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1815 FIVE DOLLARS
OR HALF EAGLE
PCGS No: 8118
Mintage:
Circulation strikes: 635
Proofs: 0
Designer: Robert Scot & John
Reich
Diameter: 25 millimeters
Metal content:
Gold - 91.7%
Silver and Copper - 8.3%
Weight: 135 grains (8.748 grams)
Edge: Reeded
Mintmark: None (all dates of
this type were struck at the Philadelphia mint)
Notes:
The finest example graded by PCGS is a single MS-65.
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Images courtesy of Superior
Galleries
Varieties (1):
Only one combination of dies is known for this year
Known examples:
The following listing of known 1815
Half Eagles was provided by Saul Teichman (edited by Ron Guth).
Please note that this information corrects several mis-attributions that
have been repeated in recent sale catalogs:
1) Uncirculated. H.
Ely? - Davis-Graves - Smith - Walton - Stack's 1976 ANA - Naftzger -
Paramount Fixed Price List - Pogue?
2) NGC MS-62. Superior,
July 1993 - Ira & Larry Goldberg, May 1999 and June 2000. Uncertain
earlier pedigree. This coin shows a scratch between stars 6 and 7
and appears to be different from any of the above.
3) PCGS AU-58. Seavey
- Parmelee - H.P. Smith - Clapp, Eliasberg - Bass - HWBRF - Bowers &
Merena, October 1999? This example shows a chip above the T in
Liberty. This coin IS Lot 204 of Chapman's H.P. Smith sale.
Carlson was confused here possibly because the plates are mis-numbered.
Lot 204 on the plate is actually Lot 202 (the 1813 half eagle). The
1815 is actually mis-numbered as Lot 206 on the plate. The plate
clearly shows the chip above the T in all sales listed. For more on
the mis-numbering of the H.P. Smith plates, see Bowers & Merena's
Champa II book sale or the H.P. Smith sale catalog. (Teichman: I believe
Carlson corrected this in the ANA Centennial Anthology).
4) NGC AU-50 (illustrated
above and below). Ellsworth? - Newcomer - Atwater - Carter - Stacks,
January 1984, apparently cleaned after the sale to remove coppery toning
in the lettering - Stack's & Superior Galleries "Charles Kramer" sale,
1988, Lot 317 - Superior, January 1996, Lot 317 (PCGS45) - Rogers collection -
Mike Storeim via Hanks & Associates - Superior Galleries' "Pre-Long Beach
Sale" May 27-29, 2001, Lot 4040 (NGC AU-50 #138587-012), plated,
unsold - sold privately immediately after the sale. The Ellsworth
pedigree is from Breen. The removal of the coppery toning has led to
some confusion about this coin's pedigree chain, leading to the mistaken
belief that this was actually two different coins. Carl Carlson
caught the error in the ANA Centennial Anthology and rejoined the
pedigrees. [The Newcomer inventory does not list the source, but
does show a cost of $3,000.00 - RG]
5) Choice About
Uncirculated. Seavey duplicate - Chapman Brothers' auction of the
"Bispham" collection, February 1880 - Smithsonian (in 1885).
Carl Carlson's listing is wrong here. There is a definite match between
the Bispham and Gillilland's Sylloge plates as this coin shows horizontal
scratches across the centers of both obverse and reverse.
6) Swedish Mint Museum -
mentioned in the Bispham sale catalog.
7) Choice About
Uncirculated. Stickney - Ten Eyck - Col Green? - Bell? - C.T.
Weihman? - Memorable - Hester? - Menjou - Kagin 12/51? - Baldenhofer - Josiah K. Lilly - Smithsonian
Institution. This example shows a rim nick left of the numeral 5 on
reverse and a crescent shaped scratch, die break or clash from top of cap
into left obverse field. The Ten Eyck plate doesn't appear to show
the obverse scratch/die break but does clearly show the reverse nick.
The Stickney plate shows both. This coin is the plate coin for the
Memorable and Menjou sales. I do not know, however, if this is a
'stock' photo or the actual sale coin in those sales. Carl Carlson claimed
in the Kramer sale catalog that this example is part of the Col Green
photo library but it is not. Some of this pedigree may belong with other coins listed here.
8) Choice About
Uncirculated. Mehl in 1912 - Granberg - Woodin - Newcomer - Col.
Green - King Farouk - Norweb - Harry Bass - HWBRF. This example is
also the plate coin for the Flanagan, Bell and H.R. Lee sales from Stacks'
Col Green photo library. It is also the example on Mehl's Newcomer
plates. This example is the only known specimen with vertical die
scratches across the face, a scratch near star 4 in the left obverse field
and one near the E in United in the left reverse field. This
example's pedigree is often misinterpreted from Mehl's description in the
Atwater sale. Carl Carlson is wrong about this and the Baldenhofer
coin being the same. They are not!!
9) Choice About
Uncirculated. Mickley? - Appleton? - Woodward? - Newlin -
Garrett - JHU - Garrett I - Auction '84.
10) "About
Uncirculated." Flanagan? - James A. Stack - Stacks, March
1995. This coin is not the plate coin in the Flanagan sale catalog!
The Flanagan pedigree in the Stack's, March 1995 sale is by P. Scott
Rubin.
11) Mitchelson - Connecticut
State Library. This is NOT the Bispham coin as Carlson believed.
It does have discoloration on the top of the obverse possibly caused by
the removal of a loop.
Sources and/or recommended
reading:
"Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia Of U.S. And Colonial
Coins" by Walter Breen
"The PCGS Population
Report, July 2003" by The
Professional Coin Grading Service
E-mail from Saul Teichman
dated May 29, 2001
E-mail from Saul Teichman
dated November 10, 2003
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