Variety: BD-7, R-6+, 15 Stars Obverse, 16 Stars Reverse, nearly impossible to obtain Large Eagle Variety One of the great early gold rarities and a major one. Among the top finest known examples to exist. Pop PCGS 1/3 (finest is Pogue's 62+); NGC 0/0 (the pop report might still say 1/0 but that will change soon ) PCGS Retail Guide = $340,000 So rare that the Smithsonian doesn't have one. Rich honey colors with deeper orange undertones. Very attractive.

From the Pogue auction writeup:

The overdate seen on this variety is one of the boldest in the entire realm of American coinage, easily as plain as the 1942/1-D dime, 1918/7-D nickel, 1918/7-S quarter, and other well-known but comparatively common overdates. The 5 underdigit has not been effaced at all, though the flag of the 7 lines up precisely enough with the flag of the 5 to mask it.

Three die varieties of 1797 half eagle are known with the Heraldic Eagle reverse. This is the only one that is not unique. David Akers posited that 12 to 15 specimens were known, while Dannreuther suggested 16 to 20 in all grades. Akers described this coin as "either the first or second finest known example of this extremely rare issue. (Its status as first or second best depends on the quality of the Dunham [B. Max Mehl, 1941] example, long thought finest ...)." The Dunham coin is a cypher; its description of "Uncirculated, with brilliant mint luster; only the faintest touch of cabinet friction" could easily describe a coin that would today qualify as About Uncirculated, and its photograph is useless. This example, the finer of just two Mint State coins ever graded by PCGS, stands alone as finest known.