WB-101. Normal Date variety. Natural silvery-gray with some areas of deeper green at the right obverse and reverse. The surfaces are original and lustrous with few marks visible to the naked eye. For a No Motto New Orleans half dollar, this piece is well-produced with sharp detail seen on the head of Liberty and the radial lines in the stars.   
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Small Date. While not as well known or as visually spectacular as the Large Date variety of this year, the 1854-O Small Date is actually the scarcer of the two, especially in high grades. In fact, this variety may be unique in Uncirculated with a single coin graded MS60 at PCGS. The present example is extremely choice for the date and grade with attractive medium to deep natural green-gold color.   
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BD-1, R-5. The mintage figure for this issue is only 4,160 pieces and fewer have survived in all grades than the 1829-1832. I would estimate that only 75 or so exist and this date is seen more often in circulated grades than the 1829-1832 issues as well. It is nearly always found with a softer strike than the earlier dates of the Capped Head Left reduced size type and poor overall eye appeal as well.   
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The 1882-CC is the second rarest Carson City double eagle from the 1880′s, trailing only the low mintage 1885-CC. It is not really all that hard to find in EF40 to AU53 grades but it becomes tough in the higher About Uncirculated range and it is scarce in Mint State. Nearly every Uncirculated 1882-CC that I have handled (and I’ve handled a significant number) is characterized by excessively abraded surfaces and muted luster.   
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The early date Charlotte half eagles (up to and including 1846-C) tend to be much harder to find in AU grades than their counterparts from the 1850′s. Many of these issues are almost never seen in the AU50 to AU55 range and when they are, they tend to be dipped-n-stripped with minimal eye appeal. This 1843-C half eagle is one of the few I can recall having seen that has original color and surfaces.   
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The 1854-O is one of the two most common New Orleans half eagles of the No Motto type (along with the 1844-O). But unlike the 1844-O, this date is very hard to find in properly graded AU58 and it is quite rare in Uncirculated. Interestingly, I have not handled more than a handful of really choice AU 1854-O half eagles and I think this is an extremely undervalued coin.   
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