1836 Capped Bust Half Dollar. Lettered Edge. O-116. Rarity-2. 50/00. AU-53 (PCGS).Ample luster remains to both sides of this lightly toned, pale pink and silver gray example. Boldly defined overall with pleasingly smooth surfaces at the assigned grade level. This is a popular die pairing due to the blundered denomination on the reverse, and this is a highly appealing About Uncirculated example. Starting late in 1836 hand engraved dies like this become a thing of the past with the adoption of the new steam driven coining press. Now dies could be made from master hubs, so each device and letter no longer needed to be hand punched into each die, as once a master hub was created, many dies could be made from that work. Thus most of the errors, blunders and individual character of these earlier dies that were hand engraved up until 1836 becomes a thing of the past as this mechanized step removes much of the human element. Thankfully for collectors, blunders still continue to be found, some in the form of mispunched or misplaced dates, mintmarks and even overdates that continue despite the hubbing process.From the E. Horatio Morgan Collection.
