1857-O H10C MS(PCGS#4366)

Winter 2022 U.S. Coins Auction

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

6175

等级

MS67

价格

32,204

详细说明

1857-O Liberty Seated Half Dime. MS-67 (NGC). Bright, essentially untoned surfaces are expertly preserved with full satin luster. Sharply struck, as well, and a delight to behold. With the Act of February 21, 1853, allowing silver coinage to circulate again after the upheaval of the early California Gold Rush era, the mints were kept busy churning out large numbers of Liberty Seated coins (except the dollar) throughout much of the mid to late 1850s to replace old tenor pieces that had been hoarded and melted early in that decade. The New Orleans Mint's contribution for the half dime denomination in 1857 amounted to a generous 1,380,000-piece mintage. While most of these coins began to circulate immediately, the astute reader will recall that the Civil War began only four years later. By the early summer of 1862, silver had once again disappeared from circulation in the East and Midwest amid the uncertainties over the outcome of the war. Many of these hoarded coins eventually found their way back into commercial channels after April 1876, when silver specie payments were resumed and such pieces could once again circulate. By that time, however, this denomination had become unpopular in the eastern United States, probably because a useful alternative in the nickel five-cent piece had existed since 1866. The result was that large quantities of previously hoarded half dimes accumulated in banks, after which they were sent to the Treasury to be melted. It is likely that many 1857-O half dimes were either lost through circulation prior to the Civil War, or were melted during or after that conflict. Somehow the present example survived this tumultuous era without seeing circulation, and it managed to do so while retaining nearly pristine surfaces that are virtually as struck. Possessing all the appeal a numismatist could hope to find in a high quality 1857-O half dime, we anticipate strong competition between bidders when this delightful Superb Gem crosses the auction block. NGC Census: 6; none are finer. PCGS# 4366. NGC ID: 233T. Click here for certification details from NGC.