Been a while since I found one I wanted. I have not attributed it yet(think it is a N-1), but this is the kind I like. I think ANACs missed the grade. Once again all comments on grades are welcome.
I'll take a swing, Mark. AU-55. Wear on curl in front of the ear, and in hair over the eye, but excellent strike on LIBERTY. Nice coin. John
I'm gonna say EF-40. A lot of wear on the hair and stars, and on the leaf detail on the wreath on the reverse.
I'd call it an XF-45, but as we all well know, grading is subjective. Still, an outstanding pickup on your behalf.
I would call that a 40 net 35 for the marks in front of the face. Excellent color. It's refreshing to see an early copper that hasn't been cleaned. So many of mine have been - but I still love them.
So Mark, and others, help me here. If you think it shouldn't have graded an AU50 and I thought it should be an AU55, help me see the differences. I started my thought process at a 40, working with the ANA Grading Standards Guide, which I don't really find too helpful with large or half cents -- I too saw the heavy wear on the hair under the Liberty crown and on the curl by the ear, the wear on the stars, etc, but having looked at several coins slabbed in Heritage auctions reference, which were graded AU and even Au55, this was every bit as clear as those coins, perhaps with the difference of the dings in the field (maybe this is what I underrated?). Getting this right is important to me since I am collecting copper and don't want to over/under grade, and I find the pictures with coppers very difficult to really evaluate from coin to coin. So perhaps some of you can take me to school on this one. Thanks... Grasshopper
As everyone says, grading is subjective. Grading early copper doubly so. If you're like me, you'll find that the lower circulated grades are easy and the higher you go the more ambiguous things become. Are you grading by EAC standards or commercial standards? They start about the same but diverge significantly. Either would be well-served by getting copies of the Walt Husak and both Ted Naftzger sale catalogs. Both sales were this year, and both are chock-full of large cents. If, like myself, you enjoy the little half sisters, get a copy of the Ray Rouse and Colonel Ellsworth collection sales, which were also this year. They're not as full of material but are still well worth having. I've also heard good things about the discussions of grading in Sheldon's book Penny Whimsy, though I do not own a copy. If you'd like to discuss further, just PM me and we'll stop threadjacking.
It is not a problem - we can discuss grading here in this thread. I actually prefer that. Plus as fish mentioned grading is subjective. I use the ANA grading guide. To me it just shows too much wear for an AU50 coins - wear above LIBER and to the right of the eye. Plus I would expect to at least see a little luster on a AU - this is flat. Don't get me wrong I would take a whole set just like this. The reverse is very nice, but still just a hair shy of AU. Doug has taught me that you have to start with the lowest grade and make sure it meets each description - then move up. In this case I stopped XF45 and thought that it did not meet the requirements - too me the stars are slightly too worn and flat. Now for market grading I could see where they would grade it at AU. I feel I paid a little more than it is worth, but I like the coin. Part of the problem I have, especially with my IHC's - is find coins that I like. I can find the dates and the grades I am looking for, but not ones I like. I have been looking at several 1830's graded coins, but most I did not like. There was one I was going to bid on but the price jumped to much to start with.
Patience is key. If you don't have patience you'll find that you end up with a number of coins you're not that happy with. Having dealers that you trust who understand precisely what you want is invaluable. For early copper, there are a number of EAC dealers I could recommend if you're interested.
Hmm - I have used Tom Deck, won a couple of Shawn Yancey's auctions. And I have several sites book marked. Most seem to deal with the harder to get varieties, but even though I attribute my coins I am not into varieties. And others are just to pricey for their coins. So usually if Tom does not have it I wait for an auction to come along. I have patience - but I am always looking around for the best deal. Right now I only need a few dates - mostly key dates (1793's, 1799, 1804) - the others I can find, but not exactly what I am looking for. This 1838 is something I just started recently - I have 3 or 4 XF to AU and I thought it would be cool to get all the 1830's in that range.
Mark, that coin is quite nice, which i would grade as XF45, not quite AU. It is a nice specimen which i would gladly take into my collection. Also, please note that "unfortunately" the lots from Goldberg's upcoming february 2009 auction can now be viewed at their site. I say "unfortunately" because there are too many nice early, and even more late date large cents. I want to round up my collection with a 1795 lettered edge, or a 1794 head of 93. It is going to be too difficult to resist... Eduard
Aside from Shawn, who occasionally has nice deals (sign up for his mailing list on his site at www.earlycoppercoins.com) you could get some nice stuff from Chris McCawley (http://www.earlycents.com) or Tom Reynolds (http://www.earlyamericancoppers.com). And there are plenty more dealers that do their business the old-fashioned way. Tom and Chris also are likely to have inventory they don't have listed online - if they're something special you're looking for, shoot them an email or give them a call. Their stuff won't be cheap, but it will be nice.
Yep - already had 2 of the 3 mentioned book marked. They all have some very nice coins. I use them all the time to compare auctions against - coins and prices.
