1817 50C AU55 Certification #28333310, PCGS #6109

O-103a (103.4), Silver-grey with touches of amber and russet, with strong, original luster. A curious example struck from a pair of VLDS (Very Late Die State) dies, which condition is sometimes referred to as the 103'b' (although Overton never recognized a 'b' state for this marriage). The Obverse die progression has went from the 191.7 "punctuated date", to a point where the original Die Dot that shows the punctuation is no longer visible, and then to a point where a new smaller "Dot" appears in a different place than the original (lower and to the right, closer to the 7), and then that "Dot" also fades away, with the stars becoming more drawn to the segments. In this case, the smaller "Dot" is still visible (barely), but with the stars noticeably drawn enough, that after some back and forth with members of the BHNC, I have it listed as a 103.4 for my census, the latest state for the die. Additionally, it should be noted, after careful study, I do not believe the newer "Dot" is a tooling mark like the first is suspected to be, but is a tight grouping of rust pits (I think I count three prominent ones). This Obverse Die was later used for the O-105 remarriage. Finally, on another interesting side note, this is also the Reverse Die for the famous 1817/4 Die Marriage (note the I's in UNITED and AMERICA missing the lower right serifs, causing them to look somewhat like J's). Some of the reverse letters and the lower olive leaf tips are also drawn strongly into the segments, and the clashing beneath the claws and through 50 C. is prominent.

Ron Guth

In 1817, the U.S. Mint produced over 1.2 million Half Dollars.  Among those, researchers have identified thirteen different die varieties, including two overdates (1817/3 and the exceedingly rare 1817/4) and one with a so-called "Punctuated Date" (actually a die chip between the 1 and the 7).  This date is plentiful in most grades, though Mint State examples are scarce to rare, a fact exascerbated by the popularity of the series and the wide distribution of known examples.  At the top end, the best example rates MS67. All of the coins in the PCGS CoinFacts Condition Census are MS65 or better.