1953-D 50C "Bugs Bunny" FS-401, FBL MS(PCGS#415696)

June 2026 Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Auctioneer

Stack's Bowers

Lot Number

3330

Grade

MS66+FBL

Price

2,684

Lot Description

Elegant surfaces are fully lustrous with a generally smooth, satiny texture. Pleasingly toned, as well, we note delicate champagne-gold iridescence with enhancing halos of powder blue and pale pink at the borders. Although the coiners at the Denver Mint were tasked with producing a sizable total of 20,900,400 half dollars in 1953, they did an outstanding job. Rick Tomaska (2023) describes the 1953-D as "among the best-struck dates in the series, with virtually all examples sufficiently boldly struck to rate as FBL." Problems came later, however, as the coins were roughly handled upon release. Bag marks are so extensive for this issue that the typical 1953-D offered today grades no finer than MS-64 FBL. The present example represents a colorfully named variety created by clashed dies; some of the letters in the Latin motto E PLURIBUS UNUM are seen at Benjamin Franklin's mouth, giving the effect of a buck tooth, like the classic cartoon character Bugs Bunny. In MS-66+ FBL it is tied for finest PCGS-certified for the 1953-D FS-401 attribution and demands the utmost in bidding from advanced Franklin half dollar variety enthusiasts.