United States: Seated Liberty half dollar, No Motto type, 1861-O

United States: Seated Liberty half dollar, No Motto type, 1861-O

Obverse: Seated Liberty design by Christian Gobrecht, date below.
Reverse: bald eagle with Union shield, wings spread, clutching an olive branch and three arrows in its talons; "O" mintmark (New Orleans) below.
Issuer: Half dollars of this date and mintmark combination were struck first by the New Orleans Mint, under United States control, then the seceded State of Louisiana, and finally the Confederate States of America, during the course of 1861.
Specifications: .900 fine silver, .3600 oz. ASW, 30.6 mm diameter, 2.15 mm thick, 12.44 g.
Grade: PCGS F12; cert. #29718046.
Reference: PCGS-6303, Numista-14904.
Provenance: ex-David Lawrence Rare Coins, Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA, 9 June 2020.*
Notes: The 1861-O half dollar has an interesting place in US numismatic history because the same dies were used by three separate authorities in the course of a single year. First, 330,000 coins were struck while the New Orleans Mint was still under US government control, until January 26th of 1861. Then another 1,240,000 were struck by the State of Louisiana after its secession from the Union, but before it joined the Confederacy. Finally, 962,633 pieces were struck for the Confederate States government after Louisiana joined. So this particular date and mintmark combination is steeped in Civil War history.
Comments: This coin has a few minor marks consistent with its rather modest technical grade, and some localized areas of weak strike on the reverse lettering, but it has excellent eye appeal for the grade, in my opinion. I wanted an affordable yet pleasing "budget" example of this historic date, and I think this one fits the bill nicely. It is also has the "Circulated Cameo" look, which you may notice is my favorite appearance for circulated silver.

















015000S

 

That's a pretty nice '53-O. (And I like that it's an "O".) What's the slab grade? Looks like PCGS plastic. 40?