1894-S $5 Liberty Head Half Eagle PCGS MS62 Ex. Fairmont Collection

Formerly sold in the Fairmont Collection by Stacks Bowers for $4,560 on June 2022, Lot #2447, and described as:

1894-S Liberty Head Half Eagle. MS-62 (PCGS).

Pretty rose-orange patina blankets both sides of this smartly impressed example. The 1894-S inaugurates a run of condition rarity San Francisco Mint half eagles that continues through 1897. This first year issue is by far the rarest in the group, due in no small part to a limited mintage of 55,900 coins. Most survivors are well worn, which confirms that gold coinage continued to see active circulation on the West Coast through the 1890s. Very few must have see service in export trade as Mint State examples are rare and seldom offered in today's market. Writing in the 2008 edition of their Encyclopedia of U.S. Gold Coins: 1795-1933, Jeff Garrett and Ron Guth sum up the challenge presented by the 1894-S nicely:

"This is one of the dates that are taken for granted until one makes an effort to locate an example. Very few 1894-S half eagles have traded at auction in the last two decades because low-grade coins of the date are not deemed worthy of a major auction sale and there are very few high-grade coins known."

Indeed, this particular example from the Fairmont Collection is only the sixth Mint State 1894-S five that we have brought to auction in the last 10 or so years. A fleeting bidding opportunity worthy of one's undivided attention.

PCGS Population: 23; 5 finer (MS-64 finest).