1850-C $5 Liberty Head Half Eagle PCGS AU53 (CAC) Ex. The Fairmont Collection

Gold specialist Doug Winter writes, “The mintage of Charlotte half eagles remained comparably high in 1850. This is one of the more available dates from this era and some very nice examples have survived.” He goes on to tell us, “The 1850-C is one of the more common half eagles from the Charlotte Mint. It can be found with relative ease in Very Fine and Extremely Fine grades and is only moderately scarce in the lower AU grades. It becomes very scarce in properly graded AU55 to AU58 and is very rare in Uncirculated with, at most, a dozen known.”

The Charlotte Mint, where this great specimen was struck in 1850.

Winter tells us that the 1850-C is a relatively common issue. However, when one crunches the numbers a different story unfolds. The total number of pieces graded by both PCGS and NGC is 382. That is a mere 0.60071 percent of the original mintage of 63,591. That is compelling circumstantial evidence of this issue being a greater rarity than Winter claims it to be. Of the 201 examples graded by PCGS, there are 18 in AU53 with 58 finer. In CAC, there are 5 in AU53 with 8 finer.

Winter also tells us, “The color on original pieces tends to be very attractive. It ranges from deep green-gold to lighter yellow-gold … Nice, original … 1850-C half eagles are among the most attractive Charlotte half eagles from the 1850s.” This is one of those original “deep green-gold” pieces Winter discussed above.