“The dollars, Spanish, Mexican, and American, with our half dollars, will be shipped abroad. We already know of one shipment of silver at a premium; and the current turned, it will go in a sweeping stream.” — The Pittsburgh Gazette, November 4, 1834 A warm golden gray center is surrounded by radiant violet and blue that turns to sea-green and pale gold at the rims. Highly lustrous and very attractive, this piece shows a fairly typical strike for the date, with softness at most star centers, Liberty’s rounded curls and cap, and the area left of the shield. Its bright and colorful surfaces show some light marks, including thin scratches located above the date, from star 5 to Liberty’s forecurl, and at the denomination. Some trivial hairlines may be seen in proper light, and a short vertical nick is present on Liberty’s cheek. A long-standing imbalance in the relative value of gold and silver sent most American gold coins overseas to melting pots in the 1820s and early 1830s. The Act of June 28, 1834, remedied the undervaluation of United States gold coins compared to their face value, but fear was afoot that the new ratio would thus force silver coins from circulation as an unintended consequence. There is not good evidence on just how much silver was removed from circulation after 1834, though the question is worthy of research. The Act of January 18, 1837, recalibrated the ratio, slightly reducing the weight of the silver dollar, a vital change since the denomination was no longer an imaginary one as of December 1836. The changes of 1837 may have been a response to exportation of silver, or they may have been a response to fears of exportation of silver. Either way, the newspapers of 1834 made clear that concern about disappearing half dollars was on the minds of many. The transitional 1834 Large Date, Small Letters half dollars represent the beginning of the end of this design type. Edgar Souders has termed 1834 “the year of Kneass’ experimentation,” giving due credit to typically ignored Mint engraver William Kneass, whose work is seen on the modified hubs and punches of the half dollars of this era. His elegantly modified portrait of Liberty would survive until autumn 1836, when it was displaced by Christian Gobrecht’s new design for the reeded edge half dollars. Only two examples of the 1834 Large Date, Small Letters type have ever been graded finer than MS-65 by PCGS. This coin is one, and the coin that precedes it in the current sale is the other. PCGS# 39910. NGC ID: 24FY.
