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Lot 0730 1859 Liberty Seated 10C NGC MS67

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:2,000.00 USD Estimated At:4,000.00 - 6,000.00 USD
Lot 0730 1859 Liberty Seated 10C NGC MS67
If over the years you've probably adopted a gently defensive attitude when you read about "a scintillating, superb Gem bathed in lightning white iridescence with golden peripheries". If so, then take heart, for this 1859 half dime is just that, a scintillating gem. Both its strike and surface quality appear to leave little room for improvement even though a PCGS MS68 sample is in the grading roster. This is clearly one of the nicest 1859 half dimes we have offered in years and it pleases us to no end to know that it will find a welcome new home.

In 1859, the half dime got a modified design and hollow-center stars. This change is attributed to Assistant Engraver Anthony Paquet. The second remodeling of Gobrecht's original design comes at the end of the Stars Obverse period. Perhaps because the figure of Liberty itself was less well accomplished than Robert Ball Hughes's rendition of 1840-58, or because he did not wish another engraver doing his work, Chief Engraver James Longacre changed the design of the half dime once more in 1860, after only 340,000 pieces of the Paquet 1859 pieces had been made at the Philadelphia mint. The characteristics of this design earns it one-year type status, in the opinion of some, and has long been an oversight which may eventually be corrected.