1829 $5 Large Size (Proof)

Ron Guth:

1829 Large Size Half Eagles are exceedingly rare in both Proof or circulation strike versions. Only one full Proof is known; the other is a one-sided Proof (see above for both coins and their pedigrees). For a complete roster of the known circulation strikes, click here).

P. Scott Rubin: The Proof 1829 Large Date Half Eagle is the first coin of this denomination to sell for over one million dollars at auction. The coin is the only full proof coin of the issue, one coin is known with a proof obverse and a circulation reverse. PCGS has graded this unique coin Proof-64. The coin sold for $1,380,000 at the January, 2012 FUN Sale by Heritage Auctions. The series of Half Eagles 1813 to 1829 struck on large planchets contains some of the most desired coins in the hobby. Such rarities as the 1815, 1819, 1822, 1825 over 4, 1828 over 7, 1828 and the 1829 Large Date are in this group. While the 1822 is the most famous and rarest of this group with only one known outside the Smithsonian it was the Proof 1829 Large Date specimen which will always be remembered as the coin that broke the million dollar mark. In the nineteenth century this coin’s pedigree included Joseph J. Mickley, W. Elliot Woodward, William Sumner Appleton and the Garrett Family of Baltimore.

David Hall:

There is a unique one-sided proof in the Harry Bass collection.

David Akers: This is the Garrett coin. I purchased it from the person who bought it from the Garrett sale and sold it to Les Fox in 1987. He put it in his Amazing Gold Rarities sale that I cataloged for Stack's in 1988. The Eliasberg coin and the Bass coin (ex1976 ANA sale) are the two best business strikes and there is also the Virgil Brand one sided-proof now in the Bass reference collection. The Eliasberg coin is definitely the finest overall quality.