The prized 1839-O half dollar is a sister to the rare 1838-O half dollars of which only 11 are known. The dates imply they were minted just a year apart but are actually twins and share the same reverse die in common. However, there are fewer of these 1839-O Specimen coins known, with only four distinct appearances reported. Other auction appearances (often without plates), are suspected to most likely be one of these known four examples. Only one 1839-O half dollar has been certified by PCGS at this time as a Branch Mint Specimen, the others are certified by NGC.

As Noted by Dick Graham in his reference work A Registry of Die Varieties of Reeded Edge Half Dollars 1836 - 1839, the branch mint at New Orleans was authorized by an Act of Congress on March 3, 1835, which also gave birth to the Charlotte and Dahlonega mints. The New Orleans Mint was designed by architect William Strickland in the Greek Revival style popular at the time. By the spring of 1838 the building was ready enough for coinage to begin, and dies sent from the Philadelphia Mint for Liberty Seated dimes were received. Dimes were initially struck in May of 1838 at New Orleans. Two pairs of dies for half dollars were also sent in the spring of 1838, but apparently the larger coining press was not yet ready and it is believed that a trial run of approximately 20 1838-O half dollars were probably struck as early as January 1839 or in late March or early April 1839. Documents note that these 1838-O half dollars were struck to "test the press," only 11 are known today of the approximately 20 struck by Coiner Rufus Tyler.

Three pairs of dies for the 1839-O half dollar arrived in March 1839. Similarly, a few Specimen coins were struck of the first 1839-O half dollars using the same reverse die used to coin the 1838-O pieces (possibly at the same time, but this is uncertain). Circulation strike coinage commenced following the production of the four known Branch Mint Specimen 1839-O half dollars using this same die pair. The two 1838 obverse dies were defaced and not used for additional coinage. Similarly, the three obverse dies of 1839 and the leftover 1838 reverse die and three of the four 1839 reverse dies were defaced at the end of the 1839, with one reverse die saved and used in 1840 to create the 1840 (O) Liberty Seated half dollar without the mintmark. Remember that the O mintmark in 1839 was on the obverse die, with the new Liberty Seated style the mintmark was moved to the reverse, so using this leftover die meant that these 1840 half dollars appeared to come from the Philadelphia Mint without any O mintmark. Studies have proven that this 1839 reverse die in New Orleans was the source of the 1840 (O) WB-101 Medium Letters variety that was struck at the New Orleans Mint. Numismatic studies are constantly finding new discoveries keeping interest high.

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in the August 2015 Chicago ANA Auction, where it realized $105,750.