Lot 849
1806 Draped Bust Half Dollar. Pointed 6, stem not through claw. . No stem through claw, O-109. NGC graded AU-58. Delightful original luster spreads smoothly underneath the well-saturatedtoned surfaces of this attractively About Uncirculated specimen. A blend of shades or original "antique silver" can be seen on both sides including touches of golden heather and brown around and within some of the devices. The strike is nowhere spongy (unlike many 1806 halves in which weak strikes occur) and the design elements are clearly delineated including all hair curls and the folds in Liberty's drapery. Full horizontal shield lines and full vertical stipes on the reverse confirm the sharp detail. This is the unusual die making error in which the olive branch's stem was omitted. In those early days at the First United States Mint, many of the individual elements in the design had to be added separately, such as date numbers, stars on both sides, the clouds, letters in the legends, and, it seems, the stem on the branch.
Estimated Value $5,000 - 5,500.
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| Realized $5,175 |
