CONDITION RARITY PCGS MS64 1802/1 HALF EAGLE

BD-8, R-4. High Overdate.

All half eagles from this year are 1802/1 overdates. There are eight die varieties of which five are the Centered Overdate and three are the High Overdate. These are not recognized by the Redbook but many collectors acquire an example of each for their half eagle date set. Viewed as a date, the 1802/1 is fairly available in the lowest Uncirculated grades. It becomes rare in MS63 and very rare in properly graded MS64. PCGS has graded just one in MS65 and it has sold twice for $138,000; once in 2009 and again in 2012.

This is among the best 1802/1 half eagles I have ever offered and it is certainly among the best struck with very sharp details at the centers and borders. Both sides are very frosty and are covered with natural deep yellow gold with subtle green undershading. There are some marks seen in the left obverse field which appear dense but some of these are, in fact, mint-made clashes; the reverse shows some slight roughness of the planchet (as made) below the wings and around the stars.

Between 2009 and 2015, there were five auction trades for PCGS MS64 or 64+ 1802/1 half eagles ranging from a low of $52,888 (in July 2013) to a high of $64,625 (in August 2012). In April 2017, a really low-end PCGS MS64 sold for $39,950 in a Heritage auction. Does this suddenly mean that all non-CAC PCGS MS64 1802/1 half eagles are now worth $40,000 in spite of five consecutive sales at $52k-64k? I clearly think this is not the case but I would no doubt hear an argument against this logic by some collectors and dealers.

An impressive and important 1802/1 half eagle which is all but unimprovable.

Ex Goldberg 9/06: 1907 where it realized $57,500.

FROM THE WESTERN SPRINGS II COLLECTION