1800 Capped Bust Right Half Eagle. BD-3. Rarity-6+. Blunt 1. MS-61+ (NGC).With pleasing olive-orange color, the surfaces are also impressively smooth for the assigned grade and devoid of all but wispy handling marks. Both sides have subtly reflective, almost semi-prooflike fields that lend contrast to the frosty texture of the design elements. Uncommonly well struck for the type with complete denticulation, the fine details of the eagles breast feathers and Libertys hair are sharply defined and show only bare hints of weakness. BD Die State c/a.<p>The Blunt 1 variety of the 1800-dated half eagle issue was produced with a single obverse die but four different reverse dies. Mintage figures are not precise for this issue. It is believed that somewhere between 15,000 and 30,000 half eagles were struck bearing the 1800 date. Of these, just 1,250 to 1,750 were produced using the BD-3 die pair (per John W. Dannreuther, 2006). The extensive meltings of the 1820s and 1830s thinned out these numbers dramatically and, today, only 18 to 25 examples are believed extant in all grades. This is the second rarest BD number of the issue, trailing only the legendary BD-1 Pointed 1 variety. Harry Bass owned only one 1800 BD-3 half eagle - one of the finest, in fact - the PCGS MS-63+ offered in Heritages August 2023 offering of the Harry W. Bass, Jr. Core Collection, Part IV. The present MS-61+ is only the third example of the variety that we have offered in the last decade, and is sure to find its way into a stellar early gold cabinet.<p>.PCGS# 8082. NGC ID: 25NW.From Heritages ANA Signature Auction of October 2012, lot 5824.
