Watch List notes:

Costa Rica, 50 centimos, 1917 GCR, extremely rare, NGC MS 63. KM-150. The knowledge of Costa Rican numismatics is quite advanced when compared to its neighbors in Central America, and key rarities of all series have been well known since the mid-20th century. Among these, the uncountermarked silver 50 centimos dated 1917 GCR is the pinnacle, due to its extreme rarity of just ten examples known having been incontrovertibly established since 1923. To quote Henry Christensen's transcription of a letter about this rarity by Carlos Echeverria, former Director of the Mint of Costa Rica (also transcribed in the works of Raul Gurdian and Jorge Murillo), when describing the ex-Lines-Stuart example (Christensen auction of May 1984, lot 380): "Of the legally issued rare coins of Costa Rica, certainly the .500 Fine 50 Centimos of 1917 stands in first place since it is known with certainty just how many exist without the 'UN COLON' and '1923' countermarks struck under law No. 93 of July 10, 1923. At the time of countermarking, all but 10 examples of the 1917 50 Centimos were restruck, these 10 pieces being held aside and replaced by other coins." Of these ten coins, we think this is the finest extant, superior in eye appeal to the aforementioned Lines-Stuart coin (also NGC MS 63), and with uninterrupted original bloom in basically unmarked fields sprinkled with light toning in hues of gold and blue. Without a doubt, this is a numismatic gem for the most advanced collectors.


Estimate: 20000 - 40000 USD