Liberty Cap Half Cent, 1797, Lettered Edge, ½¢ , PCGS, G Details

The year 1797 presents a dizzying array of varieties, and while this may appear among the more mundane at first glance, it is deceptively scarce. Breen assigned it a Rarity-6, later revised downward to Rarity-4. However, the PCGS population suggests otherwise, with only four examples currently certified. From The Chain O' Lakes Collection of Half Cents. *While we typically do not post non straight graded coins on our site, we chose to post the majority of those coins that did not straight grade that we sent to PCGS in an effort to showcase the collection in its entirety. Those dates not posted remain raw and will be posted on our site with our inventory of raw coins.*

Of additional interest, Breen notes that most, if not all, examples of this variety were struck on cut-down Talbot, Allum & Lee tokens, adding an intriguing layer of historical context to an already elusive issue.