1795 Flowing Hair Half Dollar. O-123, T-6. Rarity-7. Two Leaves. EF Details--Cleaned (PCGS).A noteworthy rarity that stands tall among the highlights of the E. Horatio Morgan 1795 half dollars. Untoned surfaces are uncommonly bright with light hairlining to explain the PCGS qualifier. On the positive side, mentionable softness is confined to the lower right obverse border, and even there the stars are fully outlined and clear. All other design elements are sharp for the assigned grade, and there are no sizable marks apart from a shallow scrape in the obverse field at the back of Libertys head. Light adjustment marks along the lower right obverse border are as made, and they explain the aforementioned softness of detail in that area.<p>The elusive 1795 Overton-123 die pairing shares its obverse with the O-122 variety of this date. Writing in the 2015 reference <em>Early United States Half Dollars</em>, in fact, Steve M. Tompkins asserts that all known examples of O-123 were struck in between Die Stage 3 and 4 examples of O-122. The 1795 O-123 marriage is rare in an absolute sense with no more than 10 coins believed extant. Most survivors are late die states attributed as O-123a and identifiable by a sharp crack from the border between the words OF and AMERICA that curves to the border outside the letters ES in STATES. This crack eventually developed into a retained cud, which feature almost certainly caused the retirement of this die after only a few coins were struck. The present example is an early die state with the reverse crack just beginning to form and evident only between the final letter S in STATES and the letter O in OF. Stephen J. Herrman (Spring 2019) assigns the O-123 die state a Rarity-8 ranking with just two coins known, although the addition of the E. Horatio Morgan specimen to the census will push the rating down slightly. A significant offering for the early half dollar variety enthusiast, and sure to see spirited bidding at auction. Tompkins Die Stage 1/1-2.From the E. Horatio Morgan Collection.
