LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2008 Jan. FUN Signature Coin Auction #454  / 

3142

1803/2 $5 MS63 PCGS BD-4

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:26,000.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1803/2 $5 MS63 PCGS BD-4
<B>1803/2 $5 MS63 PCGS.</B></I> Breen-6441, BD-4, R.4. The only 1803-dated variety with a perfect T in LIBERTY. The 3 in the date barely touches the outline below the bust. The usual die state with several peripheral obverse die cracks and a reverse die crack from 4 to 10 o'clock that wanders across the eagle's wings and shield. Light adjustment marks are noted on the reverse, but are largely relegated to the borders. A pair of lengthy, straight, parallel marks on the obverse, that extend from the rim, downward along the left side of B in LIBERTY, through Liberty's hat and well into the hair curls, are almost certainly mint-made, and are probably adjustment marks as well. The strike is precise save for minor weakness near the left shield border. Luster is uniform throughout the fields and devices, and apricot toning across the reverse border confirms the originality. A few unimportant field grazes fail to distract the eye or threaten the designated grade.<BR> All 1803-dated half eagles are overdates with an obvious 2 underdigit. All 1802-dated half eagles are overdates as well. At the early U.S. Mint, die steel was costly, and it was unthinkable to sell as scrap a coinable obverse die simply because a calendar year had passed. In fact, if an obverse die had been hardened and was no longer able to be overdated, it simply continued in use in later years until it failed. We know this because die state studies confirm frequent use of dies of one year within die sequences of a later year. The most dramatic occurrence of this is the 1795 Heraldic Eagle five dollar, which could not have been coined until at least 1797.<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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