1858 H10C MS67 Certification #81957918, PCGS #4367

Ron Guth

The 1858 Half Dime is one of the most common dates in the Half Dime series, but a couple of interesting varieties make it worthwhile to check out these little jewels.  The most interesting variety is the 1858 over Inverted Date.  In this case, the engraver punched the date into the die upside-down, then corrected the mistake, but was unable to remove all of the undertype.  On the other variety, the date was punched into the die too high in the space between the base and the denticles, then corrected.  Again, attempts to efface the undertype failed.  Both of these varieties command a significant premium over the price of a normal 1858 Half Dime and it is entirely possible that unattributed examples await the presistent cherry-picker.

In terms of condition, the 1858 Half Dime comes nice -- very nice, in fact.  The PCGS Condition Census consists entirely of MS67 and better examples...topped by a remarkable PCGS MS68 (pictured above).