Heritage World Coin Auctions
Long Beach Signature US Coin Sale 1252 16-17 Feb 2017
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Early Half Eagles
1807 $5 Bust Right, BD-1, High R.4, MS64+ PCGS. Bass-Dannreuther Die State b/b-c. The Capped Bust Right design was retired part-way through the year in 1807, but not before a fairly substantial mintage of 32,488 half eagles of the old design was accomplished. Six different die varieties are known for the date, one with small stars on the reverse and five with larger reverse stars. This coin represents the single Small Reverse Stars variety, designated BD-1 in the Bass-Dannreuther series reference. The BD-1 is a very scarce variety, with a surviving population of 80-100 examples in all grades. The BD-1 probably accounted for 5,000-7,500 pieces of the reported mintage. The obverse die was used again to strike the BD-2 variety of this date. From the small stars and large letters in the legend, several researchers have theorized that the reverse die was an unused leftover from 1806. This was the only use of the reverse die.
The present coin is an impressive peach-gold near-Gem, with the important Plus designation from PCGS. The strike is crisp, since definition is incomplete only on the upper left border of the shield. Marks are confined to trivial obverse field chatter and a small bright area above the arrowheads. The reverse is lightly clashed, and both sides exhibit several delicate die cracks. The obverse lacks the clashes associated with Die State c, and the reverse lacks any crack at the E in UNITED. However, the "rust lump on skin of bust," as described by Bass for obverse Die State c, is present. PCGS has certified only a single 1807 Bust Right half eagle finer, another BD-1 example graded MS65+ (12/16). Indeed, even available die pairings from this early type are rare in high grade.
1807 $5 Bust Right, BD-1, High R.4, MS64+ PCGS. Bass-Dannreuther Die State b/b-c. The Capped Bust Right design was retired part-way through the year in 1807, but not before a fairly substantial mintage of 32,488 half eagles of the old design was accomplished. Six different die varieties are known for the date, one with small stars on the reverse and five with larger reverse stars. This coin represents the single Small Reverse Stars variety, designated BD-1 in the Bass-Dannreuther series reference. The BD-1 is a very scarce variety, with a surviving population of 80-100 examples in all grades. The BD-1 probably accounted for 5,000-7,500 pieces of the reported mintage. The obverse die was used again to strike the BD-2 variety of this date. From the small stars and large letters in the legend, several researchers have theorized that the reverse die was an unused leftover from 1806. This was the only use of the reverse die.
The present coin is an impressive peach-gold near-Gem, with the important Plus designation from PCGS. The strike is crisp, since definition is incomplete only on the upper left border of the shield. Marks are confined to trivial obverse field chatter and a small bright area above the arrowheads. The reverse is lightly clashed, and both sides exhibit several delicate die cracks. The obverse lacks the clashes associated with Die State c, and the reverse lacks any crack at the E in UNITED. However, the "rust lump on skin of bust," as described by Bass for obverse Die State c, is present. PCGS has certified only a single 1807 Bust Right half eagle finer, another BD-1 example graded MS65+ (12/16). Indeed, even available die pairings from this early type are rare in high grade.