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1839-O 50C MS64 NGC. The New Orleans Mint opened i

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1839-O 50C  MS64 NGC. The New Orleans Mint opened i
<B>1839-O 50C MS64 NGC.</B></I> The New Orleans Mint opened in 1838 and produced its first Half Dollars, 20 proof examples dated 1838-O, in January of 1839. A further 178,976 coins dated 1839-O were produced throughout the remaining months, making this issue is the only collectible O-mint Half Dollar of the 1838-1839 Reeded Edge type. Breen asserts that the 1839-O was extensively hoarded by the public as the first business strike Half Dollar from the New Orleans Mint. If this is true, then the majority of these coins were retrieved from circulation because this issue is a significant rarity in Mint State.<BR> The present satiny-textured near-Gem is mostly brilliant through the centers and outlined in speckled coppery-gold toning. There are few unsightly surface marks and the strike is well executed, even in the peripheral areas. For those interested in this coin's die variety, we note repunching on the mintmark and myriad fine cracks (as struck) in the peripheral areas. Population: 12 in 65, 9 finer (12/04).<BR><I>Ex: Stack's (10/02), lot 449.</B></I><BR><I>From The Richard J. Chouinard Collection of United States Coins, Part One.</B></I>