 pieces, respectively (totals include 226 and 528 assay coins). In today's market, both Sesquicentennial issues are regarded as conditionally challenging, upper end Gems such as this very scarce and eagerly sought by advanced collectors.