1879 Liberty Seated Half Dollar. WB-102. Type II Reverse. MS-66 PL (NGC).

An otherwise frosty example with decided reflective tendencies evident in the fields as the surfaces rotate under a light. Brilliant and highly appealing. The reason for the limited deliveries of circulation strike half dollars from 1879 through the end of the Liberty Seated half dollar series in 1891 is the sudden return to commerce of older silver coins that had been hoarded since early in the Civil War. The resumption of specie payments in April 1876 allowed silver coinage to once again circulate in the East and Midwest. Anticipating this event, the Treasury Department ordered the mints to increase production of coins such as the half dollar through the Specie Payment Resumption Act of 1875. The influx of coins from hoarding, however, was not anticipated by the Treasury Department, and to compensate mintages for this denomination were sharply reduced beginning in 1879. These low mintage issues have long enjoyed strong demand in numismatic circles, Gems such as this scarce from a condition standpoint and particularly desirable. The only other MS-66 PL certified, also by NGC, appeared in Legend Rare Coin Auctions' February 2023 sale of the Boylston Collection, Part IV.

PCGS# 86361. NGC ID: 24KS.

NGC Census: 2; 0 finer in this category. The finest example in the Prooflike category at PCGS is graded MS-65 PL.

From the Arlington Collection.

Estimate: $5000