I won these in the auction at the EAC Convention this past May in St Louis. Just had to go through the process of getting them slabbed. I went with NGC rather than PCGS because of the faster turnaround time. 1803 C-4 NGC VF 25 BN 1805 C-4 NGC XF 45 BN One of these days I'll remember to polish the slabs so that the coins don't appear to be so scratched.
Scratched or not they are nice looking. I wouldn’t think they would straight grade if the coin was scratched.
Love those early coppers. Nice examples. I notice that NGC applies color notations to circulated coppers but, I think, PCGS does not. I never understood why NGC does that. Has anyone ever seen a circulated grade with a RB or R designation? If I have hi-jacked your thread @kanga I apologize, not my intention.
There is no such thing as a red, well circulated coin unless it’s been cleaned and therefore can’t be given a straight grade. I can’t understand why NGC puts “Brown” on copper coins like this.
Very nice. They look great in those holders. Is it common for reverse side of half cents to not line up with the obverse side? Am I saying my question right?
Roger Cohen entitled his die variety book, “The Half Sisters” because they were at the bottom of the list for any benefits the mint gave to other coins. The half cents were often made on cut-down planchets that were not good enough to be cents. They were over-struck on pieces like the Talbot, Allum and Lee coppers. When Draped Bust design was unveiled, they were the last to get it. Ditto when the Classic Head design appeared in 1807. The half cent got it in 1809. So it’s not surprising that the die alignment was often off for the half cent. One example is the 1808 normal date half cent. The dies are aligned in the medal, not the coin turn.