The supply of bullion is still abundant; nor is there any apprehension of a deficiency. -- Robert Patterson, Annual Report of the Director of the Mint, January 5, 1810..Attractively toned in deep gray, bright gold, and olive. Crystalline luster spins around both sides, calling forth hints of peach and blue as the light passes over the frosty surfaces. A glass finds a few widely scattered contact points, including a single thin line between the cap and star 7, a vertical abrasion between the eagles head and N of UNUM, and two short scratches between the last S in STATES and O of OF, but each is old and blended, found only when dutifully sought out. The obverse is aligned to the right, with some vestiges of fatigued denticles visible on the left side. The reverse is better centered, though no denticles have survived to this die state. Clash marks are visible, including a prominent impression from the bust truncation seen above the eagle and a wing impression above Libertys bust. The peripheral detail has softened at this die state, with most stars lacking their centers and localized weakness of ICA of AMERICA. Most peripheral design elements are drawn, or more accurately, pushed, to the rims, a characteristic seen on many late die state half dollars of this design type.Of the $638,773.50 worth of silver coins struck at the United States Mint in 1810, all but $635.50 was coined into half dollars. The rest were dimes; no half dimes, quarters, or dollars were struck at all. Among gold coins, only half eagles were struck, just over 100,000 in number adding up to five times as much in face value. Only large cents were struck in greater numbers than half dollars, though the nearly 1.5 million pieces produced tended to see little circulation beyond the Philadelphia area, much to the consternation of the rest of the country, where small change was scarce. The half dollars coined in 1810 mostly found their way into bank vaults, where they were shuffled to and fro as surety against paper money and other securities. In January 1811, Mint Director Patterson reported to President James Madison that silver deposits had "hitherto been furnished chiefly by the Bank of the United States," and into their hands poured most of the 1810 half dollars struck, a proportion of which were deposited into smaller banks to be paid out and used in commerce.Today, the half dollars of 1810 are easy to locate in nearly any circulated grade, but perfect specimens are almost inconceivably rare. Of the 1,127 occasions on which PCGS has certified a specimen of this date, just 14 received a grade higher than MS-63. Among those, just one has been termed an MS-65, and only a single specimen has risen to the MS-66 level. The Earle-Eliasberg-Kaufman and the Col. Green-Eric Newman coins, both Overton-108s, are the finest to have sold in recent years, but no PCGS MS-65 or MS-66 has ever been offered at auction. This is considered the finest specimen of the Overton-110 die marriage, ranked first among the Overton-Parsley Condition Census of 65-65-64-63-63.
