By Stack’s Bowers ……
Incredible Gem 1809 Classic Head Half Cent
The Green-Newman-Pogue Specimen
1809 Classic Head Half Cent. C-6, B-6. Rarity-1. MS-65+ BN (PCGS). CAC.
This is a gorgeous example of the Classic Head half cent, featuring a warm halo of mint color emerging from Liberty’s cap and around her head, fading into ideal frosty medium brown. The superb eye appeal matches the technical grade, with no marks of any significance present, just a dark spot of toning at C in AMERICA. A splash of toning above O of OF blends in. The strike is sharp enough to bring up the concentric lathe lines on Liberty’s portrait, though the stars at left lack their centers and the lettering of STATES isn’t perfectly crisp. The crack across the portrait hub seen on Cohen-4 is also seen here, as it is on every half cent coined by both obverses. The tops of STAT are joined by a subtle crack, but no cud is seen above stars 9 and 10, placing this early within this die’s life, equal to Manley 1.0.
Chosen to illustrate the variety in Breen’s volume on half cents, this well-pedigreed Classic Head Gem stands among the finest known of both the variety and date. Just a single coin ranks finer at PCGS in this category and two are listed finer at CAC across all certification services. With a pedigree stretching back nearly a century to the famous collections of Green, Newman, and Pogue, this piece is surely an incredible offering for Early Copper enthusiasts.
PCGS# 35227. NGC ID: 222P.
https://www.pcgscoinfacts.com/Coin/Detail/1123
PCGS Population (all 1809 varieties): 2, 1 finer in this category.
Ex the Howard Rounds Newcomb Collection; Col. E.H.R. Green, by sale, en bloc, via B. Max Mehl, 1935; Col. E.H.R. Green Estate, June 1936; B.G. Johnson and Eric P. Newman, by sale, April 1943; Eric P. Newman, by exchange; Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society, 1980; Missouri Cabinet Collection (Eric P. Newman and R. Tettenhorst); Ira and Larry Goldberg Auctioneers’ sale of the Missouri Cabinet Collection of U.S. Half Cents, January 2014, lot 98, our sale of the D. Brent Pogue Collection, Part V, March 2017, lot 5064; our sale of the D. Brent Pogue Collection, Part VII, March 2020, lot 7006.
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