NGC-certified Early American Rarities Featured in Stack's Bowers November Sale

Early American coins certified by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation® (NGC®) are likely to draw bids of six figures in the Stack’s Bowers Galleries series of Baltimore auctions set for November 13-20, 2019, with Rarities Night on Nov. 14.

An 1802 Half Dime graded NGC AU 50 Draped Bust, Logan-McCloskey Die No. 1, has been in collectors’ hands since at least 1863 and was sold as part of the William Cutler Atwater Collection in 1946.

The 1802 Half Dime graded NGC AU 50 being offered by Stack's Bowers in an auction ending Nov. 14. Click images to enlarge.

Half Dimes were the first coins struck by the US Mint, with 86,000 produced from late 1794 through 1795 as part of the short-lived Flowing Hair issues. They were followed by the Draped Bust series from 1796 to 1805. This half dime series had its smaller eagle replaced with a larger one starting in 1800. In 1802, a single pair of dies produced a total mintage of a mere 3,060 coins, the smallest of the entire Draped Bust Half Dime series.

The NGC Census shows three 1802 Half Dimes, all of them graded AU 50.

A little more than two weeks before the live auction, online bidders had pushed the 1802 Half Dime to $120,000.

The Stack's Bowers November auction also features a 1776 Continental Dollar graded NGC MS 63.

These rare coins are all dated 1776, when the Continental Congress declared the independence of the 13 Colonies. The colonies’ names are on the reverse of the coins in a series of rings. The motto “We are one” is in the center of the reverse, surrounded by “American Congress.”

Numismatic experts generally concur that these coins were struck in the late 1700s, but no documentation has been found definitively saying where they were produced or who had them made.

Other particularly significant NGC-graded coins being offered include:

• An 1851 880 Reeded $50 Humbert graded NGC MS 61.
• An 1871-CC Liberty Head Double Eagle graded NGC XF 45.
• A 1796 Capped Bust with Stars Quarter Eagle graded NGC AU 58.
• An 1891-CC Liberty Head Double Eagle graded NGC AU 50.
• An 1889-CC Morgan Dollar graded NGC MS 61.
• An 1893-S Morgan Dollar graded NGC AU 50.
• An 1808 Capped Bust Quarter Eagle graded NGC MS 62.
• An 1856-O Liberty Head Double Eagle graded NGC AU 53.