Lot 114
114
1825/1 OVERDATE HALF-EAGLE
Half-Eagle, 1825, 5 over 1, designed by John Reich (Breen 2A, rarity 5), mint state, prooflike surfaces with pleasing olive highlights, some scattered marks but an excellent example of this rare date, one of just three or four dozen examples of the date known in all grades, and one of a handful of mint state specimens among the survivors, David Akers calls this date, "very rare, particularly in uncirculated" (Akers, Volume IV, Half-Eagles, page 62)

Details
Half-Eagle, 1825, 5 over 1, designed by John Reich (Breen 2A, rarity 5), mint state, prooflike surfaces with pleasing olive highlights, some scattered marks but an excellent example of this rare date, one of just three or four dozen examples of the date known in all grades, and one of a handful of mint state specimens among the survivors, David Akers calls this date, "very rare, particularly in uncirculated" (Akers, Volume IV, Half-Eagles, page 62)

Lot Essay

The reported mintage figure for 1825 Half-Eagles is 29,069 pieces, a figure that includes business strikes as well as a few Proofs. All Half-Eagles of 1825 are overdates, made from left over dies from 1821 and 1824. As with all Half-Eagles of the 1820's, the 1825, 5 over 1 and its counterpart, the 1825, 5 over 4 are very rare. The vast majority of all Half-Eagles of the era 1814-1834 were melted for their precious metal content. During this period, the gold in United States Half-Eagles was worth more than the Five Dollar face value of the coins, and enterprising merchants were quick to capitalize on the situation. With the advent of new, smaller style Half-Eagles in 1834, even more "old tenor" pieces were turned in to the mint for refining and coining, causing still more of the old-style pieces to disappear. The end result is a group of major rarities that are rarely seen by today's collectors but that are amply represented in this auction.