I decided to expand my Classic Head half cent set from a date set to a variety set (Cohen Number). Here's a new addition: Once I get several that don't have the attribution on the label I'll send them in and have the update made.
WAY too many of those dudes. I know the numbers go over 100 plus there's sub-varieties. I won't live that long, plus there's a money factor. I'm happy doing the Cohen Numbers of the Classic Head Half Cents. And I've got all but 2 of the Browning Numbers of the reduced size Capped Bust Quarters (1831-1838). I stick to the smaller sets.
The Cohen variety half cents are much easier attribute than the Bust Half Dollar varieties. There are fair fewer varieties too. BUT, if you look at the Red Book listings, there are a some Classic Head and many Braided Hair dates and varieties that are beyond the financial means of most collectors. Don’t take wrong, but I think that the slab grade is a tad generous. I would grade it VF-30 or 35. There is quite a bit of wear, and the darker spots do lower the grade a bit.
I only disagree mildly. Cameras tend to accentuate things that the eye doesn't see. The dark areas are there and the photo only slightly "enhances" them. The wear appears worse in the photo than it does in-hand. My photo is about 10x. As I understand it graders form their opinions from the coin in-hand and only use a loupe if they think there's something on the coin that needs a closer look, and then only at 3x. I suspect that if I reduce the image to 3x grading opinions could change. But to show the coin well I'll stick to my larger images.
Scarce variety. The second scarcest half cent after 1811. I agree that there isn’t enough detail for me to call it XF, but the TPGs often call coins like this one XF. It’s a nice coin.
Nice coin, specially the attractive light brown patina. I tend to grade, (or try to), per EAC and would grade it VF30. This is my 1825 C-1 which I grade VF30 maybe 35.
Sweet Half Cent! I’d love to see your Quarter set. I just purchased my first one, an 1835. They’re so tough to find. I snagged mine at a show, I’ll bet it was the only Bust Quarter on the floor.
. . . Grandpa told me, "If you're gonna collect koins, make sure your minimum grade is XF. Those will increase in value best, as time goes on."
Nice half cent. I too am enamored of this series. How about starting another thread and show us your bust quarters? I just bought the 1825/4 Browning 2.
Slightly scarce date maybe, but a common variety. There are several varieties much scarcer than the OP coin. I would agree the slab grade it too high, I'd probably call it VF-30 sharpness and and an EAC net 20. If you can get all the half cent varieties you can make a real name for yourself. So far only one person has ever managed to do it (Counting just the circulation strikes. The one person that managed to do it had all the proof varieties as well.) Roger Cohen was thought to have done it, but after his death when his collection was sold it was determined that both of his 1796 varieties were fakes. Goldbergs is selling Rod Widok's collection next month in their pre-Long Beach sale. It is a MAJOR collection and it has 90 of the 99 varieties. http://images.goldbergauctions.com/php/toc_auc.php?sale=0 lots 400 - 602 And if you go there have a look at the Doug Bird collection lots 1 - 179. At EAC conventions Doug always described himself as a collector of low grade large cents. In the sale there are only a few lots estimated at less than 5 figures. The coins are breathtaking.
A couple of comments. First, there is now a collection in Texas that has all of the business strikes, making it the second complete business strike collection. It was amazing to me that both of the Cohen 1796 no-poles were determined to be copies of the same coin. They don't even appear to be in the same grade and were graded differently in the catalog. Also, there are still some who think Cohen knew his no-poles were fake, but his widow ended up refunding the money to one of the buyers. As to the notion that the 1825 date is scarce but the variety common, that is exactly backwards. As a date, I estimated that there are about 4500 survivors, but only about 450 of those are the illustrated variety (C-1, 1-A). Interestingly, as a date, 1825 is equally common as 1826, including in higher grades. This has been known for about 20 years, but the price guides continue to list 1825 as significantly more expensive. The price differential makes no sense.
Interesting. It would interest me to know how did you arrive at the 10:1 ratio of surviving C-1's compared to C-2's. I too have observed the C-2 is 'more plentiful' than C-1 (in-line with their respective rarity ratings) but have not done an in-depth analysis of actual appearances.
Back in the early 2000s I did a long statistical study of the appearances of half cents on eBay (back when you could get actual meaningful data from eBay). It was published in several articles over a couple of years in Penny-Wise. You can find this one on the Newman Numismatic Portal at https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/515998.
@halfcent1793 ,thank you very much for posting the link to this detailed and interesting statistical study.