FLOAT

1796 Liberty Cap Half Cent, With Pole

Maker
U.S. Mint (Philadelphia)
Year
1796
Rank
60 of 100

1796 Liberty Cap Half Cent, With Pole

1796 Liberty Cap Half Cent, With Pole by U.S. Mint (Philadelphia) (1796) is ranked 60 in the FLOAT 100 for Coins. It sold for $470,000 in February 2016. The With Pole companion to the famous No Pole half cent; both 1796 half cents are legendary early-copper keys.

What is it, and why is it in the FLOAT 100?

The With Pole companion to the famous No Pole half cent; both 1796 half cents are legendary early-copper keys.

1/2c copper, Liberty Cap, With Pole to Cap, C-2, PCGS MS66 Red Brown (Pogue specimen)

What is the best-sourced number for it?

Figure
$470,000
Kind
Realized at auction
Date
February 2016

Stack's Bowers, D. Brent Pogue, Feb 2016 (lot 3009). With Pole, PCGS MS66RB, realized $470,000. A circulated With Pole example brought $39,600 (Stack's Bowers, Aug 2024).

This is a realized sale. Somebody paid it. Source.

How this is made

The figure
One reference price, taken from a named public source and shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
Realized or not
A realized price is a completed sale. A market asking price and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
Why no grade ladder
Most FLOAT 100 entries are individual objects. There is one of this, so there is no population and no spread across grades to show.
Archive
2026-08-08