1898 Liberty Gold Half Eagle

NGC got this one right - a circulated Proof with warm, even orange-gold color and still-pleasing reflectivity that pops in the protected fields. The strike is needle-sharp as expected, with light friction on the high points and widespread fine hairlines and scattered ticks that explain the assigned level. Surfaces present as honest and unmessed-with for the grade, offering balanced, matte-meets-gloss textures that give the coin surprisingly good eye appeal for a lightly-circulated proof. Housed in an earlier-generation NGC holder.