The start of the silver portion of my type set. 1852 Variety 1 Silver 3¢ (Trime) - PCGS MS-61 1858 Variety 2 Silver 3¢ (Trime) - PCGS AU-55 (Note the die clash on the reverse) 1861 Variety 3 Silver 3¢ (Trime) - PCGS XF-45 (Sorry, I got the reverse upside down; or is it a 180° die rotation. I'll have to check sometime.) 1795 Flowing Hair Half Dime - PCGS VF-25 (Reverse out of focus. Hmmmm, another imaging error by me.) 1797 Draped Bust Half Dime, Small Eagle Reverse, 15 Stars - PCGS VF-30 1800 Draped Bust Half Dime, Heraldic Eagle Reverse - PCGS VF-20 In looking at the images I took I find many that are obviously from my early photography time and really need redoing. I know I can do better - maybe not perfectly - but definitely better.
Awesome clash on that 1852, and those half dimes have me drooling. Gotta stop staring before my wife catches me ogling other women.
There is no clash on the 1852 trime, that's progressive image transfer. (OK there MAY be a bit of a clash showing between the C and the left most I.) The 1858 shows a good clash of the shield in the center of the rev. Nice coins but I like the PCGS XE-45 1861 trime a lot better than the AU-58 1858 trime
Me too because of the toning. Being "old school" I much prefer a silver coin with even gray toning. But at the time I was looking to fill holes with the "best I could afford" coins. I've done a few upgrades but my aim is still to fill the few holes remaining. At least the holes I can afford.
1795 half dime is LM-9 R-4. 1797 half dime is LM-1, the only known variety with 15 stars. 1800 half dime is LM-1.
Around the millennium, having completed the Dansco 7070 type set, I decided to slab my collection and expand beyond the 7070 parameters into a 1798-2000 nongold type set (slabbed). This meant I had to add the Draped Bust silver coins. The DB dollar was challenging, but the toughest coin for me to find by far was the Draped Bust half dime. I was shooting for a minimum grade of Fine, with problem-free slabworthy coins (no net or "details" grades). In the end, with my budget being what it was, I had to compromise a little on the DB half dime and dollar. I ended up getting an 1800 half dime in a straight-graded ANACS G06 holder, and bought the dollar raw, which ended up in a straight-graded ANACS VG08 holder. The ANACS G06 1800 half dime I had actually had a slight bend to it, but apparently not enough for them to have net-graded it. (This was in the small holder ANACS era). Anyway, what I'm getting at is how extremely difficult it was for me to find any acceptable, problem-free mid-grade Draped Bust half dimes. It took me months to find that G06. I wanted a Fine, but had to settle. It seemed that everything out there was either heavily damaged culls, or the other extreme - AU-MS monsters I could never hope to afford. There just weren't that many problem-free mid-grade pieces. I suspect the nice, problem-free, original midrange pieces that are out there tend to go into people's collections and stay there for the rest of the collector's time in the hobby. Back then, anyway, the good middle-ground stuff just didn't hit the market very often. That's why I'm very impressed with the PCGS VF20 above. I know how hard it is to find nice mid-grade DB half dimes like that.
I feel the same way about certain half dime and dime dates, particularly 1863-71 S mints. They are easy to get if you want a cleaned, damaged, soldered, or otherwise mutilated example. If you’re like most collectors and want a mid-grade original problem-free coin at a reasonable price, you’re in for a hunt.
