Lightly cleaned with light gray surfaces. Very minor hairlines are evident. Although this is clearly far from Condition Census level, it is an important example of a highly desirable rarity. Considered Rarity-6 in the third edition of Overton, it is now listed as Rarity-5+, thanks to several recent discoveries, such as that discussed below.

This die marriage is a favorite of this cataloguer (Mark Borckardt). I recall in the late 1980s while sitting in my dad's coin shop back in Ohio, one of our customers came in with his type set in hand. He had just acquired a copy of Overton (then still the second edition) and pointed to his 1830 half dollar asking if it really was the Large Letters variety. Being perhaps not quite as well-versed in the early half dollars as I could have been at the time, I spent considerable time studying his coin along with Overton, and concluded that I believed it was the Large Letters half dollar variety. As I was soon scheduled to leave for a Long Beach convention, I suggested taking the coin with me for confirmation. Thanks to Sheridan Downey for providing the confirmation. The customer was very happy with the final status of his "type coin."

The obverse has a very light bulge near Liberty's chin and a tiny die chip in the upper loop of digit 3. The reverse appears perfect.

Purchased October 20, 1982 from Jeff Friedman.