The gentleman whose room on Poydras Street was entered a few nights since, his pockets rummaged over, and two half eagles with some small change in specie taken from them, requests us to give the thief his best compliments for not taking off his clothes an all while he was about it, as the loss of them also would have put him to serious inconvenience.” — New Orleans Times-Picayune, November 14, 1838</em>A glow of deep orange toning surrounds rich yellow gold centers, all wrapped in a luxuriant layer of satiny luster. Blessed with stunning aesthetic appeal, this coin offers even the most wary perfectionist little to dislike. Numismatic perfection is, aside from coins made in modern times for collectors, asymptotic, an ideal more than a grade, so scrutiny will find the single hairline on Liberty’s lower jaw and the tiny dig above the period following the denomination, but even a lifetime of study will turn up little else. The quality of this coin is even finer than the assigned grade promises, and the aesthetic appeal is difficult to express without holding it in hand.While Charlotte and Dahlonega were both minting half eagles in 1838, the first gold struck at the New Orleans Mint was the 1839-O quarter eagle. No half eagles were coined at New Orleans until 1840, thus there is no such coin as an O-Mint Classic Head half eagle. Though the two other Southern mints coined no silver and were never reopened after the Civil War, New Orleans struck enormous quantities of silver, continuing into the 20th century. The half eagles stolen from Poydras Street, a thoroughfare that today runs past the New Orleans Superdome, were likely Philadelphia issues, as the half eagles struck in Charlotte and Dahlonega in 1838 were coined in small numbers and appear to have been distributed exclusively in the local area around each facility. New Orleans, alternatively, was a truly international city, one whose mix of coinage was perhaps more similar to the islands of the West Indies than anywhere else. Coins of Latin America mingled with standard United States issues, and New Orleans’ French heritage continued to be evident in its mix of circulating coinage. Merchant counterstamps, applied to coins as a method of advertising, show that French coins like the silver dollar-sized 5 franc pieces were more common in the Mississippi River Valley than elsewhere, as merchant marks from St. Louis and New Orleans are found far more commonly on French host coins than similar marks from New York or Philadelphia. Half eagles with countermarks are unusual from every locale, but are occasionally found from Gold Rush-era California.This is the single finest example of this date certified by PCGS, surpassing two other splendid gems of this date in the Pogue Collection and all others PCGS has encountered. The bell curve of grades assigned among 1838 half eagles sees the highest distribution at the MS-63 and MS-64 levels, representing submissions rather than individual coins. Only four pieces have graded MS-65 or MS-65+. Since being certified over a decade ago, this remains the only MS-66. Among all Classic Head half eagles, just three other coins have been graded MS-66 by PCGS. One of them is the 1834 Plain 4 offered in the present sale. The only Classic Head half eagle to ever receive a higher grade from PCGS, the MS-66+ 1837 $5, is likewise included in this portion of the D. Brent Pogue Collection.PCGS# 8176. NGC ID: 25S4.
