1840-(O) Liberty Seated Half Dollar. WB-4. Rarity-3. Medium Letters (a.k.a. Reverse of 1838). EF-45

1840-(O) Liberty Seated Half Dollar. WB-4. Rarity-3. Medium Letters (a.k.a. Reverse of 1838). EF-45 (PCGS).This is a boldly to sharply defined half dollar with light silver-apricot highlights on both sides. Although not a rare variety in an absolute sense, the 1840 Medium Letters half dollar is always in demand among specialists in Liberty Seated coinage. Through die linkage with two obverse dies of the 1840-O issue, Liberty Seated half dollar experts Randy Wiley and Bill Bugert concluded that the 1840 Medium Letters half dollars were actually struck at the New Orleans Mint using a leftover, yet unused reverse die of the 1839-O Capped Bust issue. Since the O appears on the obverse of the outgoing design and the reverse of the incoming type, this Liberty Seated issue does not display the mintmark on either side. An intriguing variety at a desirable level of preservation.The plate coin for the 1840-(O) Medium Letters variety (Breen-4747) on page 394 of Walter Breens 1988 <em>Encyclopedia</em>.