J-251 1859 Half Dollar Pattern - J251 1859 50C Pattern NGC PF64 CAC. R-7+. This exceedingly rare, near-Gem proof 1859 Fifty Cent, silver pattern piece has light, silvery devices set against chocolate brown fields. It comes with the provenance of the Exemplar Collection and is the finest known by two points at both NGC and PCGS. The surfaces are original and clean with virtually no hairlines or other distractions visible without magnification. The grade is confirmed by its CAC sticker, which indicates that the coin is a premium quality piece that fully merits the assigned grade.

Designed by Anthony Paquet, the coin shows Liberty seated facing left with her right hand outstretched resting on upright faces. Her left hand balances the Union shield. There are seven six-pointed stars to the left and six to the right. The reverse shows what Mint Director James Ross Snowden called the Wreath of Cereals that is made up of cotton, tobacco, sugar cane, corn, wheat, and oak leaves. The wreath encloses the denomination, written in two lines, 50 CENTS.

Assistant Engraver Anthony C. Paquet was born in 1814 in Hamburg, Germany. He emigrated in 1848. He began working at the Mint in 1857 and remained there as an employee until 1864. He did additional contract work after his regular employment. He died in 1882. Paquet is most famous for his double eagles of 1861 that were named for him. In his book The U.S. Mint and Coinage, Donald Taxay said of him, Paquet possessed a very modest talent, and his dies, with but one brief exception, were never adopted on the coinage. A peculiar ugliness in portraiture, stiffness in anatomy, and tall, thin lettering distinguish the work of this artist.

The 1859 J-251 fifty cent pattern has an R7+ rarity rating, which means that only 4 to 6 pieces are known in all grades. Of the known pieces, the present one is the finest at both NGC and PCGS. In its population report, NGC shows 1 in PF64 with none better. PCGS has 3 all graded PF62. At CAC, as of November 2012, there is only 1, the present coin confirmed at PF64 with none finer.