1864 Liberty Seated Half Dime. V-1, the only known dies. MS-66 (PCGS).This glorious premium Gem is brilliant apart from subtle champagne-pink peripheral highlights on the obverse. The fields are semi-reflective in finish and support frosty, overall sharply impressed devices. Smooth and inviting to readily uphold the validity of the impressive grade assigned by PCGS. With a mere 48,000 circulation strikes reportedly struck during the economic turmoil of the Civil War, the 1864 half dime is an understandably elusive issue in all grades. So elusive, in fact, that Al Blythe (1992) states that the official mintage figure is "highly suspect." The author continues:<p><em>"Ahwash theorized that if mintage ratios of Half Dimes that existed for 1863, 1865, 1866 and 1867 prevailed for 1864, the true mintage would be about 14,500, not 48,000. Roy Ash, LSCC member, did an auction catalog census of this date in 1977 and found fewer than 56 Business Strikes advertised, with 20 of those being uncirculated. Breen projected that the true total is 80-100 survivors in all grades."</em><p>Third party certification in todays market has allowed a better understanding of the (non)availability of the 1864 circulation strike half dime and, while Breens estimate is no longer realistic, this issue remains highly elusive with survivors probably numbering not many more than 200 coins. This is a superior quality survivor in all regards that belongs in an advanced collection of Liberty Seated coinage.<p>Struck from boldly clashed dies, evidence of which is plain in the obverse field around Libertys portrait and on the reverse at the top and within the lower right of the wreath. A light die crack on the latter side extends from the rim at 3:30 into the wreath.PCGS# 4384. NGC ID: 234E.PCGS Population: 7; 5 finer (MS-67 finest).From the Henry Collection of Liberty Seated Half Dimes.
