A proof bust half...
dan1ecu
Posts: 1,573
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dan1ecu
Posts: 1,573
dan1ecu
Posts: 1,573
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I took the time to look up this proof date in Breen's Proof Encyclopedia.
Apparently, proof half dollars in 1818 came in 3 varieties:
1818/17 lg first 8
1818/17 sm 8s
normal date-
This coin is a normal date with spaced date, normal 8s, AT-S low; E in America leaning well to right, I have right base beginning to split away from upright; recutting on arrowheads. Breen reports in his proof book three examples of the normal date with the Eliasberg being his third example. In his Encyclopedia of US coins he added a fourth example ( whether this was a typical Breen mistake or the reporting of an additional coin, I do not know).
He seems to allude that these were part of sets consisting of cents,quarters and halves.and puzzles that more halves than quarters were known by him to exist. However, in another section of his book he states that sets were not made unequivocally until 1834 but may have occurred beginning in 1820. Maybe someone can clarify this issue.
The 1801-1803 Proof bust dollars have unknown dates of production.
Breen speculated that they must have been produced sometime after November 1834, the approximate time that the Class l 1804 dollars were struck. But, that they could have been manufactured as late as the 1850's, most likley some time before 1858.
K S