Owner Comments:
1877 50C Morgan Head Pattern
Judd-1514, Pollock-1678
Rarity: High: R.7 PF64
Struck In silver with Reeded Edge
Obverse: A head of Liberty faces left, surrounded by a beaded circle, with the Latin motto E PLURIBUS UNUM inscribed along the upper border and the date 1877 at the lower border. Thirteen stars are arranged around the border between the motto and date, six left, seven right. Liberty is wearing a cap, the band of the cap ornamented with ears of wheat, cotton leaves and bolls. The portrait is virtually identical to that which the Mint used for regular issue Morgan dollar production beginning in 1878.
Reverse: An eagle with raised wings is perched atop a scroll inscribed with the motto IN GOD WE TRUST. Behind the scroll are an olive branch and three arrows. The central design is surrounded by a beaded circle, the legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around the border and the denomination HALF DOLLAR below.
Comment:
Light silver-gray iridescence complements both surfaces with wisps of deeper toning at the borders and around the design elements. The piece was lacquered years earlier and since may have been treated and retoning nicely. A tiny, mint made planchet lamination flaw is present at the reverse rim at 6:30 and serves as a diagnostic feature.
According to research by R.W. Julian, the obverse and reverse dies of Judd-1514 represent the first of four designs that George T. Morgan prepared for pattern half dollars in 1877. Only seven specimens are known in silver.
The obverse displays George T. Morgan's Liberty Head design in one its earlier forms. At the time, Morgan was a new employee at the Mint, but his work demonstrates vividly that he was destined for success. The following year, 1878, the same general motif was used on the obverse of the silver dollar, the Morgan dollars made from 1878 through 1921.
Provenance/Appearance:
Provenance: From the E. Horatio Morgan Collection, Stacks and Bowers August 2019 ANA - Session 5 /Lot 5453 . Earlier
- ex King Farouk of Egypt; Sotheby's sale of the Palace Collections of Egypt, 1954;
- Stack's sale of the Thomas A. Bergin Collection of U.S. Pattern Coins, June 1984 / lot 1247 ($3740);
- Stack‘s session of Auction '87, July-August 1987 / lot 836;
- Bowers and Merena's Nov 1988 David B. Silberman, Jr. Collection sale, /lot 5410;
- Superior's May 1990 Father Flanagan's Boys Home Sale, /lot 3333;
- Superior's February 1991 Sale, lot 1590.