Prooflike US Type Set
$5 LIBERTY HEAD (1839-1908)


Obverse
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Reverse
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Coin Details

  

Set Details
Origin/Country: United States
Design Description: HALF EAGLES - CORONET
Item Description: $5 1885 S
Grade: NGC MS 64 PL
Owner: physics-fan3.14
 
Winning Set: Prooflike US Type Set
Date Added: 3/17/2017
Research: See NGC's Census Report for this Coin

Owner's Description

Total Graded: 213708
Total Prooflike: 355
Percentage: 0.1661%

As with all gold series, prooflike gold is rare! However, the Liberty half eagle is even rarer than many of the other series. There are very few PL examples for the early decades, and like most other series of the era PLs start becoming more available in the 1880’s and 1890’s. The two most common dates are 1880S and 1893. There are a few DPLs scattered throughout the series, but these always fetch a very high premium. MS-62 is the most common grade for PL’s in this series, but 63s are available if you’re patient. The numbers drop considerably when you get to MS-64.

Which is why, of course, I had to have a 64! The coin I selected for this series is a beautiful example. The strike is somewhat soft, but the fields are remarkably reflective. Because gold is so soft, it acquires contact marks very easily. A prooflike coin makes those marks look even worse. A coin with a 64 grade has considerably less of those distracting marks, so you can see the fields much better (that’s why I would prefer never to get a 61 or 62 coin – too many marks interrupting the fields!). Anyways, the other highlight of this particular coin is the original, coppery orange color. It is absolutely gorgeous, and clearly has never been cleaned.

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