J-72 50c J72 1838 Half Dollar, PCGS PF63 CAC. R-5. This eye-appealing crisp proof 1838 Pattern Half Dollar has exceptional peripheral toning on both sides. It is tied for third finest at PCGS. The devices are predominantly silver-grey on steel-blue fields that turn gold and brown towards the rims and then turn back to steel-blue. The coin is fully struck, as expected for a proof coin, with full details on all aspects of the design on both sides. No wear is seen, also as expected, and the surfaces are original and clean with good reflectivity. The CAC sticker indicates that the coin is of premium quality and is solid for the grade.

The coin designed by Christian Gobrecht shows a profile of Liberty facing left with her luxuriant tresses falling to her shoulder below the truncation. She wears a ribbon in her hair inscribed LIBERTY. Seven six-pointed stars are to the left and six are to the right. The date, 1838 is below. The reverse shows a perched eagle holding four arrows in its left talon as it faces to its left. The legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is above with the denomination HALF DOLLAR below. The denomination is separated from the legend by large bulls eye dots.

In general the 1830s was a time of experimentation at the Mint. Between 1835 and 1839, cents were given seven different heads, half dimes and dimes had three types, quarters had four types, half dollars had six types, and quarter eagles and half eagles had five types. Some of these changes may have been for aesthetic reasons. Others were for more practical ones. The half dollar reverse was redrawn because of the change from 50 CENTS to HALF DOL. so it would be uniform with the quarter and silver dollar. Since each of these design changes required patterns, an abundance of pattern coins was made during this time. There were three pattern half dollar obverse dies made in 1838, the one used on the present coin, and two with the Liberty Seated motif. These were combined with several reverse motifs, including one from 1836 and another that was made in 1858.

Christian Gobrecht became the third Chief Engraver at the United States Mint. He was born in Hanover, Pennsylvania in 1785. His father was a German immigrant, and his mother traced her ancestry to the early settlers of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Gobrecht married Mary Hewes in 1818. One of his early positions was as an engraver of clocks in Baltimore. Later he went to Philadelphia where he became a banknote engraver. He invented a machine that allowed one to convert a three-dimensional medal into an illustration. This was an excellent job and Gobrecht was understandably reluctant to work for the Mint for less money than he was making at the engraving firm. In order to persuade him to leave, Mint Director Robert Patterson prevailed upon Chief Engraver William Kneass, who had had a stroke, to take less in salary so more money would be available to hire Gobrecht on a permanent basis. In 1826 Gobrecht did his first work for the Mint as an assistant to Kneass. After Kneass stroke, Gobrecht did all the die and pattern work for the Mint. He became Chief Engraver in 1840 and served until his death in 1844. He was famous for his Liberty Seated motif which was used for all denominations of sliver coinage including the half-dime, dime, quarter dollar, half dollar and sliver dollar. He also designed the Liberty Head gold eagle, a motif that was also used on the half-cent, the cent, the gold quarter eagle, and the gold half eagle.

The J-72 pattern half dollar has an R5 rating, which indicates that 31 to 75 pieces are known. In its population report, PCGS shows 12 in PF63 condition with 10 better. As of January 2012 CAC has 1 in PF63 with 3 better.