1813 Capped Bust Half Dollar. O-101. Rarity-2. 50C./UNI. MS-64 (PCGS).An incredibly lustrous and original specimen that ranks among the most important survivors from these dies. Pearlescent silver-grey patina at the centers is accented by olive-gold and navy-blue iridescence at the borders. Ideally centered and very sharply struck, with subtle traces of clashing to be seen under close inspection. Just 2 coins have been graded finer by PCGS. Though this 50C./UNI variety was known to both J. Colvin Randall (whose variety attributions were published without credit as the Haseltine Type-Table) and Martin Luther Beistle, Walter Breen was apparently the first to describe the unusual engraving error that is the most notable hallmark of this variety. In the March-April 1955 issue of Numisma</em>, the mostly forgotten bimonthly mail bid sale series published by New Netherlands Coin Company in the 1950s. A precocious but fairly inexperienced Breen described the variety and noted it was "excessively rare; first seen among over 500 1813s examined." By 1988, Breen was chastising unnamed writers by noting one collector had made a census of some 50 different specimens, "effectively refuting former claims of its extreme rarity." Near Gem quality specimens, of course, remain incredibly elusive. Herrman lists a single MS-64+ (PCGS) at the top of the census in his Autumn 2020 AMBPR</em>, followed by a handful of MS-64 examples. Tied for second place of this variety, the present O-101 is a truly important offering.PCGS# 6104. NGC ID: 24F2.From the Richard Jewell Collection.
