| Description: |
By all rights the 1922 Grant half dollar With Star should be famous. Actually, in its day,
before the great commemorative excitement of 1935 and early 1936 it was the leader of the
pack—the single coin that everyone wanted, the variety that was the hardest to find and
also the most expensive. However, since then other commemorative halves, not as rare, have
captured the limelight, including some with lower mintages. Overlooked are certain
distinctive aspects of the 1922 Grant With Star. First, they were minted on a regular
production line basis, with no care given to preserving them from handling marks,
scuffing, or the like. They were then put in bags and shipped off to the distributor in
Ohio. By the time they were ready for release, many pieces were what today we might call
MS-63. Beyond that, once pieces were distributed, many were cleaned or otherwise
improperly polished by both the public and by numismatists. The result is that today in
2006 there are very few pieces that can qualify above the MS-65 level. |
