Of all the various denominations
bearing Christian Gobrecht's familiar Seated Liberty design, it was the half
dollar alone that remained true to his original rendering of the figure. For
reasons now lost to history, it did not receive the revised treatment prepared
by Robert B. Hughes in 1840. The sole concession was the addition of a shallow,
extra bit of drapery at Liberty's elbow during 1839 and a reduction to the size
of the rock upon which she sits.
An extreme rarity is the Small Date obverse with Small Letters reverse
The half dollars of 1842 feature
either the Small Date used 1839-41 or the Medium Date seen on coins dated
1843-46. In addition, the size the letters in the reverse legends was increased
substantially during midyear. The mixing of these various dies resulted in
several popular varieties.
Most commonly seen of the Philadelphia Mint
issues is the Medium Date/Large Letters combination, followed in scarcity by
the Small Date/Large Letters variety. Both are sufficiently available that
examples remain affordable through the lower mint state grades. One reverse die
of the SD/LL combination is distinctly doubled, and this variety is quite
scarce.
An extreme rarity is the Small Date obverse with Small Letters
reverse, just two pieces being known. The first example, a moderately worn
coin, was discovered in 1998. An unattributed mint state example then appeared
at auction during 2005, with several alert specialists bidding it up to a very
high price.
