Extraordinary error; engraver first began UNITED below claws, then corrected it by punching 50 C. there. -- Walter Breen, 1955.Stellar aesthetic appeal merges with outstanding technical quality on this gem specimen, showcasing one of the most notable diecutting errors in the American series. Bright pastel blue embraces silver gray centers, tinged with gold, on both obverse and reverse. Seemingly even finer than the quality this high grade would promise, we find no significant marks and just a trivial few scattered hairlines, including a couple in the left obverse field. Central definition is strong despite an advanced die state, clashed at least once and lapped to remove both die clash vestiges and the diecutters notorious error. The impression of the reverse shield is visible at the center of the obverse, which also exhibits some traces of clashing beneath the bust. The clash marks are more notable on the reverse, particularly above the eagles head. The inverted UNI has been largely effaced from its position beneath the present location of the denomination, but U and the upright of N can still be seen on either side of C of 50 C. Libertys nose is somewhat doubled, a phenomenon known as a "double profile," relatively commonplace among certain varieties of cents and half dollars between 1810 and the late 1830s. Thoroughly lustrous and beautiful, this example must rank high among the best survivors from this fascinating die marriage.Though this variety was known to both J. Colvin Randall (whose variety attributions were published without credit as the Haseltine Type-Table) and Martin Luther Beistle, Walter Breen was apparently the first to describe the unusual engraving error that is the most notable hallmark of this variety. In the March-April 1955 issue of Numisma, the mostly forgotten bimonthly mail bid sale series published by New Netherlands Coin Company in the 1950s, a precocious but fairly inexperienced Breen described the variety and noted it was "excessively rare; first seen among over 500 1813s examined." By 1988, Breen was chastising unnamed writers by noting one collector had made a census of some 50 different specimens, "effectively refuting former claims of its extreme rarity." Gem quality specimens, of course, remain incredibly elusive. Though the Overton-Parsley census includes several gems, this is the only MS-65 certified by PCGS. Not a single example graded higher than MS-64 by either service has ever sold at public auction, aside from this coin, which was graded MS-66 by NGC in its previous two appearances. While several nice Mint State examples exist, including the one in a noted Iowa set, the Robison-Pryor example, and the Eliasberg coin, none but the D. Brent Pogue Collection specimen have ever been deemed a true gem.