Unique Specimen Floyd Starr Half-Disme Sells at Auction for $1.3 Million!

Dallas, Texas: With five live sessions plus an online session left to go, Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries' official auction of the Central States Numismatic Society Convention has already realized over $10.5 million, including $1,322,500 for the 1792 Half Disme, which hails from the Floyd Starr Collection, purchased by a private collector who wishes to remain anonymous.

"This is not only a spectacular coin," said Greg Rohan, President of Heritage, "but a significant piece of American history as well. Despite opinions to the contrary, this issue is the first circulating American coin struck under authority of the Mint Act of April 1792."

"A storied and exciting piece of American coinage, the 1792 half disme was struck at the behest of none other than Thomas Jefferson who, as head of the Department of State in 1792, also had charge of the nation's Mint. Jefferson ordered the coins made on July 11, 1792, and took delivery of them on July 13, 1792, when his datebook reads, 'Recd. From the Mint 1500 half dimes of the new coinage.'"

"The half disme offered here, from the Floyd Starr collection," Rohan continued, "is probably the finest known example, and it is certified by PCGS as a Specimen strike, the only such piece to receive this designation. It is a spectacular, fully struck coin."

"Given its obvious specimen status," Rohan said, "this might well have been the very first United States coin actually released by the Treasury Department, perhaps a special gift to a friend of the U.S. or even to George Washington himself. That notwithstanding, this is, by its very nature, an important piece of American history."

1792 H10C Judd-7, Pollock-7, R.4. SP67 PCGS

Images, descriptions, and prices realized from all of Heritage's previous auctions are available in the Permanent Auction Archives at the Heritage website.

To reserve your copy of a catalog for any upcoming Heritage auction, please contact Nicole Jewell, c/o Heritage Auction Galleries, 3500 Maple Avenue, 17th Floor, Dallas, TX 75219, or call 1-800-872-6467, ext. 272.