“Mr. Wilson was a well known New York broker and had exceptional opportunities for commending choice specimens.” — The Numismatist, September 1908 Richly lustrous surfaces show a complex diversity of color, ranging from rich lemon yellow around the devices to cool green-tinted gold in areas of the fields and peripheries. The reverse shows the deepest yellow gold color, along with areas of coppery violet near ST of STATES and RI of AMERICA. Both sides exhibit very strong satiny luster, and the aesthetic impression is both superb and superbly original. The obverse hosts some inconsequential hairlines, including a thin field scrape parallel to stars 1 and 2, and a neat linear nick rests behind the corner of Liberty’s eye. A few little lines are seen above the back of the eagle’s head, though none are serious. Some very light adjustment marks are confined to the outside of the denticles along the rim of the northeast quadrant of the obverse. A clash mark left from a previous use of this obverse is seen, now quite subtle, at Liberty’s ear and in the field off her throat and chin. The reverse is in typical uncracked and unclashed state. Some strike doubling is noted among the design elements of the reverse. With its color and surfaces telling a story of originality, a century-old provenance follows naturally. A week after the convention of the American Numismatic Association in Philadelphia, an event that saw about 30 members and their wives socializing in Henry Chapman’s parlor and library, Thomas Elder hosted several of the attendees in New York City for the sale of the great collection of James B. Wilson. Many of his contemporaries first heard of Wilson’s passing, on December 13, 1907, when it was reported on page 14 of the Proceedings of the American Numismatic Society at the Fiftieth Annual Meeting, published after the January 1908 conclave of the Society. The passing of several other great numismatists was announced at the same time, including Julius Meili, the Swiss diplomat who built a legendary collection of coins of Brazil, George Friedrich Ulex of Hamburg, whose cabinet of coins and medals of the Americas continues to be of importance to scholars and collectors, and perhaps most notably, the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who died on August 3, 1907. Wilson bought many of his prizes in the 1880s, assembling early United States coins in all three metals in exceptionally high levels of preservation. John H. Clapp was an active bidder at the sale, acquiring coins that would one day end up in the Eliasberg Collection, as was Albert Holden, whose purchases would later be sold as part of the Norweb Collection. Edgar H. Adams, a contemporary dealer and leading researcher of American gold coins, among other specialties, recorded the sale of this coin in his Official Premium List of 1909. Believing “there is probably no better way of judging a coin’s value than by consulting the prices brought at auction,” Adams published a compendium of recent prices realized to help beginning collectors and members of the general public find rare gold coins and, one can imagine, sell them to him. This piece realized $12, the highest price listed for any example of the 1807 to 1812 design type. Today, this exceptional half eagle remains one of the most valuable survivors of its type. The half eagles of 1808 were struck from four die combinations, two of which were struck with 1808/7 overdated obverses, while the other two were coined with the same non-overdate obverse and two different reverses. Among all varieties, only three 1808 half eagles have ever been graded MS-65 by PCGS. One of them, the sole gem 1808/7, is offered in the preceding lot. Another was last sold at auction in August 2011, earlier from the May 2008 Goldberg sale of the Ohringer Family Trust as PCGS MS-64. This is the third and final specimen, sold as PCGS MS-65 at its last offering in 1999. At the time of its previous appearance, it was the single finest 1808 half eagle graded by PCGS. Its position of primacy remains intact today. PCGS# 507605. NGC ID: 25PA.
