1827 Capped Head Left Half Eagle. BD-1. Rarity-5+. MS-64+ (PCGS). CMQ.Illustrating the rare and challenging Capped Head Left half eagle design type of 1813 to 1829, large diameter, the present 1827 is one of the nicest we have ever seen. The planchet is of superb quality, and the luster is frosty and beautiful with subtle semi-reflective qualities evident in the fields. Some faint adjustment marks (as made) are present along the lower obverse border, below the date, but the strike detail is otherwise virtually full and far finer than normally encountered for the type. In fact, half eagles of this date are hardly ever seen at all! As one of the finest known to PCGS, the offered near-Gem in MS-64+ ranks high in the Condition Census for the issue and would serve as a focal point in any world-class numismatic cabinet. BD Die State a/b.<p>Another in a series of half eagle issues that saw mass export and melting, the vast majority of the estimated (per John W. Dannreuther, 2006) 10,000 to 24,913 coins struck in 1827 went to Europe. A single die pair is known, which features the second use of Reverse A of the 1826-dated half eagle issue. This reverse would go on to strike a limited number of 1828/7 half eagles for the variety of that issue now known as BD-1.<p>Numismatists have long recognized the extreme rarity of the 1827 half eagle, although estimates on the exact number of coins extant have varied through the years. Generations ago, in October 1864, in his offering of the Levick, Emery, Ilsley, and Abbey collections, W. Elliot Woodward offered an 1827 half eagle as lot 1651, calling it "still more rare [than an earlier offered 1826], never having appeared before in any sale." In his offering of the William Forrester Dunham Collection, June 1941, B. Max Mehl presented lot 2110, here quoted in part:<p><em>1827. Beautiful sharp Uncirculated specimen. Just the slightest cabinet friction on highest portions, but with full mint luster...At most not more than 10 specimens known. The late Henry Chapman in his great sale of the Stickney Collection stated that only about eight were known. According to records of the number of specimens offered at auction and at private sale, this coin is about on a par in rarity with the 1815 and 1809 half eagles...</em><p>In his 1966 monograph on gold half eagles, Walter Breen related that Waldo C. Newcomer, a student of the half eagle series, estimated in the 1930s that about seven to 10 pieces could be identified. By 1966, Breen felt that not much had changed, and that "this is apparently close to the truth." In his cataloging of Auction 82, David Akers noted:<p><em>we consider the 1827 to be one of the rarest of all half eagles from 1795-1834. At most 20 specimens are known making the 1827 just a little less rare than the 1819 and a bit more rare than the 1824.</em><p>Fast forwarding to the 21st century, we find more liberal estimates of 35 to 45 coins from Dannreuther, 20 to 24 from Jeff Garrett and Ron Guth in their <em>Encyclopedia of U.S. Gold Coins: 1795-1933</em> (2008 edition), and "about 30 known" from <em>PCGS CoinFacts</em>. Modern scholarship from Saul Teichman was expended upon by the Heritage catalogers in their firms January 2020 offering of the present example, in which only 16 distinct examples were positively traced. Quite probably the exact number of coins extant will never be determined with finality, especially since many auction appearances from earlier generations cannot be positively reconciled with known specimens; a few might be lurking in old collections and have yet to be evaluated in the modern market. Regardless, it seems likely that no more than 20 or so 1827 half eagles are extant - a major numismatic rarity by any definition. This is our first offering for the issue since our Pogue IV sale of May 2016, and it will surely see spirited bidding from advanced gold enthusiasts.PCGS# 8136. NGC ID: BFY8.PCGS Population: 1; 2 finer (MS-66 finest).Ex our (Stacks) sale of the Farish Baldenhofer Collection, November 1955, lot 1244; our (Stacks) Metropolitan New York Sale, May 1958, lot 1234; our (Bowers and Merenas) Four Landmark Collections sale, March 1989, lot 618; Superiors Thomas Chalkley Collection sale, January 1990, lot 4605; Superiors Michael Keston Collection sale, January 1996, lot 117; Heritages Denver ANA Auction of August 1996, lot 5763; Superiors Wes Rasmussen Collection sale, February 1998, lot 3400; our (American Numismatic Rarities) sale of the James Swan U.S. Type Collection, July 2004 Oliver Jung Collection sale, lot 93; our (Bowers and Merenas) Baltimore Auction of July 2006, lot 1593; Heritages FUN Signature Auction of January 2014, lot 5433; Heritages sale of the HFW² Collection, January 2020 FUN Signature Auction, lot 4408.
