1813 50C AU50 Certification #38790927, PCGS #6103

Ron Guth

The 1813 Half Dollar comes in two major varieties: Normal and 50/UNI.  This narrative covers the former, which comprises the vast majority of 1813 Half Dollars.  As a date, the 1813 Half Dollar is readily obtainable in most grades.  Mint State examples are scarce, but cannot be considered rare because they are almost always available on the market.  However, some individual varieties are quite rare and they are nearly impossible to find in Mint State (see the individual variety pages for more expansive write-ups).  When all the 1813 Half Dollars are ranked together, there is a single coin that stands head-and-shoulders above the rest.  That coin is the remarkable PCGS MS67 (formerly NGC MS67+*) from the Eric Newman Collection.  Mr. Newman paid $5 for the coin sometime in the 1940's; when it sold at auction in 2013, it brought $141,000.  The new proud owner is mega-collector, Bob Simpson.

The rest of the PCGS CoinFacts Condition Census for 1813 Half Dollars consists of MS65 and better examples.

The strike quality of 1813 Half Dollars varies widely because each variety has its own unique characteristics.  Based on the images above, the followng varieties appear to have some of the best details: O-103, O-105, O-106a, and O-107a (there may be others).