The half eagles of 1819 are extraordinary rarities. The 5D/50 variety is the most numerous of the three die marriages, with a population that the Bass-Dannreuther book suggests is in the range of 16 to 20 specimens. Included in this number are two examples impounded in the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution and the Harry Bass Core Collection coin at the American Numismatic Association Museum. The Bass coin was first offered in the 1907 David S. Wilson sale, where the date was described as “excessively rare; only nine known to exist; the exceeding rarity of this date was not appreciated until the Smith sale.” Saul Teichman’s careful research has identified 14 provenance chains representing somewhere between 12 and 15 individual specimens. Since the Harry Bass duplicate sold in 1999, there have been just three offerings of this date at auction, including two of the same specimen.

In all grades and representing all die varieties, PCGS has certified just eight examples of this date. Five 1819 half eagles are represented as Mint State on the PCGS Population Report, probably representing fewer individual coins.

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in the D. Brent Pogue Part III Auction, where it realized $423,000.