1820 Half Eagle

HBCC#:

3138

Breen#:

6478

BD#:

8

Judd#:

n/a

Pollock#:

n/a

In his monograph, Walter Breen identified obverse dies 3 and 4 with very similar descriptions. One key point in his descriptions concerns the first star at the lower left. For obverse 3 he noted that this star is less than a millimeter from the bust and “is still closer on obverse 4.” This comment helps with proper attribution. The example presently displayed is attributed as Breen 4-D and has small letters on the reverse, labeled a third grouping by Breen.

Provenance:

Purchased from Stanley Kesselman, August 24, 1978.

Obverse:

Reverse:

Commentary:

"Obverse: Curve-based 2. Belted 8. Sides of interior of 0 parallelized. Bottom tight curl over left side of 0. Star 7 points in front of a cap angle, while star 8 points at a cap angle. Minute die center punch in front of ear. Vertical rust lumps in field at tip of front lock, and in front of L. Reverse: Small Letters. Perfect T (no triangular punch in bottom of upright). S over E and space right. T over I and space left. S over S. Base of E in line with that of adjacent T. Perfect M. Distinctive raised horizontal line fragments within openings of shield's lower section."