Looks like a larger denomination Seated Liberty coin. There might be a way to tell which denomination, but no research allowed so I'll have to guess. I'm thinking it's a Seated Liberty Half Dollar, mid to late 1860's perhaps?
Certainly seated Liberty quarter or half.... What is it best known for? I would say seeing our nation through division, war and being reunited.
Is there an "extra fold" variety of seated liberty? Maybe I'm thinking of the shoulder fold / no shoulder fold Canadian QEII coins, or the drapery/no drapery thing.
Maybe the "What is this coin best known for?" has something to do with the small die crack? Maybe it's one of those 1861-O Half Dollars struck under the Confederacy?
Arrows, rays, no idea other than a Seated Liberty; I don't know enough about these older coins, on my list of things to learn though.
I am going to go with a seated liberty dollar. First silver dollar issued after several decades of not having silver dollars while smaller denominations were still being minted.
Thanks to everyone for playing. It is indeed the 1868 Liberty Seated Half Dollar. Here's the full image. It is best known as America's most mocked coin. From the day it entered circulation, artists, magazine editors, numismatists, and cultural critics all seemed to notice the same problems. Liberty's anatomy was awkward, her pose was unnatural, her head too far right, proportions were inconsistent, and even the eagle on the reverse became the subject of ridicule. Their criticism appeared not in obscure letters or private correspondence but in respected art journals, literary magazines, and numismatic publications over nearly half a century. No other American coin design inspired such sustained criticism from artists, writers, and numismatists alike, and still remained in circulation for so long despite it. I'll be photographing coins on-site at the ANA World's Fair of Money this August at Booth 323. If you're at the show, drop by and say hello.
