“This remarkable collection is recognized as the finest and most complete collection of American coins that has ever been assembled.” — The Numismatist, on the Waldo C. Newcomer Collection, March 1932 One of the classic rarities of the series, the finest collectible example of the 1819 Normal Reverse half eagle may seem to be a bit of a let down, graded only MS-61. It is, however, the only Mint State coin certified by PCGS and roughly tied with the impounded Bass coin for finest known honors. The surfaces are attractive medium yellow gold with traces of coppery highlights around design elements, particularly prominent on the reverse. The reverse is more lustrous than the obverse, offering a surfeit of cartwheel luster. The obverse is likewise lustrous, but more subtly so, with cartwheel encircling the inside of the rims. Fully struck on both sides, this coin shows no areas of weakness among the designs. The obverse shows a significant population of hairlines, but no bad marks. We note a tiny nick on the raised rim above star 5, a thin curved scratch above star 12, and a short horizontal scratch high on Liberty’s throat. The reverse is lightly hairlined but more lively, with the appearance of a higher grade. A tiny nick is unobtrusive above the top of the wing at right, and a short scratch below the tip of the beak is scarcely noticeable. The dies are perfect, unclashed and uncracked. While any 1819 half eagle is a great rarity, the so-called “normal reverse” is rarer still, representing roughly one third of all known specimens. The varieties of 1819 half eagles have been miscataloged for decades. The Wide Date, 5D/50 marriage, Bass Dannreuther-1, is easy to recognize and understand. When the Bass-Dannreuther book was published, this variety was the only other die marriage known to either Bass or Dannreuther, correcting years of misinformation promulgated by Walter Breen following his 1966 monograph. It marries a Close Date obverse to a Normal reverse, two different dies than were used on BD-1. In 2014, a cleaned and plugged specimen was identified as the product of a previously unknown reverse; the new die marriage is now known as Bass Dannreuther-3. William H. Woodin, working together with his numismatic advisor Edgar H. Adams, and Waldo C. Newcomer assembled the two most important die variety collections of United States gold coins in the early 20th century. All three were numismatic scholars. This coin was acquired by Woodin directly from the 1910 Mougey sale, and his name is noted down in Henry Chapman’s copy of the catalog, now preserved in the library of the American Numismatic Society. Waldo Newcomer acquired Woodin’s half eagles intact on his way to building the most important American cabinet of the 1920s. A victim of declining economic conditions in the early era of the Depression, he sold abruptly, beginning in 1931, and died in 1934 while vacationing in Hawaii. Saul Teichman’s work on rare half eagles has found just five discrete examples of this die marriage, noting in a privately distributed document detailing his work that “this is apparently much rarer than people realize.” The fifth example he cited, the coin sold in the 1922 Ten Eyck sale, appears to bear a strong resemblance to the Harry Bass Foundation coin, the only example Bass ever found, which would thereby reduce the population to just four known specimens. Of these, two are circulated and show problems that would preclude the assignment of a numerical certified grade. The D. Brent Pogue specimen is the only example from these dies to have been certified by PCGS. PCGS# 8123. NGC ID: 25PS.
