1794 50C MS(PCGS#6051)

November 2025 Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Auctioneer

Stack's Bowers

Lot Number

2068

Grade

VF35

Price

19,200

Lot Description

Tompkins Die Stage 1/5. This half dollar offers delightful quality for this coveted first year of the denomination. Toned with rich steel and pewter gray, antique gold, olive and cobalt blue highlights add further visual appeal. No handling problems are seen, with the rims, fields and devices all presenting as impressively smooth during in hand viewing. What marks are present are small and buried in the toning - they are commensurate with the assigned grade, in any case. Wear is moderate, again in keeping with the grade, but the overall design remains bold and plenty of sharper definition remains in the recesses of Liberty's portrait and the eagle.<p>While today the half dollar is seldom seen in circulation and offering one up in change will often generate odd looks and questions, it is only relatively recently that this has been the case. Half dollars have traditionally been "workhorse coins intended for use in the channels of commerce," as Q. David Bowers described them. The reduction in the required surety bonds for the chief coiner and the assayer so that production of precious metal coins could commence came late in 1794 and in this first year, 23,464 (or fewer) pieces were made, as opposed to a much larger delivery of 299,680 pieces for calendar year 1795. By that year, which was the last in which the Mint used the Flowing Hair motif in this series, the half dollar had already established itself as the denomination of choice among bullion depositors, a situation that would continue well into the 19th century.<p>Of the 11 known die marriages of the 1794 half dollar, O-101 is the most frequently encountered. This is not to imply that this is a common variety, for the 1794 as an issue is scarce to rare in all grades, irrespective of die marriage. The first half dollars struck in the United States Mint were 5,300 examples delivered on December 1, 1794. All of these coins are assumed to have been struck from 1794-dated dies. The <em>Guide Book</em>, among other numismatic references, provides a mintage figure of 23,464 pieces for this issue, as above, which assumes that the 18,164 half dollars delivered on February 4, 1795, were also coined from 1794-dated dies. This is conjecture, and we will never know for certain whether the coins delivered on February 4, 1795, were dated 1794, 1795, or both. Based on the number of die marriages known for the 1794-dated issue, as well as the number of coins extant, it is likely that at least some of the coins delivered in early 1795 were from 1794-dated dies. We suspect that the actual mintage for this issue is somewhat less than 23,464 pieces, most of which have long since been lost to commercial use. As a solid Choice VF survivor with a pleasing appearance overall, the Brookfield Collection specimen is a prize for the date or variety specialist.