A superb coin with an ancient provenance.Another stellar example of this elusive date, the first year of the Draped Bust design type. Exceptionally attractive, with antique medium gray over both sides, letting peeks of lighter silver gray show through at the obverse borders and across the reverse. Frosty and lustrous, with essentially intact cartwheel lending superb visual appeal. The strike is more typical than the previous specimen, with some weakness on Libertys shoulder and bust, as well as the eagles breast and the corners of the shield at the wingpits. The last two clouds and the nearby stars in the star cluster, opposite the deepest obverse relief, almost never show good detail on this date. Aside from some modest and insignificant hairlines, this choice piece shows almost no post-striking defects, just a few minor contact points. The diagonal die crack through E of LIBERTY has developed into completion. The spalling at the right side of the reverse is still notable but not significantly advanced, and evidence of a single die clash is still apparent.Henry Chapman wrote with three decades experience as a coin dealer when he described this coin as One of the finest I have seen. Very rare in his 1907 Matthew A. Stickney catalog. Stickney was among the earliest serious numismatists in America, engaging in an active correspondence (and, occasionally, trade) with Mint Cabinet curator William E. DuBois by 1843. Stickney reminisced to the pioneering dealer Ed Cogan in 1867 that he actively collected till 1854, when in consequence of ill health, I gave up my business, and ceased to make active efforts for additions to my cabinet, only obtaining the regular series of Proof coins from the Mint. Thus, this half dollar was in Stickneys cabinet from at least 1854 until the time it was sold in 1907. It was graded MS-62 when sold, uncertified, in 1997, and was certified as MS-62 (NGC) soon thereafter. As mentioned in the previous description, early half dollar expert Sheridan Downey noted at the time of the Eliasberg sale that I have not seen another [aside from the Stacks September 1983 coin] no-question 1801 in AU, let alone an Uncirculated. How remarkable it is then to have two examples so fine in a single collection, each beautiful and ripe for inclusion in any collection of world class quality.
