Are any of you members of the Bust Half Nut Club? I am hoping to join as an associate member in the future.
And that is how they prefer it. It is a grouping of the top tier Bust Half dollar collectors. It is less formal of a club than say the John Reich Collector's Society, but the BHNC has some pretty rigorous membership requirements. http://www.busthalfnutclub.org/membership-info.html I believe you need at least 100 Capped Bust varieties, or at least 30 pre-Turban (that is, flowing hair or draped bust) to be a full member. To be an associate, you need at least 30 Capped bust. Your collection must be verified by a current member, and you must be sponsored to join. I am guessing there are several members here. I hope they chime in (or at least PM you!). Turns out, I hadn't checked in a while and I also now qualify for associate membership with 32 Overtons
I know it’s certainly been discussed here before. An old member, Bonedigger, was quite proud when he got into the club. I think @okbustchaser might be able to shed some light on the subject.
My wife and I are kind of excited to being considered for associate membership. We collected bust halves for awhile and love the history and die varieties. There’s no way we would ever meet regular membership at owning 100 unique capped bust halves!
I have been ask twice over the years if I would like to join. After reading the requirements, I had to pass. It's a great group of folks but there is no way I'm going to provide a list of my holdings to anyone, twice per year. The other thing that bothered me was that all the members had to agree to let me join. With all my years on the forums, I'm sure I must have ticked off a member or two. It's all more than I wish to deal with at my age.
A friend of mine was interested so applied for associate membership. He had to interview and was turned down because, as he told me, he didn't have enough "fire in the belly" for the topic. So it is pretty exclusive OTOH, they have published additional research on the topic that has advanced the state of knowledge.
Wow, I didn't know they were so elite. I've never had that sort of quantity, and have never been a die variety guy, but I once had an R-8 discovery coin...
It isn't just about quantity, from what I understand. It's about a passion for pursuing more, and sharing knowledge.
I have owned a number of Bust halves but have never had any interest in joining. I am a pure populist and have no interest in elitism. On the other hand I may in a few months look into joining the Barber Coin Collector Society. I have only made it to 1994, but I have read enough of their old journals to have learned 3 very important things. 1. I am a big circulated coin collector and so far they stress all levels of collecting. In fact, the inherent nature of Barbers make considering low level coins (below fine) very practical. 2. There is a great deal of existing knowledge with the Barber coins but from what I can tell most varieties can be had for little to no premium. 3. I think this may be a rare chance in coin collecting to make some actual discoveries. All 3 denominations appear to have been ignored in the past ( I know I did); and though I want no name recognition I think finding an unknown variety would be quite exhilirating. James
I can unequivocally confirm, yes. Finding and verifying a new variety is intensely exhilarating. Here's mine: http://varietyvista.com/11 Franklin Halves/DDR Detail Pages/1951PDDR005.htm
I think you definitely can. With the wealth of images now available in auction site archives, we can search for new varieties like never before, and the Barber series has been ignored for a long time. I knew nothing at all about them 7 years ago. Since then I've published in BCCS I think 5 discoveries. If I can do it, anybody can! As for the Bust Half Nut Club, like Groucho I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.
