Half-Eagle, 1828, 8 over 7, designed by John Reich (Breen 1A, rarity 7), a few inconsequential marks, mint state with clean, lustrous surfaces, underlying 7 clearly visible, among the rarest of all Half-Eagles, Breen suggests perhaps just four or five specimens are known, unpriced in current guides as 1828, 8 over 7 Half-Eagles in any grade seldom change hands

THE EXTREMELY RARE 1828/7 OVERDATE HALF-EAGLE

Details

Half-Eagle, 1828, 8 over 7, designed by John Reich (Breen 1A, rarity 7), a few inconsequential marks, mint state with clean, lustrous surfaces, underlying 7 clearly visible, among the rarest of all Half-Eagles, Breen suggests perhaps just four or five specimens are known, unpriced in current guides as 1828, 8 over 7 Half-Eagles in any grade seldom change hands

Lot Essay

Walter Breen's 1988 roster of specimens included the following pieces:
1. Newcomer; Green; Farouk; Smith; Naftzger; Private Collection
2. Eliasberg; "Lee"; Lilly; Smithsonian Institution
3. "Bell"; Flanagan; "Anderson Dupont"; Baldenhofer; Wolfson; Murrell; Private Collection
4. Smith; Clapp; Eliasberg; Kesselman
5. Byron Reed (not metioned in Breen)

The mintage figure of 28,029 Half-Eagles of 1828 includes the celebrated 1828, 8 over 7 overdate, and its "normal" date 1828 counterpart, a date that is a great rarity in its own right. As with nearly all other dates of this era in the Half-Eagle series, very few 1828, 8 over 7 coins escaped the melting pots, thus accounting for the extreme rarity of the date.