1836 Classic Head Half Eagle. HM-6. Rarity-3. MS-62+ (PCGS). CAC. Beautiful golden-apricot color blends with full satin to softly frosted luster. Smartly impressed with nearly full striking detail throughout the design, this is an expertly produced Classic Head $5. Impressively smooth in hand, it is also a PQ example for the assigned grade that is very close to a Choice Mint State rating.<p>After the New Tenor half eagles went into production on August 1, 1834, they remained a consistent news item for much of the summer and fall. Editorials against the Bank of the United States in pro-Jackson newspapers railed against the banks monopoly power and latched upon the new half eagle as a symbol of it, complaining that the bank stockpiled the gold rather than paid it out, though the political polemics of this era were not often an accurate reflection of reality. "The rapid circulation of the Jackson currency, the gold eagles and half eagles...is annoying the friends of monopoly and the Bank beyond all conception," the <em>New York Evening Post</em> published just two weeks after the new coins were introduced. The Bank of the United States, located nine blocks down Chestnut Street from the Philadelphia Mint, was the largest depositor of gold at the Mint in this era. The followers of President Jacksons populist anti-bank rhetoric didnt understand or care about banking reserves or the importance of gold in international banking, preferring to shake their fist at the clouds in anger for the control the bank wielded over the national economy. Jacksons veto of the banks recharter is widely seen as causing the Panic of 1837, the first long national depression. Some scholars place greater importance upon other issues, including the bursting of the Western land bubble in 1836.<p>Nine different die combinations produced more than half a million 1836 half eagles, the second largest production run among the Classic Head issues of this denomination. After the first year 1834, no doubt saved in fairly large numbers due to its novelty, the 1836 is the most readily obtainable half eagle of this type. The 1836 HM-6 is one of the more popular varieties of the issue for type purposes, and among collectors of both circulated and Mint State coins. This die pairing is extremely rare any finer than MS-63, however, with the MS-64+ example listed in the <em>PCGS Population Report</em> alone at CC#1 for these dies. The MS-62+ specimen offered here is at the upper end of the assigned grade level and worthy of the strongest bids. PCGS# 765235. NGC ID: 25RY. PCGS Population (HM-6 attribution only): 1; 1 finer (MS-64+). From the George Schwenk Collection. Earlier from our sale of the Daryl J. Haynor Virginian Collection, Summer 2022 Global Showcase Auction, August, lot 5047. The plate coin for the 1836 HM-6 variety in the 2020 Haynor reference on Classic Head gold coinage.
