1877 Pattern Fifty Dollars or `Half Union`. Judd-1549. Copper (gilt), reeded edge
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- Sold Date
- Source Ira & Larry Goldberg Coins & Collectibles, Inc.
1877 Pattern Fifty Dollars or `Half Union`. Judd-1549. Copper (gilt), reeded edge. NGC graded Proof 64. Possibly the finest copper known. PCGS graded 2 in PF-63. Only 3 known. Two graded by NGC PF63 and PF64. Copper, gilt. Reeded edge. Light hairlines in the field, but essentially mirrorlike. Well struck and with excellent contrast. A beautiful example of a pattern variety that is unobtainable in gold, accessible only in copper or copper gilt, and rare as such. The current piece was struck as copper and then was gold plated very early, possibly at the mint (as was done every now and then), possibly not. The record is ambiguous. Fewer than 10 different examples have been traced today of Judd-1549, making the present coin a rarity in an absolute sense. Interestingly, more gilt examples of Judd-1549 are known than are copper pieces (while for J-1547, the opposite is true). Although today classic `trophy coins` have a way of bouncing around on the market and appearing more frequently than their rarity indicates, most 1877 pattern $50 pieces have remained rather quiet. The $50 Half Union, as it was called, was the result of a proposal made to create a large gold coin for commerce, in view of quantities of bullion being available from California. The denomination has precedence in that decades earlier in 1851 and 1852 octagonal $50 `slugs`
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