Uncirculated designates a coin struck from the ordinary dies, being new and usually bright, but deprived of the mirror-like surface found on proof coins. -- George G. Evans, Illustrated History of the United States Mint and Coinage, 1885.A rainbow array covers the reflective, lustrous surfaces. Bright cobalt blue interplays with pastel azure and autumn gold inside the rims, while the obverse fields have developed tones of peach, violet, and rose gold. The reverse is no less magnificent, with subtler violet and blue tones mingling with gold and peach in beautifully mottled fashion. The bright reflectivity and satiny cartwheel enhance the lovely color. The crisp, definitive strike increases the appeal, making this one of the most aesthetically impressive examples of this type available anywhere. Magnification finds some obverse hairlines, including a nearly horizontal hairline from star 3 to Libertys lips, and some microscopic marks are present, including a small group clustered inside star 4. These have minimal effect on the incredible visual appeal. To hold this coin in hand is to marvel at it.The die state is late for the die pair, with a die crack arcing from between IB of LIBERTY on her headband, through the tip of her cap, across the inside tips of stars 8 through 12, crossing the lowest curl before it spirals to a stop on Libertys chest. A short crack connects that one to the denticles between stars 11 and 12. On the reverse, a fine die crack connects RICA of AMERICA to the two lower arrowheads and crosses C of the denomination. The peripheral legends are drawn to the rims, and areas of frost around the central devices remain where the die was polished during its term of service. Some faint vestiges of horizontal adjustment marks on the planchet remain visible within the reverse shield, and a faint inborn striation within the metal of the planchet crosses the eagles neck.Outside of the confines of the D. Brent Pogue Collection, exceptional condition specimens like this one are of the highest rarity. Before the mid-1850s, when collecting the products of the United States Mint started to become popular, the survival of a coin in gem condition was a matter of singular happenstance, the product of an historical accident rather than careful forethought. For the few collectors who actively gathered federal issues before this era, condition was of only casual interest, as long as designs were clearly visible. Early collector guides like John Pinkertons An Essay on Medals, a work on coin collecting that was first published in London in 1789, made no mention of condition whatsoever. The first analogous American work, Montroville W. Dickesons American Numismatical Manual of 1859, likewise completely ignored the subject. American numismatic auctions blossomed in the early 1860s, but they used condition qualifiers that are so vague as to sound quaint today. Walter Breen was fond of calling Dr. Henry W. Beckwith, a cent collector whose cabinet was sold in 1923, "the first perfectionist." Such perfectionism, like numerical grading itself, seems to have begun among cent collectors, spreading to other American specialties in comparatively recent times.Even more recently, collectors have learned to appreciate not just condition, but original surface, embracing naturally accrued toning and the sort of patina engendered by non-curated and unsophisticated benign neglect. While numerical grades are defined at their upper reaches to judge originality and aesthetics, there is no substitute for a carefully refined eye and a practiced sense of aesthetics. A coin such as this appeals on every level, beautiful, well preserved, nearing technical perfection. Few Capped Bust half dollars of any date approach its blend of aesthetic quality and numerical grade. This example stands alone as the only MS-67 1817 half dollar of any variety graded by PCGS. If only we could know how it survived as perfectly as it did.
