Dusky pale green and rose blends with original mint color on the obverse, while the reverse blends those tones with overall light brown. The fields on both sides show good reflectivity and the devices display superlative detail. The obverse is aligned to 3:00, with no rim framing the denticles around most of the right side. The reverse is better centered, with an immense wire rim around the lower right and a more typical wire rim at the lower left. The crudity of striking points to a powerful press but perhaps little experience in coining this denomination.This is one of the great rarities of the entire half cent series, one of just five known examples. The Eliasberg piece is the only one graded finer than this one. Others are pedigreed to Byron Reed, F.C.C. Boyd, and the Missouri Cabinet. The Missouri Cabinet specimen, earlier from the Norweb Collection, was cataloged with a provenance back to Mint Director Henry R. Linderman, who served 1867 to 1869 and 1873 to 1878. An 1888 description of Lindermans coin noted its "Stars on R. not so sharp" and the Missouri Cabinet piece is the only one of the five known to meet that description. Linderman also owned another called a "fine sharp Proof" that could be any of the other four known, including this one.
