Three more of my seated Liberty half dollars received a CAC green sticker (out of 7SLH and 3 classic commems submitted). 1839 Drapery PCGS AU55 CAC - formerly in an NGC AU58 holder, 1855/54 WB-1 PCGS AG3 CAC - I love the coin for its crustiness and strong overdate (WB-1) and was delighted to see that it stickered. I paid 20% more in grading fees than I paid for the coin itself, but it's fun to see an eBay cherry pick get stickered, even an AG3. (Trueview darkened to better resemble the coin in-hand.) My 1861-O half (WB-?) in PCGS XF45 was also stickered, but I don't have a photo of this coin to show. It's a nice, dark brown, circulated cameo.
1839 No drapery half has been a pain-in-the-butt coin for me. I could and should have purchased an XF40 for $900 many years ago, but I passed. Since then, the '39 ND has been one of the hottest coins in the entire set and I've seen the price rise to over $2500 now for an XF40. One F12 CAC recently sold for $1440. I just couldn't swallow that price. The only example I had before Summer FUN was an inexpensive, toned but wiped VG off eBay that I doubt will straight grade. I consider it to be a filler. At Summer FUN I bought a raw F12 1839 No Drapery from Larry Briggs' "Wide World of Coins" for a low price. I like darkly toned coins, but this may be too dark, resulting in a possible grade of F-details, environmental damage. Should I grub around like I usually do to find a cheap, raw example that will straight grade? Or should I spend a few thousand for a nice CAC-stickered midgrade example?
