1838 Proof Half Dollar Pattern - J-72

Coin Details

Auction Record

$24,675 PR67 04-24-2013 Heritage Auctions

Description

Cataloged as Judd-72 (Pollock-75) with a rarity rating of R.5, indicating an estimated 75 to 200 surviving examples, this silver half dollar pattern from 1838 features a distinctive obverse design. A draped bust of Liberty faces left, wearing a diadem with a ribbon inscribed LIBERTY in her hair. The date appears below the bust. The reverse displays a spread-winged eagle grasping four arrows in one talon and an olive branch in the other, surrounded by UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and the denomination HALF DOLLAR around the periphery. Struck in silver with a reeded edge, virtually all known specimens exhibit medallic die alignment (both sides oriented the same way when the coin is rotated on its vertical axis), rather than the coin-turn alignment used on regular issue coinage. This consistent medallic orientation across the surviving population indicates it was a deliberate choice during production. The Judd-72 pattern represents one of several experimental half dollar designs explored during this transitional period as the Mint refined the Seated Liberty motif that would ultimately define American silver coinage for over half a century.