Flowing Hair Half Dollar

Classic 1794 Flowing Hair Half Dollar

Overton-105 Impressive Choice VF Quality

1794 Flowing Hair Half Dollar. O-105, T-3. Rarity-4+. VF-30 (PCGS).

An aesthetically pleasing and highly desirable coin, this is an above average example of the type, issue and die pairing. Both sides retain bold outline detail to all major design elements, the more protected features such as Liberty's hair and the eagle's wing feathers have considerable sharpness. There are faint remnants of original mint luster, as well as iridescent undertones of golden-apricot and powder blue that enliven otherwise slate and mauve-gray surfaces. Denticulation is full around both sides, and the strike is well centered and nicely executed. There are several Mint-made adjustment marks to the right of center on the reverse. During the preparation of the planchets at the early United States Mint, the metallic discs were often slightly overweight and were later adjusted by filing excess metal from the surfaces. Gold and silver coins from the 1790s especially often show evidence of filing, thus explaining the adjustment marks seen here. There are, however, no post-production blemishes of note. Tompkins Die Stage 1/2 with a reverse crack from the border to the first letter T in STATES that continues (faintly) to the leaves below. Of the 11 known die marriages of the 1794 half dollar, O-105 is the most frequently encountered after only O-101. However, this is not a common variety in an absolute sense, for the 1794 as an issue is scarce to rare in all grades, irrespective of die marriage. The first half dollars struck in the United States Mint were 5,300 examples delivered on December 1, 1794. All of these coins are assumed to have been struck from 1794-dated dies. The Guide Book, among other numismatic references, provides a mintage figure of 23,464 pieces, assuming that the 18,164 half dollars delivered on February 4, 1795 were also coined from 1794-dated dies. This is conjecture, an estimate, and we will never know for certain whether the coins delivered on February 4, 1795 were dated 1794, 1795, or both. Based on the number of die marriages known for the 1794-dated issue, as well as the number of coins extant, it is likely that at least some of the coins delivered in early 1795 were from 1794-dated dies. We suspect that the actual mintage for this issue is somewhat less than 23,464 pieces, and most examples have long since been lost to commercial use. Although obtainable by 1794 half dollar variety standards, O-105 is conditionally challenging with the vast majority of survivors well worn in grades such as VG, Fine and low end VF. The Condition Census as given in the 2015 reference Early United States Half Dollars, Volume 1: 1794-1807 by Steve M. Tompkins reads: 62, 58, 53, 53, 53, 50, 45. The MS-62 listed by Tompkins has since been recertified as AU-58+ by PCGS, and an EF-45+ has also been graded, so the revised Condition Census would read: 58+, 58, 53, 53, 53, 50, 45+. Not too far outside of Condition Census for the die pairing, this is a lovely Choice VF example of the historic and key date 1794 Flowing Hair half dollar that will please any discerning bidder.

PCGS# 6051. NGC ID: 24E6.

Estimate: 18000