1899 50C Barber Half Dollar PCGS PR65

We are delighted to present for consideration an 1899 Barber half dollar graded PR65 by PCGS. This dramatic specimen would be the perfect addition to a type set of classic U.S. proof half dollars or type set of proof Barber coinage (including the dime and quarter, as well as the half dollar). This coin could also be in a set of all of the proof Barber half dollars from 1892 to 1915. If you would like to initiate--or continue working on--such a type set, please reach out to AUCM for professional guidance.

      Numismatic scholar and art critic Cornelius Vermeule writes that, "The designs of Barber's coins were more attuned to the times than even he perhaps realized." Continuing, the scholar writes, "Of all American coins, long in circulation, no series has stood the wearing demands of modern coinage so well as the [coins] developed by the chief engraver in Philadelphia. Liberty's cap, incised diadem, and wreath of laurel were designed to echo all the depth and volume of her Olympian countenance. The classical substances are offset, almost literally, by the sharply rectangular dentils of the raised rim and the strength of 13 six-pointed stars. On the [reverse] ... an equal constellation of stars ... is clustered above the eagle's shaggy, craggy profile. On both sides the simple dignity of motto, legend, and denomination binds the pictorialism into a cohesive tondo. The wealth of irregular surfaces and sharp angles is an almost electrifying aesthetic experience. ... Uncirculated specimens [are] a pleasure to contemplate. The sculptor was unsurpassed in the mechanics of creating a durable design of monumental validity."