1804 Draped Bust Half Cent. C-13. Rarity-1. Plain 4, Stemless Wreath. MS-64 RB (PCGS). CAC. Type: Type IV: Draped Bust.Design: Obv: A draped bust of Liberty faces right, her hair tied with a ribbon. The word LIBERTY is above and the date 1804 is below. Rev: Design of 1802 to 1808. A wreath surrounds the denomination HALF CENT, the legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around the border and another expression of the denomination, 1/200, below. A ribbon knot with double bow binds the base of the wreath.Weight Standard: 84 grains (5.44 grams).Diameter: 23.5 mm.Die Variety: Cohen-13, Breen-10, Gilbert-2. Obv: Plain 4, with no crosslet, the upright of the letter R in LIBERTY missing its right foot. There is a light die scratch in the field near the border from 9 to 10 oclock. This same die was used earlier in the 1804 C-13 pairing. Rev: The Stemless Wreath reverse, and readily attributable as such. Single leaf at the top of the left branch in the wreath, double leaf at the top of the right branch in the wreath; there are six berries on the left branch, five berries on the right branch. All of the Ts are normal, but the right foot is missing from both Ns (CENT and UNITED). There is a long die scratch from the base of the letter E in UNITED to the tip of the leaf below the outer berry left of the letter C in CENT. This is the same reverse earlier used in the 1804 C-12 pairing, and later in the 1805 C-1 and 1806 C-1 marriages.Cohen-13 is the only die variety that corresponds to the Plain 4, Stemless Wreath <em>Guide Book</em> variety of the 1804 half cent.Die State: Manley 2.0, the usual state. Obv: All letters in the word LIBERTY are boldly struck, and the light die scratch in the left field is plainly evident. There is essentially no denticulation around the border. Clash marks are evident in the field areas before Libertys mouth, below the chin, and at the back of the head below the ribbon ends. Rev: The legend is boldly struck, but there is no border denticulation from 10 to 2 oclock, and it is light in most other areas. A short die break is evident within the denticulation outside the letter R in AMERICA.Edge: Plain.Mintage: Government records report a mintage of 1,055,312 half cents for calendar year 1804, although the actual number of coins struck from 1804-dated dies is unknown. Some of the coins struck during 1804 were likely from 1803-dated dies, and additional 1804-dated specimens were almost certainly delivered in 1805, possibly as late as 1806.Estimated Surviving Population for the Issue: 15,000 or more coins in all grades.Estimated Surviving Population for the Die Variety: Rarity-1: More than 2,000 coins in all grades.Strike: Apart from the aforementioned incompleteness of detail to the border denticulation that is commensurate with the die state, this is a boldly to sharply struck coin. Most features of Libertys portrait and the wreath are full, in fact, with the lettering, date and denomination 1/200 also well defined.Surfaces: This beautiful near-Gem exhibits smooth, satiny surfaces with plenty of good gloss. The obverse is lightly toned in iridescent gray-brown with ample mint orange color remaining. The reverse is warmly and evenly toned in glossy-brown. Free of detracting blemishes, there is not much keeping this coin from an even higher grade.Commentary: While the emission sequences of Breen and Cohen often differ slightly, the two authors ordered the two Stemless Wreath varieties of 1804 inversely. Cohen-10 and Cohen-12 share an obverse; Cohen, Breen, and Manley all agree upon their striking order. Cohen-11 and Cohen-13 share a different obverse. Cohen and Manley order them thusly, while Breen numbered them Breen-12 and Breen-10, respectively. Cohen-13 marries the obverse of Cohen-11 and the reverse of Cohen-12, and given the number known, that marriage must have been a long, happy one. Manleys research has determined an emission sequence that agrees with neither Cohen nor Breen: Cohen-11, Cohen-13, and finally Cohen-12. This reverse was used later in the popular 1805 Cohen-1 and 1806 Cohen-1, the only Stemless Wreath varieties of both dates.Cohen-13 is the most available die marriage of 1804-dated half cents, and one of the most plentiful within the entire denomination, 1793 to 1857. Given the number of Mint State examples known -- more than 100, at least -- Breen speculated that a hoard of Uncirculated coins may have existed at one time. The finest known is the Pogue specimen, found during the razing of a historic building in Bostons financial district circa 1981, and certified MS-64+ RD by PCGS when it realized $117,500 in our March 2017 Pogue V sale. The ESM Collection specimen offered here is also a superior quality survivor, for most Mint State 1804 C-13 half cents are certified in the BN category. Here is an ideal candidate for an advanced type, date or variety set. From the ESM Collection.
