1884-CC $5.00 NGC AU55 CAC

Only five half eagles were issued at the Carson City mint during the 1880's. Of these, the 1881-CC is the scarcest followed by the 1883-CC and the 1884-CC which are nearly similar in rarity. The 1884-CC is seen most often in grades below AU50 and properly graded Choice AU coins are very scarce. This is one of the few examples of this date that I have seen with natural color and choice surfaces as most are bright and very heavily abraded. Both sides show light, even wear with pleasing medium orange-gold color. There are far fewer marks than usual and the overall level of eye appeal is very high for the date and grade. As on all known examples of this date (which was struck with a single die pair) there is an interesting raised die line on Liberty's cheek. With Uncirculated examples seldom available and very expensive ($15,000-20,000+ for a decent example), I think this piece makes a lot of sense for the date or type collector.

1846-O $5.00 NGC AU50 CAC

Along with the 1851-O, the 1846-O is one of the more overlooked and undervalued half eagles from this mint. It is actually available with about as much frequency as the far more expensive 1846-C. The 1846-O is scarce in the lower AU grades but it remains very affordable. This example is clean for the grade and well detailed with some medium green-gold color that is contrasted by natural reddish hues at the reverse border.

1856-O $5.00 NGC EF40

The 1856-O half eagle is much scarcer than the 1856-C or 1856-D yet it remains a little less expensive; a strange quirk given that it is now more popular than the former and maybe as much so as the latter. This well detailed piece shows a bit of reddish color on the surfaces and no marks of note.

1853-C $5.00 NGC AU55

I bought this coin at the recent Denver ANA show from a dealer who imports coins from Europe. I was surprised to see it in his inventory and so few Charlotte coins seem to have been sent to Europe and when I asked him how often he brought Charlotte and Dahlonega gold coins back to the States he replied "very infrequently; maybe just a few times a year." This delightfully crusty example has deep, dark green-gold color with plenty of dirt in the recesses. There are a few scuffs in the fields but this pierce has very acceptable surfaces for the grade and the color is far, far above-average. This is a nice choice for the collector who wants a single high quality Charlotte half eagle for his set.

1841-D $5.00 NGC AU58 CAC

Small D mintmark variety. This coin shows excellent detail and has virtually no real wear but there is just a touch too much friction seen on the obverse and reverse to grade it Uncirculated. Nonetheless, it has eye appeal that is superior to examples that I have seen in MS61 holders. The obverse is very choice with considerable amounts of frosty luster and nice light golden-orange color; the reverse is a bit less lustrous and its color shades a bit more towards rose hues. As a date, the 1841-D is a curious issue as it is a bit more available in Uncirculated than dates such as the 1840-D and 1842-D Small Date but it is rarer from an overall perspective. In the higher AU grades, the 1841-D is seldom offered for sale and very few auction appearances have been recorded in the past decade for coins grading AU55 and AU58. With a nice Uncirculated 1841-D now costing in the $15,000+ range, this choice "slider" should appeal to many collectors.

This is the only 1841-D half eagle in AU58 to have been approved by CAC. Only one finer has been approved.

1844 $5.00 NGC MS61 CAC

While very common in all circulated grades, the 1844 half eagle is scarce in Uncirculated and it is nearly never seen above MS62. This example is choice and frosty with lovely natural medium to deep green-gold color on the obverse and reverse. The strike is excellent and the surfaces are choice save for a few small marks scattered about the surfaces. Only four PCGS MS61 examples of this date have sold at auction since 2000. I believe that nice No Motto half eagles of this sort remain exceptional values.

This is the only 1844 half eagle in this grade to have been approved by CAC and only one higher grade piece has been approved. The CAC population for this date is just two coins.

1838-C $5.00 PCGS AU50

The 1838-C isn't the rarest half eagle from this mint (that would be the 1842-C Small Date) but it is certainly the most popular and this is clearly due to its twin status as a first-year-of-issue and a one-year type that features the Classic Head design. The 1838-C, even more than its counterpart the 1838-D, is a condition rarity. It is fairly available in VF and EF grades but it is genuinely scarce in properly graded AU50 to AU55 and extremely rare in Uncirculated. This nice example is one of the best 1838-C half eagles that I've offered for sale in quite some time. It is very lustrous with nice light green-gold and yellow color and enough "meat" to more than justify its AU50 grade by PCGS. As is common for this issue, the surfaces are noticeably abraded (the 1838-C half eagle is almost never seen with choice surfaces) but other than a small line on the face of Liberty, there are none that are really worthy of mention. Interestingly, there have been no auction prices realized for a PCGS AU50 example of the 1838-C half eagle since February 2003 and there are records of more than $10,000 for slabbed AU50's of this issue that date back as far as 1998. Branch mint coins that are numismatically significant are currently in strong demand and I expect that this nice 1838-C half eagle will prove interesting to many collectors.

1861 $3.00 NGC EF40 CAC

I find it interesting that a scarce coin like this sells for a very small premium over a very common date (such as the 1874 or 1878) yet it is literally dozens of times more rare. This evenly worn, nicely toned example is notable for its pleasing flashes of orange-gold color and, surprisingly, there is still luster seen in the protected areas. Only 5,959 were made and this is a popular issue in any grade due to its Civil War assocation.

This is the only 1861 three dollar gold piece in this grade to be approved by CAC; fourteen have been approved in higher grades.

1865 $2.50 NGC AU58

There are a trio of very rare quarter eagles made at the Philadelphia mint during the Civil War. The foremost is the Proof-only 1863 with a mintage of 30 and just behind this is the 1864. But the 1865 is almost as rare, despite being less heralded, with an original mintage of only 1,520. Clearly, less than three dozen survive and the 1865 is actually as rare as the 1864 in terms of high(er) grade specimens. There are exactly three 1864 quarter eagles in Uncirculated but just one 1865 (a PCGS MS63) and the two dates are reasonably similar in terms of rarity in the AU grades with around ten or so known. The present example is appealing for the date and grade with an especially choice obverse that shows nice peripheral color and fewer marks than normal; the reverse is mostly untoned with a few more marks seen in the fields. I was recently offered an AU55 of this date (for just a shade less than $20,000) which I think was vastly inferior to this coin and the piece offered here is, in fact, one of the nicer examples of this date that I have seen or owned. In the last decade, there have been ten auction records for the 1865 quarter eagle in AU58 ranging in price from a low of $17,250 to a high of $25,875. This date has really not gone up all that much in price while the 1863 and 1864 have shown strong gains of late. In my opinion, the 1865 is very undervalued and as Civil War rarities become more appreciated, I think it has good potential to appreciate in price.