1825/4/"1" Capped Head Left Half Eagle. BD-1. Rarity-5+. AU Details--Altered Surfaces (PCGS). A sharp example of this rare overdated issue. The surfaces are somewhat glossy and toned in varying shades of lemon-yellow and honey gold. Only the most trivial abrasions appear under scrutiny and the reverse is impressively composed. Nicely centered and well-struck, with fully denticles on each side. <p>All 1825-dated half eagles exhibit traces of an overdate, with three distinct varieties known including the newly-discovered BD-3. With only 25 to 30 examples believed extant in all grades, the 1825/4/"1" BD-1 offered here is certainly among the more elusive varieties of this type. Per numismatic tradition, the underdigit on this obverse die is a 1, although Walter Breen was one of the first researchers to suggest that it is actually the remnants of a partially effaced 4. More recent scholarship by John Dannreuther seems to confirm Breens theory that the underdigit on this die is actually a partially effaced 4. The PCGS attribution of 1825/4/1 seems to be a compromise that allows adherents to both the traditional 1825/1 theory and the more modern 1825/Partial 4 attribution to readily identify examples of this variety.<p> From the Naples Bay Collection. From the Naples Bay Collection.
