1833 $5 Small Date, BD-3, High R.7, AU58+ PCGS....

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1833 BD-3 Half Eagle, AU58+
Small Date, Only Two Examples Traced

1833 $5 Small Date, BD-3, High R.7, AU58+ PCGS. Ex: Harry W. Bass, Jr. Collection. Bass-Dannreuther Die State b/b. The total number of half eagles struck in 1833 was 193,630 coins. A majority of the mintage was manufactured from the BD-1 die pair with a Wide, Large Date. About 35 to 45 examples survive of that variety. The next die combination, BD-2, features a Close, Small Date and shares a reverse with BD-1. It is slightly less collectible with an estimated surviving population of 22 to 28 pieces. The third and final variety for the 1833 half eagle is BD-3. It, too, has a Close, Small Date but the reverse differs. The 5 in the denomination is under the tip of the fletching and the period is much closer to the D. John Dannreuther (2006) suggests only three to five BD-3 coins exist.

This was the only example that Harry Bass was able to locate. He purchased the coin in 1973 -- the only auction appearance for an 1833 BD-3 half eagle between 1953 and 1987. Those two offerings were represented by the same coin, which today is housed in an MS61 PCGS holder. We have handled that piece on two separate occasions recently, once in 2017 and again in 2019, when we noted:

"Efforts to locate additional representation of the variety in old auction catalogs have yielded little data. BD-3 coins were plated in two early Chapman sales, including S.H. Chapman's 1907 auction of the David S. Wilson Collection and Henry Chapman's 1912 offering of the George H. Earle Collection, as well as later in A. Kosoff's 1962 'Illustrated History' catalog of the Judd Collection. However, in each case, the quality of the plate was insufficient to positively match the coin to a known specimen today. Going by strike, each plate shows a coin that appears too sharp to be the Norweb specimen, although it remains possible that all three were earlier appearances of the Bass coin. If so, then it is unlikely that more than two BD-3 specimens exist."

The Bass and Norweb examples remain the only two BD-3 representative we have been able to locate. This coin, offered here for the first time in nearly 50 years, displays warm yellow-gold color and partial luster around the well-struck relief elements. Abrasions are uniformly small and undistracting.

Roster of 1833 BD-3 Half Eagles
1. MS61 PCGS. Auction Sale (Hollinbeck Coin Company, 3/1953), lot 645D; The Norweb Collection, Part I (Bowers and Merena, 10/1987), lot 783; Four Landmark Collections (Bowers and Merena, 3/1989), lot 620; Public Auction Sale (Stack's, 5/1994), lot 661; Hutchinson Collection, Part II / Central States Signature (Heritage, 4/2017), lot 4263, realized $82,250; Dallas Signature (Heritage, 12/2019), lot 3298, realized $96,000.
2. AU58+ PCGS. Purchased from Numismatics, Ltd., (6/9/1973); Harry W. Bass, Jr. Foundation; ANA Money Museum. Bass Sylloge 3162. The present coin.

Additional Appearances:
A. Uncirculated. David S. Wilson Collection (S.H. Chapman, 3/1907), lot 83, realized $40.00.
B. Extremely Fine. George H. Earle Collection (Henry Chapman, 6/1912), lot 2404, realized $57.50.
C. Uncirculated. J. Hewitt Judd; Illustrated History United States Coins (Kosoff, 1962), lot 85.
From The Harry W. Bass, Jr. Core Collection, Part II.

Coin Index Numbers: (Variety PCGS# 519954, Base PCGS# 8158, GSID# 198942)

Metal: 91.67% Gold, 8.33% Copper
Weight: 8.75 grams
AGW: 0.25789oz

Note for clients in the European Union: This lot is considered by the European Union to be “investment gold”. We believe that it meets the criteria established in Article 344(1), point (2) of Council Directive 2006/112/EC and thus should be exempt from import VAT regardless of the selling price. Any questions or concerns about VAT should be addressed to your accountant or local tax authority.

View all of [The Harry W. Bass, Jr. Core Collection, Part III. ]

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