Description

Classic Head, Crosslet 4 variety. McCloskey 5-D.

The 1834 Crosslet 4 is the single rarest Classic Head half eagle in terms of total number known; rarer even than the ultra-popular and far more expensive 1838-C and 1838-D. It is usually seen in VF to EF grades and almost never with natural color and surfaces.

I have had the good fortune to handle a few very nice circulated examples of this variety in the last year and this is among the nicest. It is fully original with deep, even green-gold color which is slightly deeper on the reverse than on the obverse. There is a small old mark on the cheek of Liberty which appears to be a mint-made planchet flaw; the rest of the surfaces are clean and choice.

There have been no PCGS EF40 examples sold at auction since Heritage 2008 ANA which sold for $3,450 and was far less choice than the current piece.

An undervalued and legitimately scarce issue whose significance is finally becoming known as more people collect Classic Head half eagles.

CAC has approved just this one example in EF40 with five finer.