1794 Flowing Hair Half Dollar. O-104a, T-11. Rarity-5+. VF-30 (PCGS). Fully original Choice VF quality is evident in this historically significant and scarce first year half dollar issue. Both sides are attractively toned with crimson-russet peripheral highlights to otherwise olive-charcoal surfaces. The detail is uniformly bold within the context of the assigned grade, and all devices are fully appreciable with some sharper definition also remaining in the more protected areas of the design. The in hand appearance is impressively smooth in the absence of troublesome post-production blemishes, while a few light adjustment marks along the lower right obverse border are as made. Clearly a superior offering at the assigned grade level, this is one of the nicest circulated 1794 half dollars of any die pairing that we have handled in recent years. Tompkins Die Stage 2/3.<p>While today the half dollar is seldom seen in circulation and offering one up in change will often generate odd looks and questions, it is only relatively recently that this has been the case. Half dollars have traditionally been "workhorse coins intended for use in the channels of commerce," as Q. David Bowers described them. The reduction in the required surety bonds for the chief coiner and the assayer so that production of precious metal coins could commence came late in 1794 and in this first year, 23,464 (or fewer) pieces were made, as opposed to a much larger delivery of 299,680 pieces for calendar year 1795. By that year, which was the last in which the Mint used the Flowing Hair motif in this series, the half dollar had already established itself as the denomination of choice among bullion depositors, a situation that would continue well into the 19th century.<p>Of the 11 known die marriages of the 1794 half dollar, O-104 is among the scarcer in numismatic circles. Of course, the 1794 as an issue is scarce to rare in all grades, irrespective of die marriage. The first half dollars struck in the United States Mint were 5,300 examples delivered on December 1, 1794. All of these coins are assumed to have been struck from 1794-dated dies. The <em>Guide Book</em>, among other numismatic references, provides a mintage figure of 23,464 pieces for this issue, as above, which assumes that the 18,164 half dollars delivered on February 4, 1795, were also coined from 1794-dated dies. This is conjecture, and we will never know for certain whether the coins delivered on February 4, 1795, were dated 1794, 1795, or both. Based on the number of die marriages known for the 1794-dated issue, as well as the number of coins extant, it is likely that at least some of the coins delivered in early 1795 were from 1794-dated dies. We suspect that the actual mintage for this issue is somewhat less than 23,464 pieces, most of which have long since been lost to commercial use.<p>The 1794 O-104 half dollar is conditionally challenging, and to date no Mint State survivors have been confirmed for either the early or late (104a) die states. The Condition Census as given in the 2015 reference <em>Early United States Half Dollars, Volume 1: 1794-1807</em> by Steve M. Tompkins reads: 50 Details, 40, 30, 30, 25, 20. The present example is listed in the Spring 2022 revision to Stephen J. Herrmans <em>Auction & Mail Bid Prices Realized for Bust Half Dollars: 1794-1839</em>, although as O-104 as opposed to O-104a since it lacks the bisecting die crack on the obverse. On the other hand, the prominent cud break on the reverse at the border outside the letters ER in AMERICA is plainly evident.<p> PCGS# 39205. NGC ID: 24E6. From our sale of the Fossil Creek Collection, March 2016 Baltimore Auction, lot 13070.
