 1894'O' Gem Brilliant Uncirculated and a simply unbelievable specimen! Wholly mirrored fields and incredibly deep cameo design features entirely distinguish this coin from the more pedestrian survivors of this date. The strike, furthermore, is exceptionally sharp for a Barber Half Dollar of any date, let alone an example of this oft poorly struck issue. In light of the remarkable characteristics of this jewel, we cannot help but suggest that this coin may indeed be a specimen or presentation piece of some sort, as the appearance of this coin is clearly unlike any ''normal,'' circulation strike Barber Half Dollar. NGC MS66.
Ex Rarities Sale (Bowers and Merena, January 5, 1999, lot 1154).
It is important to point out that proof coins and/or specimen strikes of various dates and denominations from the New Orleans Mint are well documented within the general date range of the coin offered here. In fact, several of these coins are indeed Half Dollars. As Breen points out, many of the employees at the branch mints were sent to these mints from Philadelphia, where they certainly would have learned the techniques for striking Proofs. It is not at all impossible that these same employees would have been called upon, when the appropriate occasion arose, to use their expertise to manufacture a ''special'' coin. Whether such a coin would have been a Proof in the strictest sense, or perhaps a specimen strike would no doubt be a function of the time spent, resources used, and wherewithal administered by those executing such coins.
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