Heritage World Coin Auctions
CSNS Signature US Coin Sale 1254 26-28 Apr 2017
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Seated Half Dollars
1878-S 50C WB-101, Die Pair 1, R.5 -- Damage -- PCGS Genuine. AU Details. There is no clearer evidence of the power of the silver lobby and the clout of western mining interests than the enactment of the Bland-Allison Act of 1878. Massive silver discoveries led by the Comstock Lode in the late 1850s infused a mountain (literally) of silver into the economy with the inevitable downtrend in silver prices as reckoned in gold. The quickest and easiest solution was to mint more silver dollars in preference over smaller denomination silver coins -- far more dollars than were wanted or needed in commerce. Mintages of quarters and half dollars diminished to only token amounts. Just 12,000 halves were struck in San Francisco in 1878, and they were hard-used in circulation. The 2009 Bill Bugert reference suggests only about 60 pieces survive in all grades. Far fewer have been offered in public sales.
This surviving example avoided excessive wear from circulation, but shows a trio of scratches on the reverse -- most notably, a deep scratch from the eagle's head across the scroll to between S and O of the legend. A smaller scrape runs through the U of TRUST to account for the Damage indicated on the holder. Less-noticeable pinscratches zig-zag across U of UNITED to the nearest leaf tip. Numerous small marks are scattered across the silver-gray surfaces that deepen in color slightly at the margins, as well as an area of deeper patina in the right obverse field. Sharp definition remains, with glimpses of the original prooflike surfaces in the recesses.
HID02901242017
1878-S 50C WB-101, Die Pair 1, R.5 -- Damage -- PCGS Genuine. AU Details. There is no clearer evidence of the power of the silver lobby and the clout of western mining interests than the enactment of the Bland-Allison Act of 1878. Massive silver discoveries led by the Comstock Lode in the late 1850s infused a mountain (literally) of silver into the economy with the inevitable downtrend in silver prices as reckoned in gold. The quickest and easiest solution was to mint more silver dollars in preference over smaller denomination silver coins -- far more dollars than were wanted or needed in commerce. Mintages of quarters and half dollars diminished to only token amounts. Just 12,000 halves were struck in San Francisco in 1878, and they were hard-used in circulation. The 2009 Bill Bugert reference suggests only about 60 pieces survive in all grades. Far fewer have been offered in public sales.
This surviving example avoided excessive wear from circulation, but shows a trio of scratches on the reverse -- most notably, a deep scratch from the eagle's head across the scroll to between S and O of the legend. A smaller scrape runs through the U of TRUST to account for the Damage indicated on the holder. Less-noticeable pinscratches zig-zag across U of UNITED to the nearest leaf tip. Numerous small marks are scattered across the silver-gray surfaces that deepen in color slightly at the margins, as well as an area of deeper patina in the right obverse field. Sharp definition remains, with glimpses of the original prooflike surfaces in the recesses.
HID02901242017