Popular with type collectors as the first Head Right Liberty Cap half cent, the 1794 is also eagerly sought as the only date of the Large Head type. It has been our experience that of all half cent types, the 1794 Large Head is far and away the most difficult to obtain in high grades, handily eclipsing the even more famous 1793 Head Left. Indeed, although the 1794 is not as rare as a date in comparison to the famous 1793, all bets are off when it comes to pieces offering a combination of high grade, smooth planchet surfaces, and excellent eye appeal. Using these criteria, the 1794 Large Head type is the most difficult to obtain in the entire half cent series. Only a few varieties of the 1794 half cent are known in such remarkable grades. Manley, in fact, states that only about a dozen examples of C-1a are extant in About Uncirculated and Mint State grades, these coins representing the only high- grade examples of the Large Head type available to advanced collectors, as the rare C-1b Small Edge Letters variety is unknown above VF.

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in the D. Brent Pogue Part III Auction, where it realized $211,500.