1773 VA 1/2P Period, RB MS(PCGS#241)

November 2025 Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Auctioneer

Stack's Bowers

Lot Number

1126

Grade

MS65RB

Price

2,400

Lot Description

118.0 grains. Frosty to semi-reflective surfaces exhibit light golden-brown mellowing to otherwise dominant pinkish-orange mint color, the centers with faint lilac-blue tinting evident as the coin dips into a light. Smooth and inviting, as befits the assigned grade, with a boldly executed strike that delivers crisp detail to most design elements. The Virginia halfpennies were authorized by the English Crown and served their purpose in the Colony of Virginia just prior to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. Most Mint State survivors are from the Colonel Mendes I. Cohen Hoard, obtained by Cohen, a numismatist, probably in the late 1860s or the early 1870s. The hoard contained in excess of 2,000 pieces by contemporary accounts, many of which were dispersed by Cohen over the years. Most of today's Uncirculated Virginia halfpennies probably originated with the Cohen hoard, to which current numismatists owe a great debt.