1856 Braided Hair Half Cent. B-3. Rarity-4. Proof-64 BN (PCGS).A smooth example of this rare Proof issue, one of only 36 specimens noted in Richard Colemans census. Largely toned in sea-green shades with a flood of peach and crimson patina across the reverse. Nicely struck and uniformly satiny in texture. Struck in an era when the Mint kept no record of the quantity struck, but we would estimate that it was fewer than a couple hundred pieces. Today, examples are seen only at widely scattered intervals. This variety represents the first use of a reverse die that created many of the First Restrikes of pieces dated in the 1840s, coined to sate the ever-increasing demand of a new batch of coin collectors.PCGS# 35423.
