A lovely example of this rare variety with virtually complete satiny lustre. Very light gray surfaces with subliminal iridescent toning. This die marriage is extraordinarily difficult to locate in higher grades. Clearly the rarest 1826 die marriage, this was considered Rarity-6 when the 1970 second edition of Overton was published. Catalogued as Overton-9 in the first edition, Al Overton described this die marriage as "Very Rare."

Don Parsley listed the top five known to him as 60, 55, 55, 50, 50. In Steve Herrman's auction records, the third finest offered was just EF-45, with one AU-58 and one MS-63 topping the list. A pair of AU-50 grade coins (including this, for Russ Logan graded this just AU-50) are the finest from the December 1999 JRCS Census. We feel that a valid case could be made for this to be included among the top six known examples.

FIFTY CENTS OR ALF A DOLLAR.

Purchased December 17, 1976 from Don Frederick.