One of the rarest of United States coinage lies in the middle of the pack in our next blog entry following along with Whitman Publishing’s fourth edition of the 100 Greatest United States Coins. Author Jeff Garrett goes into detail about the half dollar denomination, showcasing the United States Mint’s day-to-day operations at the beginning and how those operations sometimes led them to creating the most highly sought after coins today.
#47 – 1817, 7 Over 4, Capped Bust Half Dollar
Deemed the “King of the Capped Bust half dollars,” the 1817, 7 Over 4 half dollar is one of the rarest of all United States coinage with just a total of 12 coins certified between NGC and PCGS. According to Garrett, the minting of the coin unveiled how conservative the United States Mint was economically in its early days of operation as old dies were reused simply by changing the last digit of the dates. It was policy to strike coins to only mint coins in the year shown on the die.
In 1816, a fire at the Mint would destroy some of the machines used in production and therefore, no half dollars were struck in that year. However, after repairs were made, production of the denomination continued in 1817. The engraver at the time would reuse dies from 1813 and 1814 by punching a ‘7’ in the place of the ‘3’ and ‘4’ of the date. This created two overdates in 1817. Of the two, the 1817, 7 Over 4 broke quickly after the die nearly was split in half during minting. This created a small number of unknown coins.
Collectors were not even aware of the variety until 1930 when E.T. Wallis unveiled his findings in a full-page advertisement on the back of his auction catalog. Another example would appear in the early 1940s as it was sold as a “Punctuated Date” instead. More coins were found in the early 1960s and were also mistaken as “Punctuated Dates.” The 7th coin was found in 1976, and as of this fourth edition, another two were found with the first appearing at auction and selling in 2006 for $235,000.
As of 2015, the rare coin had an estimated value of $350,000 in an Extremely Fine condition.
