1805 Half Eagle

HBCC#:

3090

Breen#:

6444

BD#:

4

Judd#:

n/a

Pollock#:

n/a

For the half eagles dated 1805, Walter Breen recorded six varieties combining four obverse dies and five reverse dies. Harry Bass was able to acquire just five different varieties from four obverse dies and just two reverse dies! This example is from an obverse die not listed by Breen in his monograph although the bisecting die crack was included in his description of obverse 1. The reverse die is Breen’s reverse B, one of just two reverse dies noted by Harry Bass. The rim break over the final S was included by Breen for his reverse die A.

Provenance:

Purchased from Paramount International Coin Corporation, December 3, 1974.

Obverse:

Reverse:

Commentary:

"Obverse: New unlisted obverse! Used before #1. Wide date. 180 well separated. 05 are close. 1's bottom left serif missing. Top serif overlain by curl. Tip of 5 overlies bust. IB all but touch at base serifs. Cracks: bases of 805; vertical crack from edge at right of 5 thru ear to B and edge. Reverse: Lowest berry, stemmed, under leftmost serif of A. Lowest arrowhead nearly aligned under right upright of N. Space between two clouds bit to right of being centered under (T)E. One leaf point free of I, under its left upright. Left side of ribbon loop from eagle's mouth is well defined. Spine from top left shield point. Above (E)S and space, six denticles gone. Clashed at bottom. Lapped."