Frosty golden brown with excellent luster and visual appeal. Some hairlines are found with a glass, but no major contact points are present, just two little marks beneath EN of CENT. A little toning spot right of the 1 in the date and another below AT of STATES barely interrupt the even and attractive patina. Soundly if not fully struck on both sides, this piece shows some evidence of die fatigue, with stars at the left and lower right drawn towards the rims and some loss of definition among the obverse denticles. As described for Manley state 2.0, clash marks are seen in front of Libertys profile and some very subtle vestiges of clashing are seen close to the interior of the wreath.The 1829 half cent represented an inflection point in the history of this denomination. Pauses punctuate the half cents timeline, but rarely do they beget change. No half cents were struck between 1811 and 1825, but after the 14-year sabbatical, the coins looked about as they did before. After 1829, the half cent took a year off in 1830 and was retooled with essentially the same design. William Kneass reworking took into account changes in technology, giving the coins that followed a squarer edge and a higher rim. Soft strikes became a thing of the past. This coin, humble though its rarity may be, is the last of the old guard. After the half cent returned in 1831, its days as a workhorse copper for circulation would be largely behind it.
