I put this set together over ten years ago and have displayed at the Winter FUN twice. Oddly enough, it has never won "First Place U.S." which I find odd. Since I finished the set, I added some additional pieces for things like changes in weight and thickness for the copper coins. Okay, here goes. It will take more than one message because you can only have 10 pictures per post. Half Cents 1795 Lettered Edge. This is a Cohen, and it's graded AU-58. It is among the ten finest known for the variety. 1795 Plain Edge. In late December, George Washington used the power given to him by Congress to decrease the weight of the half cent and cent. This was struck over a Talbot, Allum and Lee cent. The undertype is very visible. It's not a high grade coin, but I have it for that reason. The variety is Cohen 6a. Cents 1795 Lettered Edge cent. This is an S-73. Here's the edge. 1795 Plain Edge cent. This is an S-76b. The "a" variety is a lettered edge cent. This is "common," and there is even a hoard of them in Mint State. You would not know from the prices for nice ones. This is graded MS-62, Brown. The weight was reduced by George Washington at the same time as the half cent. Half Dime This is a Valentine 4 or LM-10. It it is the most common variety for the year, and I think the most common of all the early half dimes. This one was from the change purse of "a little old lady" in London who brought it to a coin shop there. The late Billy Paul, a dealer who brought many coins back from London, mostly British, sold this one to me. It is graded AU-58. Billy told me he tried to get it into a Mint State holder a few time. I think that Ms. Liberty needed to "powder her nose" if she were to get that grade. Half Dollar There were not dimes or quarters made in 1795. It took me many years to find one which looked like this, which I could afford. It is graded PCGS AU-58. It was once in an NGC MS-62 holder. It's the finist known of a rare Overton variety, 1795 O-20. There are about 20 known. BTW this coin flunked at CAC, which why I was able to buy it. Silver Dollars The type changed in 1795 from the Flowing Hair to Bust Dollar design. Here is a Flowing Hair piece. This is graded EF-45. Having seen quite a few of these, I've learned that most of them were "struck in a lower grade." In other words the design details were never there. This one has mint luster in the protected areas. Here is the Draped Bust Type. Let's look at the gold in the next post.
Here the gold coins. There are only two. The quarter eagle was introduced in 1796. Half Eagle The half eagle was introduced in July 1795. This is graded AU-55 Eagle The "golden flagship coin" was introduced in September 1795. This is the much more common 13 leaf variety. This is graded AU-53.
I have a similar set although no where near yours in quality and no gold. I have a half cent, large cent, half dime, half dollar and the two varieties of the silver dollars. As always, thank you for sharing, I can always count on learning something every time you post. The gold coins are spectacular.
Awesome collection, every coin in your set is stunning, especially your capped bust gold coins, those are absolute beauties!
Amazing stuff. I like the sharpness of the Lettered Edge half cent, and the toning on the half dime. And the gold is just… wow.
I cannot even fathom what the set(s) looked like that the judges deemed to be better than these beauties. Nicely done. How long did it take you to build that set @johnmilton ?
I do not know the answer to that specific question, but I do know that he’s been at this longer than some of us have even been alive.
I didn’t set out from the beginning to form that set. It was a matter of buying coins for a type set. Since 1795 is a year when many of the coins are “common,” or more common (cent, half dime, half dollar, silver dollar) a type collector tends to get that date. There have been numerous upgrades over the years. Of all coins, I’ve had the half dime the longest, from 2000, but all of the copper and silver coins were represented by other pieces since the 1970s. Only the gold coins have been “one and done.” I would like to collect other year sets like this, but the early gold coins are the stoppers. I buy gold coins only in AU or better, and most all of them cost 5 figures or more. The quarter eagles ($2.50) are really tough. The holy grail for year sets is 1796. That was the only year the first U.S. mint issued all 10 denominations which were authorized in 1792. There are even a number of P-L coins, which have been graded as “Specimens.” That has led a few very wealthy collectors to attempt to form a “Proof set” of 1796 coins. The trouble is every coin in the set, even in the circulated grades, is scarce to rare. I have seven of the ten, but the three I don’t have, the half cent and the $5 and $10 gold pieces are all bears. My 1796 half dollar is only a Fine-15. That’s well short of a P-L. I remember in the mid 1970s a dealer had a P-L example for $45,000. It may as well have been $45 million for me at the time. To put that in context, a new top of the line Cadillac cost $12,000. Of course everything was raw then. There were no slabs or even ANACS papers. Buying coin was like going on a high wire without a net.
