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Important 1855-C Half Eagle
Exceptional Quality
$5, 1855-C AU-55 (PCGS). Reflective pale yellow gold with extremely sharp design definition and very minor abrasions, the latter usual for the grade (otherwise this or any other AU-55 coin would be AU-58, MS-60, or some higher grade).
Details
$5, 1855-C AU-55 (PCGS). Reflective pale yellow gold with extremely sharp design definition and very minor abrasions, the latter usual for the grade (otherwise this or any other AU-55 coin would be AU-58, MS-60, or some higher grade).
Despite a relatively high mintage of 39,789 coins, very few equivalent examples survive. Just six AU-55 and seven finer examples, through MS-64, have been graded by PCGS. Doug Winter suggested that just three or four Mint State coins of this issue are known with a less than two dozen additional coins in the AU-50 to AU-58 grade range. It is probably the case that no more than a couple dozen or so exist in AU or finer grade-certainly a very small number in comparison to the hundreds if not thousands of numismatists who aspire to own attractive examples of Charlotte Mint coinage.
Despite a relatively high mintage of 39,789 coins, very few equivalent examples survive. Just six AU-55 and seven finer examples, through MS-64, have been graded by PCGS. Doug Winter suggested that just three or four Mint State coins of this issue are known with a less than two dozen additional coins in the AU-50 to AU-58 grade range. It is probably the case that no more than a couple dozen or so exist in AU or finer grade-certainly a very small number in comparison to the hundreds if not thousands of numismatists who aspire to own attractive examples of Charlotte Mint coinage.
Further details
This is the only example of this issue certified by PCGS as part of the S.S. Central America treasure.Several letters in AMERICA and FIVE D. are connected by light die cracks. This reverse die was also used for some examples dated 1854. Examples of the 1854-C issue have been described by Winter in a later die state, indicating they were struck after this 1855 dated example!