Lot 3378
1842-C $5 Liberty. Small date. PCGS graded MS-62. Well struck and lustrous exhibiting rich mint bloom colors on both sides. Certainly among the finest known. Interesting over-lapping of metal on the rim at 12 o'clock. An incredible rarity and The Key "C" mint to the Half Eagle series.
Extremely choice surfaces and broad, framing rims with nearly complete dentils (only those at the lower left obverse lack detail). A satiny beauty from the Charlotte Mint and a prize for the collector of C-mint half eagles. Nicely detailed in all places. What is important about a rarity like this is that so few are traced in high conditions. This attractive Mint State can be identified by a small mark at star 2, a thin hairline left of the date and another equally miniscule hairline extending from the upper arrow point into the field. Perhaps no more than five or six individual Mint State examples of the date are known in all grades. One of the most celebrated Charlotte Mint rarities in this sale. Pop 1; 1 finer in 63 (PCGS # 8208) .
Walter Breen attributes a mintage of 4,595 pieces to the 1842 Small Date variety and 23,589 to the Large Date variety, indicating that the ratio was approximately 1 to 4. Douglas Winter estimates that 35 to 40 are known of the Small Date and 65 to 70 of the Large Date, a more conservative assessment. Concerning the date, during this post-Jacksonian period in our history, date sizes were in flux at the Philadelphia Mint, and certain denominations in the years 1842-1846 are found with variable sized date punches (as well as mintmark punches).
Estimated Value $70,000 - 80,000.
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