Post your SEATED coins.

Since I’m home recuperating, I have time to look through some boxes and finding coins I’d kind of forgotten. I think I’m getting better with the small coin pics. Now I’m confident this isn’t 1861/0.

 

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Ok just got this one! I saw it ending on auction. No one bid on it. The seller relisted for a buy it now. It was priced nicely under pcgs price guide. Couldn't say no to this original looking coin.

 

Would this straight grade?

 

I've been sorting through the collection looking for coins to submit for grading, while scanning and editing some of my seated halves that lack associated photos. Here are some scans of the darkly toned SLH's and "black beauties" I purchased when I started the collection.

1853 - this was the first original looking SLH I purchased back in 2006. Great coin but with a slight planchet streak across Liberty's face and chest.


1856


1858-O


1872-S


1873 WA


1873 closed 3 - I used to really like this dark circulated cameo look but have become more cautious about environmental damage.



I'm finding out that matching the colors of scans with that of the coin itself is quite a challenge.

 

The two 1846 New Orleans date varieties.
1846-O medium date



1846-O tall date - I took a gamble with this coin raw and am hoping this will straight grade. I've lifted a lot of reddish color, green cupric salts, and crud off this coin with acetone and may have to soak in mineral oil to get more crud off the reverse.

 

Some recent raw SLH purchases.


1882 VF25-ish - a very dark, lightly polished eBay coin that shows very nice color, probably as a result of the polishing. I decided that I liked the coin and don't care whether it will straight-grade or not, so I kept it. One can see in the photo I was trying to manipulate the color to approximate the coin in hand, which was difficult to do with this coin.



This is the seller's photo showing some of its color. The reverse has beautiful color, but one cannot tell from either the seller's photos or my scans. If I can take a good photo of this coin, I could easily sell this for >50% more than what I paid for it IF it straight grades. The question is how much polishing will the TPGs tolerate?


1888 impaired PR58(?) - This caught my eye at Larry Briggs "Wide World of Seated Coins" at Summer FUN. I believe it's an impaired proof because of its mirror surfaces and hammered dentils. It has very light hairlining that shows as a white haze on the coin's obverse fields, as well as some small corrosion spots on the reverse (above T in UNITED, and above the E in STATES).




I also purchased an ICG VG10 1842-O small date with F15-VF20 wear ("LIB.RTY," VF detail on wings). I don't have a scan or photo. It's an old, brown, leathery WB-1, which did not strike up well on the eagle. Examining it now, I see a small cupric salt crystal on the T in UNITED, so it's been in a corrosive environment, but I don't see any other evidence of corrosion like surface granularity or pitting.

I've been hammering away on the SLHs for 17 years now, trying to assemble a set from raw coins on eBay, and taking a few gambles along the way to reduce cost. Some gambles paid off, such as the raw, original 1874-CC that graded with PCGS at G6, and also turned out to be a WB-1, the rarest of the three DMs at R6. Some didn't, such as the 55-S with EF details that looks like a polished charcoal briquette. This 42-O SD is one of those risks taken (as well as the 82 and 88) as I hope to cross it with PCGS.

Only three coins to go for a full set, and one of them (1879) is "easy." If I can sneak a 78-S purchase past the girlfriend, I'll be in the clear!

 

There’s not many SLH collectors around, as I found out ten or so years back when starting the series. Like you, I have purchased most of my coins on EBay and started with average circulated specimens. I went to the FUN show a while back and found most dealers don’t stock them, but the few that did had excellent inventory, so I did nail a few. Five years ago I began upgrading the worst examples, shooting for fine or better. Due to monetary constraints some examples will never find their way into my collection, although I came across a NGC VG-10 55-S about the same time as my tax return showed up this year, so grabbed it. Yes, my wife thinks I’m possessed.

 

I think the SLHs are getting more attention these days. That's reflected in the surge in prices recently.

Here are some of the results of my last submission to PCGS. First, some cherry-picks that cleared the PCGS bar.

VF30
VF20

VF20 - ugly but an early die state showing the full overdate
.

 

More results from my last submission. By the way, the turnaround time was only two months, and this order included variety attribution.


1853-O VF-details scratch - beautifully toned coin with a scratch


F15 - took a risk on this inexpensive coin from the Philippines with no returns, and 4 weeks delivery. The gamble paid off.


VF-details (?) - coin hasn't arrived yet, so I don't know what's on the label. Hopefully "VF30" and "chopmark." I love this coin's looks and it allows me to dodge a tough date in problem free condition.


EF45 - a nice coin I picked up early in the hunt. The 59-O seems to be an easy date to acquire raw in decent condition.

 

And five more.

VF35


F15 - this coin is the ultimate "guess the grade" stumper. I haven't figured the grade out yet.


VF35


VF25 - darker in hand than shown. The TVs were bright in this set.


VF25 - This may be from Dick Osburn. It's a really nice coin that surprised me when I saw it again after years in the SDB.

 

The 1889 came from Sterling Rare Coin.

Looks like I scored a "three of a kind and/or straight" of midgrade 55/54s on CoinFacts. These are significant cherry-picking "trophies" for me.

 

This one was a decent price. Certainly crusty and not sure if it would straight grade but I like it and its large mint mark.

 

Another 55/54. This one is choice AG3 with rich original toning and no hairlining.

 

I just went nuts and acquired this coin.

 

Which cars did you sell?

 

No cars. They wouldn't fetch much on the market. I am and will be selling a large portion of my collection going all the way back to childhood. A lot of collections including Barber halves and various type coins purchased on a whim will be sold off. 60 years of accumulated junk, rolls and rolls of pre-35, S-mint, and small date Lincoln cents pulled from circulation, plus a roll of cherry-picked 1855/54 halves are being sold off. This will be a major coin colonic! Also, bullion and silver dollars from roll hunting as a kid and aluminum can recycling. 2000 cans recycled = 1 Silver Eagle or circulated Morgan dollar. I recycle about 50K cans a year for exercise. My portfolio is quite out of balance at the moment.

This was a very risky move for me with lots of second guessing whether I was being a selfish fool. I felt a large gift to the gf was also necessary to facilitate this deal. Of course, I told her this was an investment. She was having a hard time believing converting 90,000 half dollars into one is a good idea.