1832 Cent Help

Very nice coin I acuallty own 2 of them one in bad condition the other is like yours. The coin itself makes me very upset. It has a very low mintage but the value is horrible.

 

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I guess it comes down to that demand thing.. funny, when ever I am wanting to get something nice there seems to be plenty of it then...

 

Two of them. Little half Sisters by Roger Cohen, and Encyclopedia of United States Half Cents 1793 - 1857 by Walter Breen.

Both are excellent references, and both are out of print. Personally I prefer the Breen and it is much easier to find. Price for the Breen is reasonable, usually around $60 new. There's a new one on Amazon right now at $48 or a used copy at $43.

They have a used first edition Cohen at $100 or used at $80. Abebooks has a first edition for $92 and a second edition for $95.

 

Great, thanks for the info.. I don't need a first edition that's for sure will have to check the amazon one..

 

Thanks, Marshall ! Nice work.

Two important items for those eager to attribute these half cents...

1) Start on the reverse. It's easier.
2) The major points are four leaf tips and their position relative to the letters "D", second "S" in "STATES", "F", and "C" in "AMERICA".

Take a look at the photos Marshall provided and it is quickly apparent these are three different reverse dies. The "four leaf" technique works even on heavily worn or corroded coins; it's gotta be a seriously beat-down piece to not get letters vs. leaves.

 

Two more points to consider :

Most of these half cent varieties are quite common. While it's fun (and educational) to attribute them, most dates have NO rare die varieties; attribution of these is usually a non-profit thing... but it's still cool.

Why are there variances in dies ? Why do the letters vary relative to the leaves ? Coins are made from working dies, and working dies are made from a master. The master did not have the letters, stars, or numerals - only the main device (Liberty on the obverse, wreath on the reverse). For silver and gold, the reverse master had only the eagle (and scroll for capped bust coins).

One might ask "So why did the master not have the letters etc. ?"

Because the working dies were "struck" on the same press as the coins... and the press was weak. If they tried to put all the detail into the master, it came out mushy and poorly detailed, so they only put the main device. That concentrated all the pressure on the most important element.

Remember that planchets (coin blanks) were copper, silver and gold... all relatively soft compared to die steel. However, making a working die is "steel on steel", so the press weakness was more apparent and a bigger problem when making dies than when making coins.

In 1836, the Mint got steam powered coining presses, which greatly increased striking pressure. This improved the process for making both coins and dies. For that reason, the Mint placed more design motifs in the master (stars, letters, etc).

That is why coins after 1836 show much more uniformity in the dies; differences are fewer, more subtle, and less obvious.

For instance, the Braided Hair half cents (and large cents) show very little difference in reverse dies. Minor variation in numeral location in the date is the major difference in obverse dies - and those differences are often small indeed.

For Braided Hair copper, we go to secondary characteristics; we're looking for the die filing lines as the engraver finished the working die, which are quite obvious on high-grade coins but often lost on lower grades. We also look for die cracks, even on lower grade coins.

 

From the photos it's a bit difficult to judge luster and thus grade, but I'll go out on a limb and (TPG) grade the coin AU 50. I suspect the EAC grade would be in the low XF range.

Nice coin.

 

Every coin is unique when you deal with coins with such age. I wouldn't base the coloring and looks of one cent to determine if yours is cleaned or not (which it still could be a cleaned coin). Post some pictures and or take it to a professional dealer to determine if it's been cleaned/tampered with or not, not by looking at pictures of the same coin online.

 

I have three comments :

Yes, yes, and yes.

Those are important points to bear in mind. Since "Every coin is unique when you deal with coins with such age", I find coins in this period more interesting. Modern coins are almost perfect, and thus less interesting.

 

I pulled these from Heritage Auctions and these three were sold about 2005. My budget is a bit smaller than that required for these beauties.

 

Lots of great information here and I will need to re-read it today...

I did get my Cent Book today and looks like this book will be wonderful reading with tons of great information..

 

I most likely won't play with the half cents as much as the large cents. Though if I can find nice enough specimens within my budget I might bite on one occasionally. Those Heritage coins are indeed nice and I would expect way out of my budget as well........

I wasn't sure about the grade but it was sold as an AU, so at least the description was decent. Most likely the EAC grade would net a few points lower for different reasons.

This Cent book is wonderful thus far. I know I will be learning a great deal with this... As always, help from some of the specialists here will always be appreciated...

 

And will be given freely.

 

Indeed.