This issue is particularly notable. It is the first year of the Draped Bust, Heraldic Eagle design and has long been held in very high regard. Most specimens are well worn, and examples graded Extremely Fine or better are greeted with excitement.

“The 1801 is a great rarity in AU or Uncirculated grade,” noted early half dollar expert Sheridan Downey as quoted in the 1997 Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. Collection catalog. Aside from a piece offered in the Stack’s sale of September 1983, once graded AU-58 (PCGS) but showing “a small puncture over the head of Ms. Liberty,” Downey noted he had “not seen another no-question 1801 in AU, let alone an Uncirculated.” Since then, the needle has moved slightly on what constitutes a Mint State 1801 half dollar. The often weakly-struck character of this issue has allowed pieces with a typical strike and slight wear to be judged as Mint State, not the About Uncirculated or even Extremely Fine grade they would have received a few decades ago. There are very few high grade examples of this very first issue of the Draped Bust, Heraldic Eagle type, each with varying strike, original surface, eye appeal, and technical grade.

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in the D. Brent Pogue Part I Auction, where it realized $58,750.