1849 1/2C Cohen 1, BN MS63BN 认证号20868378, PCGS号35318

1849 Braided Hair half cent, R2. This is the front-line example for the Furnace Run PCGS Registry Set of US half cents from 1793 to 1857 by Cohen Variety. This coin has been authenticated and graded by PCGS as MS63BN, and CAC-certified as CHOICE for the assigned grade! So I am going to keep it real here: I LOVE the peanut butter tan brown color, but the coin does not have much luster and there is a dusting of surface corrosion around the last two stars. My EAC grade would be AU55 and YES I would call it PLUS for the color, but this one needs more luster in my opinion to justify the PCGS MS63BN grade. This coin's last public trade was on 11/15/11 in the Stacks auction as lot 213 where it sold for $575. At that time, the coin was NOT CAC-certified, and it has certainly been inside a holder for a decade or more. I suspect that a good brushing would bring out some mint luster, as well as dust off some of that debris at the lower right stars. Regardless this is a pretty coin and priced in a sweet spot for this semi-key date. Hard for me to be certain about the die state on this one, but looks like M1.0 with die file lines very faint above NI, and no obverse scratch upward from base of 1 which develops in state 2.0. Purchased from David Lawrence Rare Coins in 2012 for $850; Furnace Run collection.