If you plan on making your way to the World’s Fair of Money in Chicago next month, a visit to the Museum Showcase (booth #1829) will be well worth your time. There you will see an ultra rare 1854-S Half Eagle on display. Only 268 of these were ever struck by the San Francisco Mint and now, there are only three of these known to exist.
This particular coin sold an eye watering $2,160,000 at the 2018 World’s Fair of Money in Philadelphia. It is rated at XF-45 by PCGS. This will be the first public viewing of this coin since it was discovered just last year.
It was submitted by an anonymous collector to NGC last year. The submitter assumed it was a counterfeit given the rarity of it. NGC confirmed that it was genuine and the coin was almost immediately consigned to Heritage Auctions where it sold for its dramatic $2.16 Million price. It changed hands a couple of times then was re-graded by PCGS.
Overall there are three known examples of this 1854-S Half Eagle coin and one previously known sample missing. One is in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Numismatic Collection in Washington, D.C.. The second is part of the Pogue family collection in Texas. The missing Half Eagle was stolen in 1967 from the home of Willis DuPont. That coins has never been found.
It is confirmed that this Half Eagle found last year is not the DuPont coin.
The American Numismatic Association’s 2019 Chicago World’s Fair of Money will be in Hall F of the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois.