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Sale 74
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Lot 2823
1839. No Drapery. NGC graded MS-67. Well struck with light medium blue toning. Pop 1; none finer at NGC. The Finest graded.
A coin that a few years ago sold in a Heritage sale in Florida and by far the most impressive 1839 No Drapery Half Dollar of them all!
According to the earlier explanatory notes in that sale, "The first-year 1839 No Drapery half dollar is a popular issue accordingly, one eagerly pursued by type and complete set collectors equally. Even AU55 and lower-Mint State specimens are hotly contested at auctions, but the Superb Gem grade of the present piece elevates it to the status of a legendary rarity. This coin is the single finest certified at NGC by two grade points, and at the MS65 level, NGC has only graded a mere two coins. The situation is exactly the same at PCGS, which shows two MS65 specimens as the finest.
"By the time the 1839 half dollar coins had been issued, the new Seated Liberty design of Christian Gobrecht was already four years old, and the concept was older still. There was much ado at the Mint in the 1830s. Samuel Moore's service as Mint director ended in 1835, and Robert Maskell Patterson, son of former Mint Director Robert Patterson, took up the reins. The Thonnelier steam press enabled more coins, and more-uniform coins, to be produced, and was employed beginning in 1836 on the Reeded Edge half dollars.
"Patterson fils favored the seated figure of Britannia on coins of Great Britain to the dated Liberty bust on U.S. coinage, and he charged Mint Engraver William Kneass with developing a similar design for the silver dollar, then America's most important and prestigious coin. Kneass produced a sketch before suffering a debilitating stroke in August 1835. Naturalist Thomas Sully and portraitist Titian Peale advanced the designs on obverse and reverse, respectively, before Gobrecht, now second engraver (but functionally chief engraver), got the chance to model it into coinage dies.
"The design premiered on the 1836-dated Gobrecht silver dollars and was reused on 1838- and 1839-dated dollars. Unfortunately, when the Seated Liberty design was introduced on minor coinage, the marvelous Flying Eagle reverse design was gone. Beginning in 1837 with the silver half dimes and dimes, in 1838 with the quarters, and in 1839 with the half dollars, the two smaller denominations would feature a pedestrian wreath on the reverse, while the larger ones would sport an archaic eagle, transfixed by a metal shield pinned to his breast (perhaps a remembrance of "Old Pete," the Mint's eagle mascot, whose untimely demise was caused by a metal flywheel that began spinning with no warning).
"First and second transitional pattern 1838 No Drapery proof halves (Judd-82 and 83) are known, both extremely rare to unique. The 1839 No Drapery halves were produced to the extent of 1.97 million business, along with about four known proofs. Mint State examples of the 1839 No Drapery are of the highest rarity, with less than four dozen certified in all Mint State grades between NGC and PCGS combined. Although one reverse die is known to have been used for the few proofs and some business strikes, the extensive cracking characteristic of that reverse is absent on this coin.
The present coin offers an abundance of remarkable features. First, of course, is its awe-inspiring aesthetic appeal. Time and Nature working together in their patient way, have allowed the obverse and reverse to acquire matched lovely patina in shades of lilac and blue at the centers, lightening to pale pinkish at the rims. The strike is typical of early Seated coinage in being uneven is a few areas, but is extremely bold nonetheless, all things considered. We note classic detailing on Liberty's head and hair tresses, drapery, and shield. Turning to the reverse, the eagle repeats the process. Only a couple of peripheral stars on the obverse are incomplete. Both sides avoided post-striking human handling marks. A tiny planchet flaw appears as a depression in the reverse field above HA of HALF. All in all, a resplendent and appealing example of this Type, which happens to be a one-year Type, and the single finest known of this historic 1839 first-year type.
Estimated Value $100,000 - 110,000.
From The Joseph C. Thomas Collection, Part Two.
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| Realized $138,000 |
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