One thing is factual: the edges are interesting. -- Edgar Souders, Bust Half Fever...Extraordinary luster spins around beautifully toned surfaces, chiefly deep champagne gold with a tight frame at the peripheries that incorporates blue, bright yellow, magenta, and green. Well struck from center to rim on both sides, showing finely defined design elements and fully centered stars. Radial flowlines pull toward the edge, the stars are likewise stretched outward, adding topographical interest under a glass. No clash marks are seen, though the reverse peripheral legends are nearly all touched by thin die cracks. Larger breaks are seen at the tips of the top two arrowheads and within MER of AMERICA, these breaks denoting the "b" die state. Few marks are seen, none without significant scrutiny, and only some minor and widely scattered hairlines are apparent. A spot of darker toning is present on Libertys cap band at R. Magnificently preserved and beautifully toned, this half dollar defines Pogue quality.The slight edge error seen on the previous lot may have been the sort of hiccup in the minting process that inspired the experimental edge seen on a small number of 1809 halves. Don Taxay once estimated that fewer than 20% of the 1809 half dollars exhibit one of the two experimental edges, showing either vertical lines or a series of Xs in the typically blank space between the usual edge lettering. The IIII edge, seen on this piece, is encountered substantially more often than the XXX edge. The PCGS population in all grades for the IIII edge is about twice that of the XXX edge. Only two Mint State-65 experimental edge 1809 half dollars have been certified, both of this edge variety, namely the D. Brent Pogue coin and the Overton-107 now in a famous Iowa collection.Edge dies that featured a series of vertical lines or Xs bookending the lettering FIFTY CENTS OR on one die and HALF A DOLLAR on the other could have saved time in the minting process, allowing the employee running the edge mill to be less scrupulous about the relative position of the parallel dies when the unstruck coin was cranked between them. No other early denomination was coined with a lettered edge after 1804, when silver dollar production was placed on hiatus. Edge lettering was abandoned on cents with the weight change of 1795, while all half dimes, dimes, and quarters had fairly crude reeding applied by their collars at the moment of striking. Coins of relatively small diameter could have their peripheries and edges fully struck up with the force available from the Mints screw presses, but such single step coining was likely not feasible on large and heavy silver coins like dollars and half dollars. Gold coins, thinner and softer than their silver counterparts, were struck with reeded edges in the same way as the small silver denominations.Despite the added efficiency that the experimental edges of 1809 may have brought to the Mints operations, most 1809 half dollars were struck with standard edges and the experimental edges were never used again, though similar devices appeared on the edges of half dollars struck in 1830 and later. Most specialized collectors seek out a specimen of each 1809 edge type. Because the edge milling process was undertaken separate from the striking process, several different marriages may be found with the two experimental edges.The Overton-109 marriage is rated as Rarity-2 overall, though the O-109b die state is considered Rarity-4. The Auction 86-Buddy Byers O-109a, graded MS-66+ (NGC) at the time of its most recent sale in April 2014, may be the finest known from these dies, though that piece is struck with the XXX edge variety. The Overton-Parsley census is 66-64-64-63-63. This piece, uncertified when last sold in 2002, would likely be accorded second finest known status by most observers.
