LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 (ANA) Signature Coin Auction #444  / 

1677

1802 50C AU58 PCGS

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:42,500.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1802 50C AU58 PCGS
<B>1802 50C AU58 PCGS.</B></I> O-101, R.3. For a series with so many die varieties and even subvarieties, the 1802 half dollar mintage is a lesson in contradiction, as the 29,890 pieces recorded struck were produced from a single die pair. There are no others known for the date, and after 205 years it is highly unlikely, although not impossible, that any others will be found. The year 1827 hold the series record for the greatest number of die marriages. The 28 obverse dies and 34 reverse dies were married in 49 different combinations to produce the 5.5 million pieces for the year, for an average of more than 112,000 halves per pair.<BR> In the case of the 1802, then, it is little wonder that the Mint personnel even saw fit to reuse master dies from 1801 to produce the working dies for 1802: After all, that mintage amounted to only one-quarter of the average mintage for a single die pair in 1827.<BR> The 1802 also bears the distinction of being the only Draped Bust half that is a single-variety year. (The 1815, a Capped Bust design, is a single-variety year as well.) While the reasons for the relatively small mintage are lost to posterity, it bears mentioning that the other silver denominations produced during the year, the half dime and dime, are also small by series standards, with the half dime a legendary rarity. (The difference, of course, is that most yearly mintages of the early half dime and dime were on the smallish side, while the silver half dollar, along with the large cent and gold half eagle, was one of the three workhorse coinage denominations of early U.S. commerce.)<BR> Mint State coins of this issue are quite rare, and in any case only a hair's breadth separates this coin from Uncirculated, in the form of light highpoint rub. Virtually all of the mint luster remains, underneath a light patina of pinkish-gray, aqua, and mint-green. Population: 7 in 58, 2 finer (7/07).<BR><BR><B>Coin Engraver:</B> Robert Scot<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Coins & Currency (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>\)
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