Offered is a rare Uncirculated example of this repunched mintmarked half eagle, with a provenance to the famous Eliasberg Collection. Both sides are toned in light green-gold and vivid golden-yellow shades. The texture is vibrant and satiny with modest semi-reflective qualities evident in the fields. Boldly struck throughout and quite well preserved for a variety that is typically offered no finer than Choice EF.The mintage for the 1846-D half eagle is 80,294 pieces, a generous total by Dahlonega Mint standards. An unknown, although presumably small percentage of the mintage was struck from this reverse die on which the D mintmark was boldly repunched. The first D was entered too high with a portion of it well into the branch stem. A Mint employee noticed the error and corrected it by entering a second mintmark lower and slightly to the left. The first mintmark is quite bold, readily evident to the unaided eye. Despite its overall availability by Dahlonega Mint half eagle standards, the 1846-D is an important condition rarity in Mint State. Interestingly most of the Uncirculated population known to numismatists is of the 1846-D/D variety, suggesting that a small number of examples may have been preserved together for a number of years (a mini-hoard, perhaps, but not recorded). The coins likely remained together as originally distributed, somehow escaping commercial use. In an absolute sense, of course, Mint State 1846-D/D half eagles are rare and usually remain off the market for many years as part of tightly held collections of Southern gold. Interested parties are urged to take full advantage of the opportunity that the present offering represents.,,PCGS# 8229. NGC ID: 25TH.,NGC Census: 5; 3 finer (MS-66 finest).,From our (Bowers and Ruddys) sale of the United States Gold Coin Collection (Eliasberg), October 1982, lot 441.
