1854 50C Liberty Seated Half Dollar, Arrows PCGS MS64 (CAC)

This dramatic piece is an excellent candidate for a type coin.

Ron Guth writes, "In 1854, Half Dollars continued to show arrowheads on either side of the date, but the rays were removed from the reverse .... While the mintage of the 1854 Half Dollar was small by modern standards, it was large for the time. However, type collectors add an increased level of demand that keep prices high for this date. Fortunately, collectors pulled aside an ample supply of Mint State examples, giving today's collectors lots of choices among a range of MS62's to MS64's .... The strike on this date is generally good to above-average..." Out of its mintage of 2,982,000, there have been 758 graded PCGS. Of those, there are 37 in MS64 with just 18 finer. With the desirous CAC sticker there are 5 in MS64 with 8 finer.

Chief Engraver Christian Gobrecht is credited with crafting the Seated Liberty design. However, see below for a more nuanced explanation of the design's development. Image: wikipedia.

It was U.S. Mint Director Robert B. Patterson, who, in 1835, was desirous of a new coin that was reminiscent of Britannia on British copper, or images of Liberty from the French Revolution. Artist Thomas Sully was tasked with crafting a rendering of Liberty based on a set of British coins and medals. Then Sully's work was given to the newly hired engraver, Christian Gobrecht, who created a series of drawings before producing a copper die for study and presentation in Washington, D.C. When the new half dollars were produced, starting in 1839, they had an updated reverse that was a freshly engraved version of John Reich's 1807 half dollar eagle reverse design--sans the motto and ribbon. The obverse design was tinkered with further before the release of the 1854 Arrows type coin. It was in 1839 that the sculptor Robert Ball Hughes lowered the relief, refined the proportions and dynamics of the Liberty, and added an eloquent fold of cloth from the right elbow. Thus the design as we know it today should be called the "Patterson-Sully-Gobrecht-Hughes" design.