1825 Classic Head Half Cent. C-2. Rarity-1. MS-65 BN (PCGS). Type: Type V: Classic Head.Design: Obv: Liberty faces left, her hair bound by a fillet inscribed LIBERTY. Thirteen stars are arranged around the border, seven left and six right, with the date 1825 below. Rev: A single branch bound at the bottom by a single bowed ribbon surrounds the denomination HALF CENT. The legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is around the border.Weight Standard: 84 grains (5.44 grams).Diameter: 23.5 mm.Die Variety: Cohen-2, Breen-2, Gilbert-1. Obv: The lowest hair curl is centered above the digits 25 in the date, star 12 is boldly repunched. This is the only use of this obverse die. Rev: The highest leaf on the branch extends just beyond the final letter S in STATES, with repunching evident to most letters in the denomination HALF CENT. This reverse was used for both die marriages of the 1825 half cent, C-2 the later pairing.Die State: Manley 1.0, the scarcest of the three die states known to the author. Obv: Perfect. Rev: The end of the branch stem is well struck.Edge: Plain.Mintage: The reported mintage for half cents during calendar year 1825 is 63,000 coins, although additional examples from these dies were likely included in the mintage for calendar year 1826.Estimated Surviving Population for the Issue: 2,200 to 2,600 or more coins in all grades.Estimated Surviving Population for the Die Variety: Rarity-1: More than 2,000 coins in all grades.Strike: This is an overall boldly struck coin with most design elements sharply to fully defined. Softness is minor and confined to a few of the stars along the left obverse border, the top of Libertys head, and the lower right portion of the branch on the reverse. Obverse impression drawn trivially to 7 oclock, reverse impression to 2 oclock, but both sides possess full (if uneven) denticulation.Surfaces: This is a hard and smooth example whose otherwise satiny surfaces reveal modest semi-reflective tendencies in the fields. Ample remnants of faded pinkish-rose color can be seen on surfaces that are predominantly toned in handsome autumn, golden and gray-brown. A few tiny flecks of carbon between the digit 1 in the date and the end of Libertys bust are the most useful identifiers.Commentary: After a hiatus of 13 years, the Mint resumed half cent production in 1825 to meet an unexpected order from the Baltimore, Maryland firm of Jonathan Elliott & Sons. John Reichs device punches from 1809 to 1811 were once again pressed into service for dies prepared by the new engraver, William Kneass. Cohen-2 is by far the more available die marriage of this date, both in an absolute sense and in Mint State. Gems such as this are rare, however, and the ESM Collection specimen is the finest certified that we can ever recall offering. From the ESM Collection.
