Lot 829
1877 Pattern Half Dollar. Silver, reeded edge. NGC graded Proof 63. Morgan's "silver dollar style". Bright silver centers give way to rich halos of deep gold, violet, and rose. Obverse extraordinarily similar to that of the Morgan dollar which followed for general circulation in the next year 1878. Lightly cleaned at some time in the past, since naturally retoned. The present specimen is perhaps No. 1 of the three pieces enumerated at the uspatterns.com website. There No. 1 is listed as: "Farouk-Sotheby's 2/54?; Empire Topics #3; Cox-Stacks' 4/62?; MARCA 5/87; B & M 5/92, was PCGS-62; Superior 2/05 (not sold), NGC-63-cleaned." Accordingly, this particular specimen of this important rarity possibly originated in the Sotheby's sale of King Farouk's Collection in 1954; surfaces suggest that it is, indeed, a Farouk coin. As noted above, the presently offered coin has long since recuperated from its light cleaning, and, even with that in mind, it is still a major rarity among pattern issues. The present choice Proof is the only example of Judd-1504 certified by NGC in the Proof designation; two other examples of Judd-1504 have been certified by that firm, one of those was with a Cameo designation, the other with a Ultra Cameo designation. We suspect more than one specialist will bid boldly for this numismatic treasure.
NGC Census: 1; none finer within the designation; 2 higher as "Cameo" and "Ultra Cameo" Proof 63s.
Estimated Value $18,000 - 20,000.
From Bowers and Merena's sale of the Somerset Collection, May 1992, Lot 1752; earlier Mid-American, May 1987, Lot 2125;.
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