A naked-eye type, comparable in importance to the 1817/14 overdate. — Walter Breen, 1970One of the most famous rarities in the American half dollar series, an extremely rare variety of which this is likely the finest identified specimen. Just seven examples are known, ranging from EF (this coin and only this coin) to Very Good, with a mean grade of Fine.The surfaces are lightly toned over light silver gray, still somewhat bright in protected areas. The eye appeal is good for the grade, and the surfaces show no heavy marks or damage. Some minor hairlines are seen, to be expected of a coin of this quality, along with a smattering of fine contact marks commensurate with the level of wear. A fine planchet striation manifests as minor granularity under D of UNITED, parallel to another from U to the arrow claw. The strike, as on all specimens known, shows areas of significant softness. Libertys chest is devoid of detail, as are clouds 6 and 7 and the nearest stars. No die cracks are noted on obverse or reverse. A major variety that has been sought by cherrypickers since its discovery in 1951, decades of laborious searching have not yielded more than a handful of survivors, despite the ease of attribution from arms length. Discovered by Walter Breen in 1951, this variety combines an obverse type and a reverse type that are found on other varieties, namely an obverse with the 6 in the date knobbed instead of pointed, and a reverse that shows no stem of the olive branch below the eagles claw. Other Knobbed 6 varieties are common, as are other No Stem Through Claw varieties; together, they combine to make a famed rarity. Despite the fact that dedicated specialists have searched high and low for this variety ever since Breen published it, few have been found. The condition of the reverse die likely condemned this marriage to an early end, as at least two of the survivors are broken heavily over UNITED. The only other example of this major variety to have sold in the last 15 years was graded just Fine and showed heavy scratches; nonetheless, it brought $25,300 in 2008.
