Auction Name: 2026 January 8 US Coins Signature Auction - FUN Special Sessions: Ellsworth & Jacobson

Lot Number: 1037

Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/1389*1037

1807 $5 Bust Right, Large Reverse Stars, BD-5, High R.6, AU58 PCGS. HBJ-237. Lightly reflective and lustrous rose-gold surfaces. A trace of wear appears on the high points of this splendid near-Mint example with rich coppery-orange toning at the peripheries. Minor reverse adjustment marks cross the seventh cloud.
Variety Equivalents: Adams-3, Breen 3-C, Miller-89, Bass-3107.
Obverse Die: The obverse made its only appearance for this die marriage.
Reverse Die: The reverse appeared for 1807 BD-4, BD-5, and BD-6.
Bass-Dannreuther Die State c/b: The obverse is cracked from the border through the upright of the B into the bust with another crack from the border between the 1 and 8 into the hair. Curved die lines are evident on the neck above the drapery. The reverse is cracked from the N in UNITED through the arrows to the shield.
PCGS Population Data (10/25): All six 1807 Draped Bust varieties include 38 that PCGS grades AU58, one graded AU58+, and 105 finer examples.
Significant Examples: This example is tied with two others for the sixth finest that we have handled following five Mint State examples.
Breen (1966): Breen recorded "Melish 1901, ex Ryder; originally from a Lyman Low sale in 1916. I have seen one or two others, and that is all." The Lyman Low source was mentioned in the Melish catalog. That was probably lot 5 in Low's July 1916 sale, described as "1807 Old type. Uncirculated."
Bass-Dannreuther (2006): "Bass owned two examples of this rare variety - one researcher had located only four coins! There are likely 20 or so still around, but by far, this is the toughest variety of this date."
Heritage Commentary: Early catalogers, researchers, and authors faced challenges that are unfamiliar to the current generation of numismatic scholars. When Abe Kosoff was cataloging the Melish collection in the mid-1950s, he probably did not have access to Lyman Low's 1916 catalogs. Today, the Newman Numismatic Portal has free access to thousands of historical auction catalogs, reference works, periodicals, and so much more. Determining the specific 1916 Low catalog today is literally just a few mouse clicks away. The Newman Numismatic Portal (nnp.wustl.edu) was a vision of the late Eric P. Newman whose dream was free access to numismatic information, and the portal was financed through the sale of his own collection.
Doug Winter Commentary: Here is a nice example of the scarcest of the four Large Reverse Stars 1807 half eagles.
Provenance: Purchased privately on January 10, 2005.
From The Harvey B. Jacobson, Jr. Collection of Early Half Eagles.

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