1870 Proof Half Dollar Pattern - J-950

Coin Details

Description

Completing the fourth design group, J-950 strikes the three-star cap Liberty Head and regular-issue eagle reverse in aluminum with a plain edge. As the twelfth and final variety employing Barber's three-star cap obverse across two reverse designs and six metal-edge combinations, this piece closes an important chapter in the half dollar Standard Silver program. The aluminum composition combined with a plain edge creates the most ephemeral and token-like feeling of any half dollar pattern in the series, utterly devoid of the heft and edge texture that mid-nineteenth-century Americans associated with genuine half dollars.

Rarity Notes

R-8. Very rare, approximately 2-4 examples survive. Extremely scarce even by 1870 pattern standards.

Cross References

Judd-950, Pollock-1079