1795 Flowing Hair Half Dollar. Silver Plug. O-130, T-8. Rarity-8 with a Silver Plug. Two Leaves. Good-6 (PCGS). An incredibly handsome piece with overall slate-grey surfaces and swaths of darker olive-brown patina around the devices. Flashes of sapphire-blue glow around UNITED in direct lighting, further contributing to the exceptional eye appeal. The coveted silver plug is distinct at the center of each side, appearing like a full moon against the evening sky on the obverse. It appears as a darker olive-brown sphere on the reverse, starkly contrasting the lighter surround metal. Evenly worn with smooth surfaces and nearly all elements discernible. Libertys portrait remains particularly bold, while the eagles head has been worn into obscurity. A few hairline scratches are noted at 10 oclock on the obverse, but even so, it is difficult to imagine a more appealing silver plug Flowing Hair half dollar at the Good-6 grade level.This intriguing piece owes its existence to the difficulties faced by the early United States Mint producing high quality planchets at the correct weight and fineness. In 1795, half dollars and other silver coins were made only at the specific denomination requests of depositors. Metal was refined, strips rolled out, and planchets made at the Mint, often slightly overweight so that they could be trimmed by filing. If an attempt had been made to achieve precise weight, a generous portion would have been underweight and would have had to have been corrected. As it was, some were indeed underweight, as here. Mint employees used the silver plugging technique as a means of bringing underweight planchets up to standard. This process was not without precedent, having been used in other world mints at that time. This experiment was first noted on 1795 Flowing Hair silver dollars, publicized after research conducted by Kenneth W. Bressett, Q. David Bowers and Roger W. Burdette. After continued study by specialists, that denomination appears to have been the primary target of the practice, as the vast majority of silver plug U.S. Mint coins are silver dollars. Most of these are 1795 Flowing Hair dollars, although the unique 1794 silver dollar with a silver plug (the celebrated Carter-Cardinal-Morelan specimen) points to an earlier attempt.The silver plug technique was used far less often with half dollars than on their larger counterparts. Surviving examples of this denomination are exceedingly rare and eagerly sought. In fact, we are aware of only four silver plug half dollars that are positively confirmed to exist, all of which are from the 1795 issue:1 - 1795 O-126, T-22. Fine-12 (PCGS). Ex Don Willis; Superiors sale of July 2003, lot 1117; our (American Numismatic Rarities) Allison Park Collection sale, August 2004, lot 416. It was the first confirmed silver plug half dollar certified by PCGS and it remains the finest known silver plug half dollar.2 - 1795 O-128, T-18. VG-10 (NGC). Ex our November 2015 Baltimore Auction, lot 20056. The most recent discovery and presently unique for a silver plug example from the O-128 dies. This is a scarce die marriage in an absolute sense, as specialists are aware, and it is also unknown above Choice VF.3 - 1795 O-130, T-8. VG-8 (Uncertified). Ex Jonathan Kern, July 1997. This is the discovery coin for the silver plug half dollar type.4 - 1795 O-130, T-8. Good-6 (PCGS) Ex Sheridan Downeys Mail Bid Sale #24, November 1999, lot 87. <em>The present example. </em>Three additional silver plug 1795 half dollars are rumored to exist, but we have been unable to confirm them:A - 1795 O-111, T-19. Grade Uncertain. <em>Unconfirmed</em>. Ex Sheridan Downeys sale of the Chuck DeOlden Collection. Referenced in the excellent book <em>Early United States Half Dollars: Volume I, 1794-1807</em> by Steve M. Tompkins as follows: "There is one possible silver plugged example known (DeOlden?)."B - 1795 O-126a, T-22. VG-10 (NGC). <em>Unconfirmed</em>. Ex Heritages sale of the Jules Reiver Collection, January 2006, lot 22506. Listed in the Autumn 2019 Revision of Stephen Hermans <em>AMBPR </em>as "Silver Plug?"C - 1795 O-128, T-18 Fine-12 (PCGS). <i style="font-weight: bold;">Unconfirmed</em>. Ex Don Willis, discovered in a dealers junk box in 2002. Listed on the PCGS Population Report, we suspect that this listing really refers to the Fine-12 example from the O-126 dies listed above. However, Don Willis refers to this is the second silver plug half dollar certified by PCGS that he owned at one time. Either Willis is referring to one of the aforementioned coins or a fifth example, Overton die marriage and grade unknown presently.The present example is the first silver plug half dollar that we have offered since 2015. Incredibly, an example of this type was missing from our November 2019 sale of the nearly-complete E. Horatio Morgan Collection of Half Dollar Varieties. This piece was last offered in Sheridan Downeys Mail Bid Sale #24 of November 1999 and has resided in a private collection for the past two decades. The importance of this opportunity for advanced collectors cannot be overstated, and we anticipate fierce bidder competition and a very strong realized price when this lot crosses the block. Ex Sheridan Downeys Mail Bid Sale #24, November 1999, lot 87; a private collection. Accompanied by Sheridan Downeys inventory tag.
