1932

1860 $5 PR64 Cameo NGC. Regardless of t

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1860 $5 PR64 Cameo NGC. Regardless of t
<B>1860<$5> PR64 Cameo NGC.</B></I> Regardless of the date, proof No Motto half eagles are elusive. Official mintage records place the total production at just 62 coins. Some of these were melted, having never been sold by the Mint, and thus the net mintage was even smaller. Walter Breen stated that "at least 30 sold at Mint, rest melted Jan. 1862 as unsold." Unfortunately, Breen does not pinpoint how many more than 30 were sold, thus the net distribution could have been any quantity between 30 pieces and 62 pieces. Perhaps it is reasonable to pick the midpoint between these two figures, and suggest that 46 pieces were actually sold. Possibly as many as 10 examples survive today. In addition to coins in the Smithsonian Institution and the ANS, we are aware of the following examples: Eliasberg, lot 496; Amon Carter, lot 678; Garrett, lot 482; Norweb, lot 862; and Ullmer, lot 447. The Atwater, Flanagan, and Morgenthau (sale 418) coins mentioned by Breen may be different from the others enumerated herein. The Harry Bass specimen is the one from Ullmer.<BR> This coin from the Lake Highlands Collection has a small mint-made flaw in the left obverse field at eye level. Another small flaw appears at the border outside star 2. A third appears below the digit 0 in the date. All three of these flaws are virtually identical to those that can be seen in the plate of the Bass coin, although these are two different specimens! In the past, we have referred to these as "pedigree identifiers," however, we must now be careful with our wording, and suggest merely that such surface marks, obviously as struck, might assist in tracking the pedigree of a specific coin, but we cannot state that the presence of such flaws will absolutely identify a pedigree. The example that is offered here exhibits a few other marks that are not visible on the Bass plate. One of these is a small lint mark in the right obverse field, immediately to the right of the top most hair strand behind Liberty's neck. The reverse has a tiny disturbance on the rim below the pellet between U and F. Neither is visible on the Bass coin. In the past, we might have pointed to a couple of these flaws, matching them with an illustration from an older catalog, and immediately claimed a pedigree match. This single coin has now caused us to rethink the entire pedigree process.<BR> The present example is a lovely and choice proof example with strong cameo contrast. The devices are lustrous with medium yellow color, while the fields are fully and deeply reflective. In addition to those discussed above, the surfaces have a few additional tiny flakes and lint marks.<BR><I>From The Lake Highlands Collection.</B></I>