 1836 Reeded Edge. Brilliant Uncirculated. The fields reveal some barely noticeable hairlines which are toned over with lovely lilac gray and gold near the rims. Identifiable by a small nick at the top of Liberty's chest, another midfield across from her chin. On the reverse the surfaces are similar, and a thin die crack extends down from the beaded border past the final 'S' of STATES, this die crack is present on the Proofs and must have appeared early in the coining process.
Well struck throughout on the new steam press in late 1836, and these are recorded as the first coins struck for circulation on that new coining press. For many years it was the desire of the Philadelphia Mint to build or purchase such a device, and finally the machinery was completed and used for coinage with these 1836 Reeded Edge Half Dollars. Coins would now be produced with more uniform strikes and edges, further thwarting counterfeiters in the endless cat and mouse game. A scant 1,200 were struck of this new Reeded Edge design in 1836, and these were intended for circulation and were not a pattern issue as long believed.
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