1907-D Barber Half Dollar, MS66+ (PCGS/SP)
Superb Gem 66+, Ex George Byers

This coin is a perfect benchmark for what a Gem Mint State Silver Type coin should look like. The surfaces are fully original with broad, lustrous centers that are framed in a vivid, natural rainbow of color about the rims. The strike is about as finely detailed as we will ever see on a business strike Barber Half, with bold shield points, tailfeathers, eagle's claw at right, and arrow feathers below. Some shallow obverse contact marks are all that there is to restrict the grade, the most noticeable of which are scattered in the right field.

PCGS reports nine 1907-D Halves certified as MS-66, topped by three more grading MS-67. However, this 1907-D is far superior to every other MS-66 that I've seen, including the Ex Queller coin which I sold last year, and is even preferable to the now dipped white Ex Eliasberg 1907-D which PCGS certified as MS-67. (PCGS #50138312. See Heritage 1/2005:4246 @ $18,400.)

Provenance:

• (Stack's "Arthur Stewart Collection", May 1972: lot 1100)
• George Byers (Stack's, October 2006: lot 1365 as "Gem Brilliant Uncirculated" @ $10,925)
• Private Collection, O'Connor Numismatics Client