I've never dealt with the seller, but after pursuing bust halves for nearly half a century it would be unusual that a dealer I had never heard of should have over 15 1815 half dollars for sale at one time. Hijacked account maybe? https://www.ebay.com/str/bsdcoins/Early-Halves-1794-1839/_i.html?_sacat=11969
He seems to have a solid track record of selling four-figure coins, stretching back a good ways. Maybe he's handling the estate of someone who tried to corner the market.
WOWZER! What a collection. That one for $40K says it's been off the market for over a decade so Jeff's idea may be correct.
33 1815/2 half dollars! I don’t know how accurate PCGS’s survival estimates are, but they claim there are about 800 of them in existence, which means this one seller has over 4% of them in his inventory. I guess that’s possible, since some people hoard rare dates (the hoard of 1794 half dollars that was sold a couple of years ago comes to mind).
He looks 100% legitimate to me. I only wish I could afford some of the coins in his inventory. His is one of those pages I go to to dream.
While I admit that many 1815s are *highly* unusual, I also don't see anything suspicious. The seller seems reputable, and the coins seem legit. In fact, many of those coins appear quite attractive. I've definitely seen collectors who hoard a specific date. Either they like the rarity of it, they have a connection to the coin, or something like that. Perhaps this collector was attempting build a grading set of 1815 halves? I mean, if you have the money, why not.
Cool...just seemed weird that if someone were going to release a hoard at one time he wouldn't use a specialty dealer. Like I said, I wasn't trying to cast doubt on this seller---his feedback/history looks great. I was actually more worried about his account security.
The dealer might have been his local shop? Or someone in his club? I'll admit - if I had a hoard of 1815s, I might trickle them out and not just dump them. That many 1815s has to affect the market. While it would take longer, I'd probably send 2 or 3 to each of the major auction houses a couple of times a year... that hoard should take 2 or 3 years to properly disperse and maximize profits.
When did they stop using those old ANACS white holders? The first one checks out on ANACS site - LO1508 matches up with the coin. You should email him! There might be an interesting story.
This is the dealer from whom I got a decent deal on this NGC graded 1909-S VDB. I am pretty happy with this dealer. I am hoping to use them again.
Plenty of people have absolutely no idea on how to sell what they have. Just look at how many auctions you can find that have multiples of things that should have gotten better treatment and crashes the price for all of them