Proof Cameo 1843 Seated Liberty Half Dollar Offered by GreatCollections

With a fine provence and spectacular toning, GreatCollections is offering the only certified Proof Cameo 1843 Seated Liberty Half Dollar. Graded as a PR 65, this spectacularly toned example is fully lustrous, shows no distracting marks, and would be the star of any collection of American Proof coins. Bidding for this remarkable top population coin ends in nine days on Sunday, June 26, 2022, 05:13:45 PM Pacific Time (8:13 Eastern).

At the time of publication, the highest of 39 bids stands at $20,500 USD.

While the 1843 circulation strike is a common coin, with a large mintage for the series of 3,844,000 pieces, the United States Mint struck only eight Proof finish pieces. This limited Proof mintage was standard practice until 1858 when the Mint began striking hundreds of pieces each year.

Currently, there are six Proof 1843 pieces known to exist today: five in private hands and one in the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution.

As with all 1843 Proof half dollars, this particular piece has a large die crack bisecting the reverse. This crack runs from rim to rim, through the ES of STATES, to the right of the eagle’s eye, the left edge of the shield, to the right of the eagle’s left talon, and finally between the LF of HALF to the bottom rim. The toning on this gem coin only accentuates the piece’s exacting strike. Marked by a golden undertone with patches of a greenish blue verging on purple towards the edges, the color creates a bullseye pattern that highlights the design elements nicely. This piece is the finest of all the known examples by far.

Adding to the visual beauty of this coin is its nearly 75-year-old provenance.

The first auction record for this piece was when noted American coin dealer B. Max Mehl sold the collection of Dr. Christian Allenburger. Five years later when Stack’s sold the R.T. McPherson Collection, this piece was listed as lot 924. After it was sold in 1957 from Charles A. Cass’s Empire Collection, again by Stack’s, it would not appear for public sale until July 2008, when it hammered for $86,250. Since then, the coin has been sold twice. In January of 2013, the coin hammered for $58,750, and in August of the same year, it brought $70,500.

Design

The 1843 half dollar features Chief Engraver Christian Gobrecht’s Liberty Seated design above the date on the obverse, cradling a shield in her right hand and holding a staff topped with a Phrygian cap in her left. Liberty’s shield has a small banner reading “LIBERTY” draped diagonally across its vertical and horizontal bars. Liberty is clad in flowing robes. Thirteen six-pointed stars arc around Liberty on the upper half of the coin, seven on the left and six on the right. The date 1634 appears at the bottom of the design in the exergue.

On the reverse, a defiant eagle clutching arrows in its left claw and an olive branch in its right.

The inscriptions UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and the denomination (abbreviated as “HALF DOL.”) surround the eagle. Since the coin was struck at the Philadelphia Mint, there is no mint mark present on the coin. A banner bearing the motto IN GOD WE TRUST was added above the eagle in 1866.

A denticled border encircles both reverse and obverse designs. The edge is reeded.

Bidding ends on Sunday, June 26, 2022, at 05:13 PM Pacific Time (8:13 Eastern).

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To search through GreatCollection’s archive of over 600,000 certified coins the company has sold over the past eight years, please visit the GreatCollections Auction Archives.