Mickley had facilities for collecting superior to any other person, and he knew well how to avail himself of them.” — W. Elliot Woodward to T. Harrison Garrett, January 18, 1883</em>With its ideal deep yellow toning, strong luster, and spectacular visual impact, this coin would be the star attraction in nearly any half eagle collection ever formed. With its century-old provenance that includes the Garrett Collection, its importance is magnified; its status as the duplicate in this amazing collection cannot dim its interest. Both sides show aggressive cartwheel luster, somewhat satiny on the reverse and showing some reflective texture around the obverse portrait. The color is lovely, a rarely encountered dark maize shade that bears the look of a century spent in an august cabinet, highlighted with dark violet above the eagle’s head and pastel green outside of star 11 and below star 9. Defects are minor and few, including a pinpoint mark inside star 10 and some trivial scattered hairlines. Its appeal and preservation seemingly exceed the quality indicated by the assigned grade.Struck from a later state than the previous coin, identical to that seen on the retained Bass coin, this piece shows the “shallow rust” or area of frost within the intricacies of the olive stems on the reverse. Evidence of reverse lapping includes a long prominent lapping line that runs vertically from above the stop right of the denomination, across the talon at right. Less visible lapping lines may be seen under magnified scrutiny, particularly on either side of the eagle’s head. The die rotation shows the reverse slightly counterclockwise from coin turn, similar to the other 1827 and as seen on other examples of this type.The provenance of this coin published when it appeared in the 1979 Garrett I sale was incorrect, a typo carried over from a previous lot. The actual provenance is actually far older and more interesting, extending to the beginnings of American numismatics and the man who has been called “The Father of American Coin Collecting.” The inventory of the Garrett Collection published as Appendix III of Q. David Bowers’ <em>The History of United States Coinage As Illustrated by the Garrett Collection</em> was drawn from the Garrett archives, now housed at the American Numismatic Society. Those documents reveal the correct provenance: “1827. Uncirculated. From Woodward on January 23, 1883, previously from the Mickley and Appleton collections.”The finest known 1819 half eagle, sold as lot 3153 in our Pogue III sale, was among the gold coins that was acquired by T. Harrison Garrett in the same transaction. In fact, since before 1867, that coin and this one have always been in the same collection. Every time one changed hands, the other went with it, from Mickley, to Appleton, to T. Harrison Garrett, to Johns Hopkins University, to Ted Naftzger, and onto the Pogue Collection. As noted in the description of the Mickley-Pogue 1819 half eagle, “Mickley began collecting sometime between 1816 and 1823; his friend William E. DuBois suggested the former date, while fellow Philadelphian Ebenezer Locke Mason, Jr. offered the latter.” Mickley had the opportunity and the means to acquire this coin from a Philadelphia bank when it was new. It was surely placed in his cabinet long before its sale in 1867, when this coin was no older than a Bicentennial quarter is today.With its magnificent color and luster, this coin has a level of appeal that so many early half eagles lack. Its provenance speaks for itself, imbuing this coin with an exceptionally rare historical continuity. Its grade is exceeded among those certified by PCGS by only the Baldenhofer-Keston-Jung coin and the piece in the preceding lot. Just 15 examples have been graded by PCGS, and it is doubtful any of them could surpass this coin’s combination of history, aesthetics, and preservation.PCGS# 519939. NGC ID: 25R5.
