Lot 4
4
PROOF-ONLY 1836 HALF-CENT SECOND RESTRIKE, SMALL BERRIES
Half-Cent, 1836, classic head, design by John Reich, modified by William Kneass, second restrike, small berries (Breen 2; Gilbert 2, rarity 7), flatness on reverse wreath not uncommon for the Half-Cents of this design type, narrow obverse rim, reverse rim with high wire edge, tiny (mint made?) mark in field before Liberty's portrait, choice to gem Proof, lustrous brown surfaces with much red, one of only five specimens mentioned by Breen in his Encyclopedia

Details
Half-Cent, 1836, classic head, design by John Reich, modified by William Kneass, second restrike, small berries (Breen 2; Gilbert 2, rarity 7), flatness on reverse wreath not uncommon for the Half-Cents of this design type, narrow obverse rim, reverse rim with high wire edge, tiny (mint made?) mark in field before Liberty's portrait, choice to gem Proof, lustrous brown surfaces with much red, one of only five specimens mentioned by Breen in his Encyclopedia

Lot Essay

As with the 1831 Proof Half-Cent, the 1836 Proof-only issue is regarded as a restrike made at the mint sometime in the late 1850's. Nineteenth Century numismatist Captain John Haseltine was also familiar with this rarity, calling a specimen he encountered in 1879, "The only one I ever saw."