Lot 1362
1798. Large eagle, small 8. BD-6, Rarity 6. NGC graded AU-58. A nice frosty coin which shows scarcely any signs of wear and a solid strike on all but the uppermost central devices. The surfaces show a few minor signs of handling, as expected on any of these rare early half eagles. There are some minor adjustment marks on the central obverse and these are as made at the mint. When the gold bars were cast and drawn and rolled at the Mint, the planchets were often rolled slightly heavy, and then "adjusted" by filing off the excess gold. Each planchet was carefully weighed by hand and by law had to be within a narrow weight tolerance. This particular die pairing is quite scarce with only 30 to 40 pieces known today, this is likely one of the finer examples to survive. Both the obverse and reverse dies soon developed heavy die cracks and were replaced imparting the rarity to this die pairing, as was common during this era. Thus a variety collection of these prized rarities is quite the numismatic challenge. A handsome coin with strong eye appeal and attractive surfaces and color. Only 24,867 struck. Pop 6; 5 finer, 3 in 61, 1 in 62, 1 in 63. Estimated Value $17,000 - 18,000
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