UNDERRATED HIGH GRADE 1847-O $5 GOLD
1847-O, Extremely Fine to Almost Uncirculated.
Lustrous and well struck with partially prooflike fields and light orange gold color. There are some light hairlines and a few minor abrasions, but nothing serious. The date is placed well to the left with the 1 firmly touching the bust near the tip. The mintmark is weak at the bottom from not being strongly punched into the die. Purchased as part of Lot 251 from the Farouk sale in 1954. Ex. Col. E.H.R. Green Collection.
In my opinion, this issue is the rarest O Mint Half Eagle, just slightly more rare than the 1842-O. It is Rarity-5 in terms of population rarity, and R-8 with respect to AU specimens. I have never seen or heard of a strictly Uncirculated example, although Milas: 470 was close. For an 1847-O Half Eagle, this Pittman specimen is unusually high grade and in the middle of the Condition Census. One could easily spend years in a futile search for a finer or even comparable example.