The obverse is lively with speckled orange over silvery brilliance and awash in cartwheel luster. The reverse is even more lustrous and displays beautiful deep orange and sedate violet tones. The obverse is fully struck and nearly immaculate, with just a contact point between Libertys shoulder and star 6. The reverse easily matches the obverse aesthetically.Gobrechts Liberty Seated design came last to half dollars, three years after its introduction to dollars, two years after it first appeared on dimes and half dimes, and a year after it was first seen on quarter dollars. Half dollars since 1836 had displayed a Gobrecht reworking of the old design by John Reich, with a capped bust of Liberty on the obverse and eagle on the reverse. The reverse design was retained with slight modifications; in 1842; the size of the reverse motto increased notably, a change that would remain until the motif was retired in 1891.Of vital importance to type collectors, the No Drapery design was used exclusively in 1839, and for only a portion of that year. Breen once called any Mint State example "prohibitively rare," and gems are even more so. An MS-65 grade has been assigned on just three occasions.
