This variety was likely discovered by Harlan Page Smith, a dealer who was one of the foremost collectors of United States gold coins of his generation, but it wasn’t described in print until this coin was sold after his death. S. Hudson and Henry Chapman offered the H.P. Smith Collection in May 1906, noting in their description of this specimen “The D in the denomination has been cut over the letter O showing that the die sinker originally made it 50 instead of 5D.” They correctly surmised that the die originally read 50; the character beneath the D is a 0, not a O. John Dannreuther credits the D. Brent Pogue coin as the discovery piece for the variety in Early U.S. Gold Coin Varieties, further noting that specimens of this die marriage were recognized by Waldo Newcomer, Edgar H. Adams, and William H. Woodin, all early 20th century specialists in early U.S. gold. Woodin brought a specimen of the 1818 5D/50 variety to the 1914 ANS Exhibition. BD-3 with the 5D/50 blunder in the reverse denomination is the rarest variety of the date, John W. Dannreuther (2006) accounting for only 35-45 survivors in all grades.

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in the D. Brent Pogue Part III Auction, where it realized $223,250.