1846 50C 6/Horizontal 6 MS(PCGS#6254)

1846 50C 6/Horizontal 6 MS (PCGS#6254)

August 2011 Chicago ANA - Rarities Night

详细说明: 1846 Seated Liberty Half Dollar. Medium Date. WB-104. 6/Horizontal 6. MS-63 (PCGS). CAC. Tied for the Finest graded by PCGS with two others, this fantastic coin boasts splendid russet-gold toning with teal tinges in the fields and patches or royal blue at the rims. A couple of minor bagmarks are seen below TED on the reverse, another at the stem end below. Usual light rim breaks below the date and cracks through the reverse legends common to this issue. The strike is sharp with the obvious blunder of the sideways 6 showing clearly between the 4 and 6—how this came to pass certainly involves newcomer to the mint and outsider James B. Longacre, who secured his employment at the high post of Engraver of the mint from his friend Senator John C. Calhoun. It would appear most likely that the other mint workers produced the comedy of "errors" seen through this period to reflect badly on Longacre, who managed to outlive them all and stayed at his post until his death in 1869. Frankly, with the number of mispunched, repunched and outright blundered dates <em>seen on all denominations</em> of this period, one can come to no other conclusion than these were purposefully created. Regardless, they are highly collectible today and this 6 over horizontal 6 is one of the most dramatic of these blunders. A high condition census example of this error, and the finest graded by PCGS.