1925 50C Stone Mountain Silver Commemorative NGC MS68

Take the original mintage of this dramatic coin: 2,310,000--then take the number of them authenticated and certified by NGC: 9,446 (as of 11/20). Next consider that the example being offered by AUCM carries the stratospheric grade of MS 68, and you have a rarity of which NGC has graded only 15--with none finer. This is a top of the pop--a conditional rarity par excellence and registry coin. But this outstanding coin has a troubled past and concept behind it, however one that makes it an important and fascinating part of American numismatic history.

The Stone Mountain half dollar was originally conceived as a tool to raise funds for the Stone Mountain monument in Georgia which features carvings of three Confederate luminaries: Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. The largest bas relief in the world, the monument's purpose was to honor fallen Confederate soldiers of the Civil War. Interestingly, there was a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) connection that includes the owner of Stone Mountain; the original sponsoring agency, the United Daughters of the Confederacy (which later cut ties with the Klan); and the designer and sculptor, Gutzon Borglum.

Numismatic art scholar Cornelius Vermeule writes, "So far as the grandeur of the mountainside project is concerned, there was a good precedent in .... [a]bout 330 B.C. [when] someone conceived the notion of carving an image of Alexander the Great on the flank of Mount Athos. Borglum's outdoor exercise was doomed to failure by its expense and the stormy temperament of the sculptor, but the commemorative half dollar survives as his memorial to the grand idea."

Coin dealer and renowned expert on the classic commemoratives, Anthony Swiatek, writes that “… the [Stone Mountain] coin is not difficult to locate in grades up to MS-66. Collectors should attempt to procure the flashier, eye-appealing coin, but only for the joy of collecting. Only the loftier grades are likely to increase in value.” Swiatek sees “good to very good future potential” in flashy MS-66 coins. “Pieces grading MS-67 … presently offer very good to excellent future potential, provided they possess that all-important flash or eye appeal.” Swiatek doesn't mention the "loftier" MS 68 grade because they are not available to the typical collector. However, such a top coin, as Swaitek says, is "likely to increase in value" in the years to come.