1875 50C PR65 Certification #03080733, PCGS #6436

Ron Guth

The mintage of 1875 Proof Half Dollars was a mere 700 pieces.  However, virtually all of them went to collectors or dealers and most have survived since the time of issue.  The level of care given to many of the pieces left something to be desired, thus these often come with hairlines, an occasional contact mark, or they have been mishandled or cleaned.  Finding a superb example is a real challenge, as evidenced by the PCGS Population Report, which shows a majority of the census in PR63 and PR64, a dwindling number of PR65's, an even smaller number PR66's, and hardly any PR67's.  Fewer than a tenth of the certified examples are Cameos.  No Deep Cameos are known.  

One of the finest examples of which we are aware is the PCGS PR67 from the Kaufman and Gardner Collections.  This colorful example appeared at auction four times in the 2015-2016 period but appears to have finally found a good home.