SUPERB PCGS/CAC EF45 1838-C HALF EAGLE

Variety 1.

The 1838-C half eagle is a numismatically significant issue as it is the very first half eagle from Charlotte and it is a one-year type featuring the popular Classic Head design. It is a true appearance rarity in the Charlotte half eagle series as fewer than 5% of the known examples exhibit natural color and choice surfaces.

This fresh-to-the-market example is easily the nicest EF45 1838-C half eagle I have seen or handled. It is well-detailed in spite of the familiar bisecting reverse crack and it has uncommonly choice surfaces for the issue. Unlike nearly every known 1838-C, this piece hasn't been scrubbed to death and both sides show superb rich orange-gold and greenish colors which are "right" for the issue.

No PCGS EF45 has sold at auction since January 1999. We note another dealer asking $12,500 for a PCGS/CAC EF40 1838-C half eagle which is a nice coin but not nearly as choice as the present example.

Few collectors realize just how rare nice 1838-C half eagles are in any grade and I can't imagine many comparable collector grade examples exist.

CAC has approved 2 in this grade with 2 finer.