1795 Flowing Hair Half Dollar. O-126a, T-22. Rarity-4+. Small Head, Two Leaves. AU Details--Cleaned (NGC). With plenty of bold to sharp detail remaining from an ideally centered strike, this is a very appealing example of the 1795 Small Head half dollar despite the surfaces being a bit glossy from a cleaning. They are also curiously, but not unattractively retoned in mottled steel-blue, golden-gray and pinkish-rose. Adjustment marks in the center and around the periphery on the reverse are as made, and neither side reveals any sizable handling marks. Tompkins Die Stage 1/2.<p>Three distinct die marriages comprise the Small Head subtype of the 1795 half dollar that features a smaller bust of Liberty; O-126(a), O-127(a), and O-128. Each variety employs a unique obverse die, which were most likely made by assistant engraver John Smith Gardner from an obverse hub prepared by engraver Robert Scot. Overton-126a, represented here, is the late state of O-126 and identifiable by a light reverse die crack from the border outside the letters ED in UNITED to the border below the left ribbon end that forms a retained cud. This is a conditionally challenging die state with most survivors grading no finer than VF. A handful of About Uncirculated coins are known. The present example is a newcomer to the Condition Census and unlisted in the Spring 2021 revision to Stephen J. Herrmans <em>Auction & Mail Bid Prices Realized for Bust Half Dollars: 1794-1839</em>. We have been privileged to offer several other Condition Census examples of the 1795 O-126a variety in recent decades, including the PCGS MS-62 Lord St. Oswald-Pogue specimen, the "Col." Green-F.C.C. Boyd coin in NGC AU-58, and the Queller specimen (later certified AU-55 Details by ANACS). A bold AU with relatively pleasing surfaces, the present example is sure to attract the attention of advanced early half dollar variety specialists.<p>
