INCOMPLETE CURVED CLIP. Allow my former table assistant, great friend and mentor to introduce this lot. Henry Hilgard assembled an incomparable collection of bust half mint errors before his death in April 2013. His collection, now owned by Dr. Charles Link, included an 1831 O.108 with incomplete planchet punch, plated on my website,
https://www.sheridanscoins.com/hilgard.php (item 48). Henry acquired his coin in June 2003, when Michael Summers, planetary astronomer extraordinaire, consigned it to MB 28, lot 187. Henry considered the Summers’ coin to be “
an extremely rare error type; I don't recall seeing another on a bust half dollar.” Henry explained to me how the error occurred. Planchets were punched from a strip that was rolled out (rather like pie dough) to the width of a half-dollar. The strip was fed into a screw press which punched out blanks. On rare occasions the force of the punch was insufficient to free a blank from the strip. Only a curved indentation was left on the strip. A 2nd blow from the press would be needed. Unless the strip somehow kept its original orientation in the press, the blank would carry an indentation from the first blow. Most often the indentation would be obliterated when the planchet was finally fed into and struck by the coining press. Not so on Henry’s coin. And not so on the coin here offered. Look carefully at the reverse. You will see a line commencing at the rim just left of the 5 in 50C, arcing up through the eagle’s tail feathers and left wing, exiting through the T in UNITED. (Please ignore scuffs and scratches on the NGC holder.)
The coin itself is handsome, exhibiting considerable luster and light toning. The only comparable example I’ve found to appear at auction is an 1826 O.108a, sold by Stack’s/Bowers in March 2024. Lot 7022 was graded PCGS VF 30 and brought $2,040.
Estimate: $1,500 and up.
