1856-S NO MOTTO, LIBERTY HEAD GOLD HALF EAGLE, PCGS AU58, LARGE S, HIGH DATE

Description

1856-S No Motto, Liberty Head Gold Half Eagle, Large S, High Date
PCGS graded AU58, NFC secure.
Per Garret and Guth's "Encyclopedia of U.S. Gold Coins 1795-1933", "The 1856-S half eagle was used extensively in the commerce of the California Gold Rush. Most of the coins seen are heavily circulated or damaged... Fewer coins of this date have been offered at auction than many of the more popular Charlotte and Dahlonega issues of the 1850s... but this is reflective of the fact that the collecting of San Francisco coins, compared to the popular Southern mint coinage, is underdeveloped."
There are two distinct reverse varieties for this date. The first is the large S variety with the mint mark located over the main stem of the E in FIVE (shown above and ref. 34758232 photo on the PCGS website). The second is a medium S variety with the mint mark located over the right serif of the V in FIVE (ref. 34551747 photo on the PCGS website).
"Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins" (Breen 6625) suggests that the 1856-S Large S is "Very rare" although that does not seem to be the case.
There are three different obverse varieties with slightly different locations for the date. The first is the high date variety shown above where the 1 in the date almost touches the truncation. The second is more centered with the 1 about centered between the truncation and rim (again ref.
34551747 photo on the PCGS website). And the low date with the 1 almost touching the dentils (ref. 455332-008 [AU58] on the NGC website - poor photo)
This is a work in progress as there may be slight differences in the large S "tilt" and other slight positional variations for the medium S.
PCGS/NGC graded population  328
Mintage 105,100
Will ship via USPS Priority Mail Express, signature required.