Won this in an auction last night. It's my 1st CBH and a bargain at that. I like the way that it has toned. It looks XF/AU to me.
Ooh, now that is gorgeous. Old, original, crusty dark grey toning with just a bit of wear. Nice. I'd say that is absolutely XF, at least. I'd hesitate to call it AU without seeing any luster... which I don't in your pictures. If you can show me different pictures with some luster, I'd go up to AU-53, maybe. Have you tried to determine the Overton variety on this one yet? Because honestly, that's half the fun of these things.
It is an O-1... I was convinced by another member to give you a chance to figure it out for yourself The link that micbraun just shared will go a long way to helping you narrow it down. There's a process I usually use: 1. First, find where the T of "States" on the reverse aligns with the I of "Pluribus" on the scroll. Each letter was hand-punched, and so they'll vary. But, because these are straight-line letters, they are some of the easiest to match. I also use the D of United compared to the E on the scroll, as well as the O in Of compared to the U of Unum. 2. Find something unique on the coin (actually, maybe this should be first?). That could be some doubling on a letter, recutting on a star, die crack, a filled letter (the angles of Ns and As often get filled with die breaks), or that could be artifacts of the die making process. 3. Compare the star positions of the obverse - the stars were also hand punched, and so the points of the stars will each point to a unique position relative to the dentils (middle, top, bottom, etc). I'll give you a hint on your coin... there's a giveaway in the shield on the eagle's breast
It’s a textbook XF coin and an Overton 1… wait that’s up to you Good starting point if you do not have a book at hand: http://maibockaddict.com/1824-capped-bust-half-dollar-t-i-alignments
Beauty of a first bust. Xf 40 I’d call it. And a strong 40. 45 wouldn’t surprise me. And I like the surface