1845-O $5.00 NGC MS61

It's always nice when old friends come home and this wonderfully crusty 1845-O half eagle is a coin that I first offered for sale about two years ago. I re-acquired it at the Long Beach show and, if anything, I like it even more than I did then. The 1845-O half eagle remains a very rare issue in Uncirculated with an estimated eight to ten known. The NGC population for MS61's is inflated and at least one or two of the pieces I have seen in said holders have been marginal at best. This example has lovely deep green-gold and russet colors, in slightly different configurations, on the obverse and reverse. The strike is sharp and the surfaces are free of significant marks. For the sake of identification, there is a patch of dirt near the top of star seven on the obverse and a few natural copper spots on the reverse. Since 1995, only five MS61 examples of this date have appeared at auction. The last sale is Heritage 6/11: 4631 (graded by NGC) that realized $10,350; in March 2010, Heritage sold a PCGS graded coin for $12,650. An impressive coin for an advanced collection of New Orleans half eagles.

1845-O $5.00 NGC AU58 CAC

The 1845-O half eagle is most similar in rarity to the 1846-O. It has an original mintage figure of 41,000 and of the few hundred known, most are in the VF-EF range. It is a scarce date in AU55, a rare one in AU58 and a very rare one in Uncirculated with around six or seven known. This piece is bright and lustrous with some pale reddish toning forming on the obverse border and across the reverse. There is just a small amount of wear seen on the high spots and minor scuffs in the fields. There hasn't been a non-shipwreck example of this date in AU58 sold at auction since May 2008 and it is a good value as an Uncirculated example, if available, would sell for at least double the amount of a slider. CAC has approved four 1845-O half eagles in AU58 with just two finer.

1845-O $5.00 NGC AU55

Struck in light green-gold and a boldly impressed, minimally worn example with lots of "meat" left on the surfaces. There are a few marks seen on the surfaces but none are detracting or out of keeping with the assigned grade. I have long felt that this was an undervalued date in nearly any grade and I think that AU55 is a "sweet spot" for the issue. I recently sold an EF 45 example of the 1845-O for $1,650 and it seems to me that a nice AU55 at just a little bit more than double that amount makes no sense from a value stand point. In AU55, the far more common 1845-D half eagle trades for more than the 1845-O and I'm not sure that this makes sense from a value standpoint either. Have you been looking for a nice No Motto half eagle from this mint? Perhaps this coin is the right one for you!