Col. Green’s half eagles and eagles were the foundation on which many outstanding collections were subsequently formed.” — Harvey Stack, as quoted by George Frederick Kolbe, 2009</em>As bright as a meridian sun, this gem half eagle glows with warm luster on both sides, the devices crisp though the fields are fogged with satiny bloom. The central fields are somewhat reflective, contrasting with the deep frost that embraces the peripheries of both sides. The surfaces are light yellow, showing no coppery color, but looking much as they must have the day the coin left the mint. A few little marks are seen, including abrasions parallel to star 3 and the base of star 4, another near the back of Liberty’s cap, and some trivial marks under TE of UNITED and UN of UNUM. The strike is bold at the peripheries and a little soft at centers, an aspect common to 1828 half eagles. Liberty’s ear curl is a bit flat, as is the juncture of the upper left side shield corner and wing. The peripheries hide some subtle cracks, one from the rim to the outer point of star 6, another from the tip of the bust that zig-zags to join the bases of 18 in the date. On the reverse, lapping lines are seen above AM of AMERICA and a delicate crack connects the bases of 5 and D. No clash marks are seen. With its staggering luster and gem preservation, this ranked as the most memorable 1828 half eagle David Akers had encountered. “I feel quite confident in stating that none could surpass this gem in quality,” Akers wrote in 1975, when cataloging this coin for his presentation of the Fred E. Davies Collection, “one of the finest selections of Capped Head half eagles offered to the numismatic fraternity in the past twenty years.” This coin’s earlier provenance is traceable to Waldo Newcomer, courtesy of its appearance on the plates B. Max Mehl made following his acquisition of the Newcomer Collection in 1931. Many of Newcomer’s finest gems of this denomination came from William Woodin, whose half eagles he bought en bloc in the early 1920s. Mehl sold all of Newcomer’s half eagles to E.H.R. Green, who amassed “2,152 [half eagles], no less than 800 of them dated 1834 or earlier!,” according to George Frederick Kolbe’s cataloging of an archive relating to Stack’s 1943 acquisition of Col. Green’s gold coins, sold in his 2009 Stack Family Library sale. Stack’s composed sets of half eagles from Green for King Farouk and Clifford T. Weihman, then set about distributing other coins to favored customers and via auction. The J.F. Bell collection, formed by Jacob Shapiro, added over 180 half eagles and eagles from the Green Collection on December 31, 1943. The Green-Farouk 1828 BD-4, sold in 1954 to Mrs. Norweb, is now owned by the Harry Bass Foundation, but the photograph of that coin, initially taken for the famous Col. Green half eagle plate books, was used to illustrate two sales soon after the Green half eagles sold: the March 1944 Col. James W. Flanagan and December 1944 J.F. Bell sales. While the Flanagan catalog describes the 1828 half eagle therein as “bought from us in Jan. sale of 1940,” thereby precluding a Green provenance, the coin in the Bell sale later that year was described as “perfect date variety with full mint bloom. Wide borders, really a cameo. Choice. Brilliant Uncirculated. Extremely rare.” Though not definitive, there is little doubt the Pogue coin is the Bell specimen.There is no such thing as a common 1828 half eagle, but more coins survive from this die marriage than any other of this date. PCGS has certified only seven 1828 half eagles examples, including two 1828/7 coins. This is the finest 1828 half eagle of any variety certified by PCGS, and one of perhaps just a dozen examples surviving from this die marriage in any grade.PCGS# 519943. NGC ID: 25R6.
