1806 draped bust half cent!

That makes sense, I refreshed the page a few times thinking it was on my end LOL

 

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Someone's tired.... lol

 

Folks have noted the problem areas that *MAY* prevent it from getting a straight grade, but keep in mind three things: 1) TPGs are very forgiving for problems with early American coppers; it may get a straight grade. 2) Early American copper specialists usually prefer a coin be raw. It's what they like. If you have it graded and sell it to one of them someday, he/she will probably cut it out of the slab anyway. 3) Early American copper specialists use their own form of market grading, e.g. they will estimate the technical grade based on wear, and then move it up or down for things like color, corrosion, eye appeal, etc.

 

I agree with mac266 !

 

I like it a lot, nice find. thanks for the post.

 

The blue color may be the result of chemical cleaning.

 

That makes sense I’m sure it’s had some time in some plastic but eventually someone cut it out maybe more then once! I’m having a local coin store I go to frequently take a loot at it they do a lot with colonials and other older US coins. I think either way I’m going to skip the grading process for this one and save everyone time.

 

thank you! Yea she’s pretty I’ve been spending quite some time studying her, I think my wife gets jealous sometimes. I don’t blame her ha ha.

 

That would make sense some people have said it’s normal but it’s to much of a shine but I honestly don’t know. Would the chemical cleaning do anything in particular such as fight off corrosion?

 

Sharpness is XF. The blue color usually indicates a coin that is dry. If you brush it with a little oil, it should turn brown.

 

Just curious bystander , what kind of oil. Mineral ?

 

Light mineral oil, and use a very soft brush. Specialists use a particular kind of soft brush, but probably any brush with SOFT bristles that won’t scratch the coin will work.

 

The blue color is probably NOT from a chemical cleaning. It’s just a thin layer of toning/tarnish. The color comes from what is called thin film interference. The layer of oil over it changes the way the surface reflects light, giving the brown color.

A lot of proof copper coins are very bright blue.

 

Now that I think of it , I had a friend who also owned coins ( Fugios ) that were bluish .

 

I will go pick some up today and get that done! Now that you mention it the brown is very dull and the coin does come off “dry” if you will. Thank you! Is there a recommended place to get mineral oil? From a hardware store possibly?

 

What would cause a coin to become dry?

 

If you have a sewing machine, sewing machine oil is very light. Hardware stores should have what you need.

Usually, that happens when they've been cleaned.

Remember that the important thing is not whether a coin has ever been cleaned or not (the vast majority HAVE, and you can never prove that a coin has never been cleaned), but whether the color and surfaces are market acceptable afterwards.

 

I’ll look into this more because I was looking into the mineral oil as stated previously and I read a lot of things in that and people were recommending olive oil if anything. I’m planning on listing it tomorrow and don’t want to cause any last second “issues” but I would like to make the brown come out a bit more it does seem very light but seems like is there if that makes sense. I guess as if it’s needs to be “hydrated” lol.

 

I have put mineral oil on an ancient bronze that had that desert dried out appearance. It was a jewelry piece so I wasn’t too concerned about damage and it did liven the piece up. Never have toyed with a US coin. I would be concerned with olive oil potentially going rancid. I don’t know if that could happen but being a plant based product, the thought came to mind.

 

AU detail. The contact marks could knock it down to XF. Nice coin either way.