1812 Capped Bust Left Half Eagle. BD-1. Rarity-3. Wide 5 D. MS-65+ (PCGS).This is a breathtakingly beautiful, conditionally rare example of both the type and variety that belongs in the finest gold cabinet. Billowy satin to softly frosted luster blends with rich deep golden patina on both sides, the surfaces also revealing intermingled orange-apricot highlights as the coin rotates under a light. The strike is expertly centered on the planchet with uniformly denticulated borders and all design elements sharply to fully defined. An exceptionally smooth and well preserved example that really needs to be seen to be fully appreciated. BD Die State a/a.The brief Capped Bust Left half eagle series of 1807 to 1812 is attributed to assistant engraver John Reich, whose famous design also made its debut on the half dollar in 1807. The half eagle remained popular with contemporary gold bullion depositors, yearly mintages generous for the era and far surpassing those of the less popular quarter eagle. (Production of the ten-dollar gold eagle had been suspended in 1804 and would not resume until 1838.) As with all pre-1834 United States gold types, however, the Capped Bust Left half eagle suffered a high rate of attrition through melting, and only about 1% of the mintage of any given issue is believed extant. While this type is not quite as elusive as its Capped Head Left half eagle counterpart of 1813 to 1834, it is obviously still among the rarest and most challenging to collect in all of U.S. numismatics. In addition to absolute rarity, the present example also offers undeniable condition rarity, the total PCGS Population for the entire type just two coins in MS-65+ with six finer through MS-67+. For the advanced early gold specialist or high grade type collector, our offering of this lovely premium Gem represents a fleeting opportunity not to be missed.
