I decided to expand my Classic Head Half Cent set from the Red Book listing to ALL Cohen die varieties. This upped the set count from 16 coins to 26 coins. Here's two I just got. This first one is a 1932 Cohen-2 (C-2). The PUP is the highest leaf on the reverse ends below the E. This first one is a 1935 Cohen-2 (C-2). The PUP is the ST in STATES is close together.
Sounds like a fun project! The complete set is actually achievable too, since I don’t think there are any die marriages tougher than R5 (I think 1809 C-1 is an R5, but can’t think of any others off the top of my head). Keep us posted!
Oh, and I don't collect proofs so that eliminates the 1831 and 1836 dates from my collection. But just on GP's I'll include the 1837 token since it's Red Book listed.
Yep, Manley's book lists the 1809 C-1 as an R5. The two 1811's are listed as R4 and R3. I've already got them so the 1809 C-1 could be my stopper.
Finding attractive examples of 1811 half cent varieties is hard. The R-4 one is really tough. When I was collecting this series, in the early 1990s, the 1809 C-1 was an R-7. Since then a great many more have been found, mostly in the lower grades. I found one early on in VG-10. It is similar to the "error date" the 1809 over upside down 9. That one is not a true overrate.
Getting nice looking 1811's is difficult. If I recall correctly the planchets came from England and tended to be porous. Here's my two. I made the images years ago and they tend to be a bit off. Plus I hadn't polished the slabs so there's a lot of extraneous "noise". This first one is the Cohen-1 (C-1). The PUP is the wider distance between the 1 and 8. Plus this is Die State 5.0 with the 4-star die break (cud). This second one is the Cohen-2 (C-2). The PUP is the closer distance between the 1 and 8.
