Amber, olive and burgundy luminescence adorns the lustrous surfaces of this handsome gem. The central motifs on each side display full execution. Trivial breaks undulate around the obverse circumference. Superb eye appeal and originality is evident at arms length-no need to use magnification.The half dimes of 1839 are the last of the series without drapery at Libertys elbow, a feature added by a revision of the Liberty Seated design. Robert Ball Hughes was paid $25 for die work in this time, leading some to suggest that he revised the motif. With a mintage exceeding one million pieces, it is remarkable that only two die pairs are known for this issue. Walter Breen attempted to explain this by stating in his 1988 Encyclopedia that much of the reported figure was composed of 1838-dated coins.Close inspection of high grade examples reveals traces of recutting of the 1 in the date. The recutting was not mentioned by Valentine or Blythes 1992 A Complete Guide to Liberty Seated Half Dimes, as pointed out in the Gardner Part III catalog, where a superb MS-68 (NGC) specimen appeared as lot 98160. The Gardner coin, a very early impression of the dies, was struck prior to the present gem from the D. Brent Pogue Collection.
