Variety 31-W. The 1851-D is the third rarest of 26 Dahlonega half eagles in higher grades. There are fewer than three dozen known in About Uncirculated with nearly all in the lower range of this grade. The 1851-D is rare in properly graded AU55 to AU58 and it is extremely rare in Uncirculated with jut four known to me.

This piece shows a typical strike for the date (and for this die variety) with some weakness at thehair below the coronet and the corresponding reverse. It has a considerable amount of frosty luster with nice lemon-gold color that deepens at the borders. There is no real wear but there are just a few too many small handling marks to grade MS60 or finer. That said, the quality is outstanding for the date.

There have been no AU58 examples of the 1851-D half eagle sold at auction since the Goldberg 2/08 coin, graded by NGC. A total of nine AU58′s have sold at auction since 1996 and this certainly includes some duplication.

This is an impressive example of an undervalued and genuinely scarce issue. 

CAC has approved two in this grade with none finer.

on hold