Lot 933
1817 Capped Bust Half Dollar. NGC graded MS-64. O-106. R-2. A delightful, near-Gem bust half dollar with a huge, comet-like diebreak from the cap's peak. The iridescent colors are a dream: glowing yellow-gold peripheries surrounding bright bluish green fields with the central devices of both sides bathed in lilac mauve. Lots of long diebreaks in the reverse legends. Only a few stray abrasions beneath the toning on the obverse keep this from the MS65 classification.
Aside from the magical "1817/4" association of this year, the bust halves are perfect testaments, artistically, to their age. America had really just begun its westward expansion, meaning the Ohio and Mississippi Territories. James Madison gave up the Oval Office to another Founding Father, James Monroe. In Philadelphia, the Second Bank of the United States opened the doors to its marble edifice in the heart of the old city, at 3rd & Chestnut Streets, just five blocks from the first mint building at 7th & Locust. In old New York, the Erie Canal's construction achieved authorization. No coin symbolizes the colonial past reaching into a bold future better than the Capped Bust fifty-cent pieces of John Reich, who came to America as an indentured servant and gained immortality through his art.
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| Realized $4,370 |
