Half Eagle -> 1860-C

Vitae

  • Half Eagle 1838 - 1861
  • Liberty Head 1839 - 1861
  • Diameter: 22.5 millimeters
  • Fineness: .900
  • Weight: 129 grains
  • Designer: Christian Gobrecht
  • Edge: Reeded
  • Coiner: John R. Bolton

The mintage figure for this issue is the lowest for any Charlotte half eagle since 1846. The 1860-C half eagle employs the same reverse die as the 1859-C, only in a more rusted and blurred state. Therefore, every known example has extremely weak areas on the reverse. The obverse is better struck with fairly strong detail on the hair. The surfaces on many examples have mint-made striations. When one couples these with the advanced die rust found on the reverse, this makes for very poor eye appeal. The luster is usually washed-out in appearance while a light yellow gold hue can be seen on uncleaned pieces. There are an estimated 110-120 known. As few as 16-18 grade About Uncirculated-50 or above and there are exactly five Mint State 1860-C half eagles currently known. One of these is illustrated below.

Condition Census

At the present time, there are five examples known to exist which have been graded MS-61 by one of the major grading services. As none of these coins is significantly better than the other, they are listed in no specific order.

  • Private collection, ex Doug Winter/Lee Minshull, Elrod collection. Graded MS-61 by PCGS.
  • Paul Dingler collection, ex Stack's 5/95: 519, Ed Milas collection, Mark Chrans, David Akers' session of Auction 88: 911. Graded MS-61 by PCGS. The coin illustrated on this web site.
  • Bill House collection, ex Stack's 12/94: 1419, R.T. Wilder collection. Graded MS-61 by PCGS.
  • Private collection, ex New York Gold Mart (Ron Karp), Doug Winter, Texas collection, Melnick 2/84: 3608. Graded MS-61 by NGC.
  • Private collection, ex Akers/RARCOA 8/91: 1006, Paramount Auction 81: 1432. Graded MS-61 by NGC. The Akers plate coin.
  • The Stack's Robison (2/79): 460 coin has been described as the finest known and would probably grade Mint State-62 or better were it submitted to a grading service today. It is believed to be in a Texas collection.