A quiet man, distinctive for his acumen, patience, generosity, cigars, bridge-hand triumphs, shock of gray hair and store of jokes, Eliasberg enjoyed the coin fuss. -- Baltimore Sun, October 22, 1996..Another magnificent example from the Overton-104 die marriage, probably the second finest survivor of the variety. The surfaces are resplendent with mint frost and cartwheel luster. The obverse and reverse are well matched, equally lustrous and toned with similar palettes of opalescent gray tinged with highlights of gold, amber, and sea green. Each detail is definitively rendered, and even the letters of STATES are fully defined, despite being opposite the worst of the obverse breaks. The frosty surfaces show just the most trivial evidence of handling: a few spare lines, a light vertical abrasion above Libertys ribbon end, and a couple tiny contact points around the eagles head. A single horizontal pre-striking striation is mostly struck out beneath the wing at left and the shield. The die state is the same as the previous specimen, with a crack from the drapery to stars 3 and 4, another above star 7 to I of LIBERTY, and the crack from the shoulder descending until it bisects the first 8 of the date on its way to the rim. The little chip from the reverse die beneath RI of AMERICA, also seen on Overton-103, is visible here.Blessed with world-class aesthetic appeal and one of the most famous provenances in American numismatics, this superb gem half dollar excels in every category. It was long accorded the laurel of finest known, described as such in the 1997 Eliasberg sale and again when sold in 2001. Astoundingly, there is but one finer example from these dies, the coin offered in the previous lot, which is likewise the only 1818 half dollar graded by PCGS at a higher level than MS-66+. This is the only MS-66+ 1818 half dollar on the PCGS Population Report. Given the mere half grade difference between this coin and the one that precedes it, there may be some who prefer this specimen for its fine toning and provenance. Only in the D. Brent Pogue Collection could a coin of this quality be considered a duplicate.
