Been watching a really nice braded hair half cent in an ICG slab for over a year I'd say. I finally pulled the trigger on it and bought it with the intent to crack it and re-submit to NGC. The seller's pics made it look like an olive greenish color but when it showed up it was more of a red/brown color with bluish tint and hints of red with a nice subdued luster left. It was an ICG (newer label) MS64BN: I cracked it out, took these pics and submitted it to NGC. Found out today it straight crossed. It's now in an NGC MS64BN holder. I thought it had a shot at RB just from the hints of red left around the details but was glad it at least got the same grade. They've only graded 26 of these 1851s higher. 147,672 original mintage. It's a nice addition to the type set registry.
Sorry, but that piece had no shot at all at "Red-Brown." You need a lot more red. Here is an example. That was great pick-up, finding an ICG coin that would cross.
If you look around there's some that got it that don't have much more than this one. There's really nice RBs and borderline RBs. There's a better pic of the left one out there and it looks just like mine. I wasn't expecting it though, and am happy with the result.
The trouble with old holders and copper coins is that the coins can tone over time. I got burned when I was dealer on an "MS-65, Red" large cent that turned R&B and was headed to Brown before too long. The 1855 half cent in the PCGS MS-64 R&B, CAC holder has been in that holder for over 20 years. Who knows what it looked like in the late 1990s when it was graded? This is why I stay away from most Red copper unless it's Proof coin from 1936 or newer in a very old holder.
It makes me wonder how any red ones survive to this day. I'm not sure how they survived 100 to 200 years without air conditioning and smoking and coal burning being much more common. I'm aware they can change in the slab but you really wouldn't think they would in 20 years or less if they made it that long unless somebody was really careless with them. The slab should be the best protection they ever had, kept in a room temperature environment somewhere.
