Lot 2945
1873-CC Liberty Seated Half Dollar. Arrows. NGC graded MS-64. Well struck and frosty. A satiny silver gray specimen with faint golden zephyr-like wisps of iridescence on both sides. Nicely struck for the date, certainly much more carefully made than many parading around, and worthy of strong bidder consideration. The arrows at the date occur in 1873 and 1874, creating a scarce two-year Type in the seated Liberty half dollar series. The 1873-CC issue is extremely desirable, and in this condition, almost unobtainable without waiting years for the next offering. A landmark coin in this condition! Pop 5; 2 in 65; none finer at NGC. (PCGS # 6344) .
Despite all of the later rhetoric by advocates of free silver coinage (primarily in 1876-1877), the 1873 Coinage Act actually favored silver coinage. It did abolish the silver dollar (which was not in circulation anyway), the three-cent silver (trime), and the half dime, but the latter two were of little importance considering the new five-cent pieces of copper-nickel. The two cent piece also was abolished but this made no stir, then or later. In line with the metric five-cent piece of 1866 (copper-nickel), the legislators made the minor silver coins into even metric weights by adding a tiny amount of silver -- less than one-half of one percent. The change was marked in 1873 and 1874 by the addition of arrows at the date.
Estimated Value $20,000 - 23,000.
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| Realized $23,000 |
