1813 $5.00 PCGS MS64

BD-1, Rarity-2. The 1813 is the single most available date of the Capped Head Left large planchet half eagle type that was produced from 1813 through 1829. But "common" is a relative word and the 1813 is still a hard coin to locate with fewer than 1,000 extent in all grades. As one might expect, this issue becomes rarer as the grading scale is ascended and in MS64 it is a truly scarce coin with Gems being very rare to extremely rare. This specific coin is among the best 1813 half eagles that have come onto the market in many years. It has superb deep green-gold and yellowish colors atop very clean and very frosty surfaces. If you are familar with this issue you know that strike can be a problem and this piece is nicely detailed with just the slightest amount of weakness on the rims as typically seen. One ultra-fine obverse hairline narrowly removes this coin from the Gem level and a $100,000+ price tag. The last APR for an MS64 is Heritage 10/11: 4875 (graded by NGC) that sold for $46,000 while the last MS65 is Heritage 8/11: 7539 (also graded by NGC) that sold for a reasonable $92,000. If you are a collector who is putting together a meaningful type set of early gold and you are lookig for a high quality example of this important issue, give this 1813 half eagle some serious consideration.