1855-C Liberty Head Half Eagle. Winter-Unlisted. Late Die State. AU Details--Cleaned (PCGS). This pleasing honey-olive and warm rose example offers strong eye appeal for both a lightly circulated C-Mint half eagle and the assigned grade. Softly frosted surfaces are lustrous with sharp striking detail to virtually all features. Just a trace of matte-like texture explains the PCGS qualifier. The 1855-C is a median rarity in the Charlotte Mint five-dollar gold series in terms of total number of coins believed extant. Well worn and/or heavily impaired coins are the norm among survivors from a mintage of 39,789 pieces. This rather pleasing, nearly problem free AU survivor represents an important opportunity for astute Southern gold collectors.<p>The 2008 Winter reference on Charlotte Mint gold coinage reports only a single die pairing for this issue, the latest state of which displays a full cud break below the denomination FIVE D. The present example, however, was struck from a late state of a different reverse die with a bold, prominent cud break at the right border outside the letters AMER in AMERICA. Only the 1855-C half eagle of this variety that your cataloger (JLA) can ever recall seeing, and likely very rare. The first example is the PCGS AU-55 that realized $9,000 as lot 5052 in our March 2023 sale of the Fairmont Collections CAG Set. PCGS# 8262. NGC ID: 25UR. From the Fairmont Collection - Rhone Set.
