was wondering about the value of this coin other than sentimental value. as the story goes, the coin was in the pocket of my Great, Great, Grandfather Wiley C. Branam (a member of the Putnam Brown Rifles, Ga.) at Appomattox, the day Robert E. Lee surrendered. My Grandmother ended up with it and i received it at the time of her death. Not sure how long Wiley C. carried it since it was minted in 1858, but it is a fact that he was wounded at Manassass Gap, Sharpsburg, Maryland and was in rank with the Brown Rifles at Appomattox as stated earlier. it is near mint condition with tarnish only on the face as if it sat for an extremely long time. but considering what it went through and how old it is, it is in wonderful condition. so any ideas would be appreciated.
Hi MadDog. Could you post a picture of the coin? It's very hard to estimate value without being able to see the coin. The value can be anywhere from $15-$300.
i have done a little looking and have found values at auction as high as $8000+ for proof items. also found as low as $40+ apparently all based on condition unless the $8000 was a reversed date error model. there were 3,500,000 minted although there seems to many variants of the same coin of the same year which is weird. there were only 125 proofs minted and i would have to say mine has such a high sheen to it i would not be suprised if it were a proof... it looks 1000 times better than any i have found on the net. GOD I WISH I COULD FIND MY CAMERA CORD!!! <<<< Pulls hair out...lol <<<<
Keep in mind that a "sheen" could be a cleaning or a polishing. It's possible Grandma (or someone before her) thought it should look like a clean, shiny keepsake. It's possible it's original and uncirculated or close to it, I suppose. But whatever the coin is worth, if the story behind it is true, the sentimental and "coolness" value of the coin far exceeds its monetary worth. It's thoughts like these, looking at my coins and wondering where they may have been in history, that get me excited when I pull out the collection for a visit.
Welcome to the forum Maddog. But considering that your ancestor had it in his pocket on a date several years after it was minted, that's not too likely. IMHO that particular coin is worth far more to your descendants than to anyone else in the world, no matter what its grade and condition.
thnx for the welcome. i feel that way too... highly unlikely in it's condition... a coin in a pocket gets heavy wear and this coin shows very little wear at all. once i get a pic of it up, you will see it has not been cleaned. the back is near perfect (no exageration) and the face is a mild dark tarnish as silver does naturally. i suspect this coin sat in a box or drawer, facing up for many, many years. as for sentimental belief, i have no heir to pass it too. i am an only son of an only son. i do have 3 nephews by my younger sister so i reckon they will be getting it. explain something to me if you can. i see that in 1858 there were 3,500,000 of the half dime with 125 proofs. what exactly do they mean by 125 proofs? 125 half dimes of proof quality? or 125 complete proof sets? (complete set of ALL coins minted that year) how do you tell the difference between the two? the reason i ask is that my coin far exceeds any pic i have seen on any site and that is no hogwash. were all half dimes made of silver in 1858 as mine? as thin and light as it is, it has to be silver... especially that silver "PING" sound. (nothing sounds quite like a silver coin) some i see look like the plating is coming off and some look like they are made of pewter. it is really vexing... all the different kinds of the same coin in the same year.
I'm don't collect U.S. coins, so the only references I have are a 2003 Red Book and the Krause catalog. Neither one specifies how many proofs were minted in 1858, but both quote values for Philadelphia (no mint mark) proof coins, so clearly some were made. Normally proof mintages are given for the actual number of coins produced as proofs, not sets they may have been in. Proofs are specially prepared from polished planchets, usually given a double strike, and otherwise handled with special care by mint workers. They generally have mirror-like fields, and frequently have devices with a frosted appearance. When you compare a proof and a business strike side-by-side there is seldom any doubt which is which. Including the Philadelphia and New Orleans mints, there were 5,160,000 1858 half dimes, every one of them having 1.24 grams of .900 silver, with a diameter of 14.4mm.
ty for the replies. i spoke to a coin dealer in town and showed him the coin. he immediately put the coin in a cardboard folder and stapled it shut. he believes that it is not a proof, but one minted for cirrculation but was not cirrculated for some reason or another. he even smiled and chuckled when he was looking at it with the loop. he was kinda sly when i asked what he valued it at. he broke out a book and and had me suggest what quality i thought it to be. then he got another book and showed me that my suggestion was only valued at $19... what hogwash... lol i believe he was trying to be vague. so what is a rough estimate on a non-proof uncirrculated 1858 half dime? liberty is seated holding a staff with 13 stars above her head. a shield by her right leg with a ribbon on it and liberty clearly printed on the ribbon.
In MS60 (which is uncirculated but with bag/contact marks) $175 In MS63 (which is brilliant uncirculated with few marks) $300 These figures are from the 2005 Red Book which is only published annually, so these figures are strictly ballpark. The market is in constant fluctuation. You might want to look at completed auctions on eBay to get an idea of what they are selling for. By the way, I'm less than impressed with how your dealer handled this. It sounds like he wasn't helpful at all.
If the coin has been circulated the current greysheet bid runs from $11 in GOOD to $90 in ABOUT UNCIRCULATED. Now for most collectors, it is very difficult to judge an AU coin. Sometimes the wear marks are not easy to see or recognize. Depending on how the tarnish looks, that can also effect the value. Value relies heavily on eye appeal. Cleaning is also not the easiest thing to spot. Especially if the coin was cleaned 100 years ago. You have to know what to look for. Small lines are left behind when a coin is rubbed. If you have a good light source, hold the coin and slowly rotate the coin in the light. Any circulation or cleaning marks will break the light. Sometimes it isn't always easy to distinguish the lines, but will at least show that the coin isn't uncirculated.
it was and is a circulated coin... but "that" dealer said that he thinks that the coin just never got passed around in the general public mainly because there is minute visible wear for something this old. not to say there is no wear... there is, but 98% of the 1858 half dimes i have seen look worse than mine. that is why i was wondering if it may have been a proof coin. one question, as i always have questions , why do some have the 13 stars over it and others don't? i am pretty sure i have seen '58's without the stars.
Stars were added to the obverse design in 1838, and continued through 1859 when they were replaced by the Legend. A few 1860 issues were minted with stars. These are known as transitional pieces. I know of no 1858 issues without stars. As for how to tell whether or not your's is a proof issue, I'm sure there are die diognostics that are recognizable to someone schooled in the series. Maybe someone will come along that can describe those diognostics.
