1861-S 50C XF40 认证号32516242, PCGS号6306

Ron Guth

Of all the coins made by the San Francisco mint in 1861, the Half Dollar had the highest mintage (the only other coin that came close was the 1861-S $20 gold piece).  However, this fact does not make the 1861-S Half Dollar necessarily rare.  Compared with other Civil War-era Half Dollars, the 1861-S is not as scarce as the 1864-S or the 1865-S, but nowhere near as common as the 1861 or 1861-O. 

Of the roughly three dozen Mint State examples certified by PCGS (as of October 2011), the most frequently-encountered grade is MS-64.  Gem 1861-S Half Dollars are very rare; the finest known is a single PCGS MS-66.