Lot 669
1839-O $2.50 Classic Head. EF-45. Here is a choice coin of this important obverse mintmark style. The surfaces have minor hairlines, as seen on virtually every gold coin of the era. Sharply struck on all but the uppermost curls on Liberty, and the reverse is bold throughout.
Only two pairs of dies were shipped as the branch mint in New Orleans began striking coins in earnest in 1839. This die pairing is rarer than the open fraction, small arrows variety, and even better this coin is a late die state of the reverse, with a sharp die crack through the N of UNITED, upper leaf point, into the field below the eagle's wing, then a sharp right turn into the eagle's lowest tail feather, out the upper arrowhead to the rim through R in AMERICA. Another die crack is noted from the rim through the left side of the first A in AMERICA, to the eagle's neck, and another short crack from the rim to the left wing of the eagle. Struck with the reverse die rotated 180 degrees from normal, as seen on some of this rare issue. A coin for the date or variety collector.
Estimated Value $500 - 600.
|
| |
| Realized $1,380 |
