Variety 1.

The mintage for the 1860-C is lower than for any other Charlotte half eagle since 1846. The 1860-C is scarce in AU50 and higher and is seldom seen with good eye appeal. The reverse on all known examples is weakly struck due to improper annealing and grading of this issue is done primarily on the sharpness of the obverse.

This well produced example shows some natural mint luster and it has acquired appealing natural medium orange-gold color which is deepest at the borders. A small nick above the 1 in the date is the only mark which deserves mention. The eye appeal is far above average for the date and grade.

Only two PCGS AU53 1860-C half eagles have sold at auction since July 2005. The most recent sale, ex Great Collections 7/13, was also approved by CAC and it realized $5,115.

This is one of the nicer collector grade 1860-C half eagles I have handled in some time and for most Charlotte half eagle specialists, this coin makes a lot of sense, especially given the fact that many of the lower-end Uncirculated examples have poor enough eye appeal to not make sense at the $10,000-12,000 level.

CAC has approved two in this grade with five finer.