Is it worth the price? 1878 cleaned half dol

Hi everyone.

I have the opportunity to purchase the coin below for $120. Was wondering if this is worth it. The owner mentioned the coin had a cleaning done previously. But, it is nicely toned and has good details. Still I know cleaning destroys the value of the coin. Is it worth the price? Should I buy it? take a look below. Thanks in advance

 

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Hey! I would PERSONALLY only be a buyer at about $100. I hope the seller is willing to negotiate. Cleaning is a great bargaining chip.

 

I did actually offer 100 but his lowest was 120. He already came down from 150

 

I wonder... Do you think the toning is due to the cleaning?

 

A recent NN price guide has this at $105.00 in V.F. without it being a details coin (cleaned). I would say no to his price. He can ask whatever he likes. Personally, I do not like details coins and IMHO you should wait for a better coin.

 

If the toning actually looks like that I would

 

I was thinking the same. I don’t wanna just pay for toning cause it doesn’t determine the value of the coin. But it does make it more desireable.

Do you think it’s a fair price?

 

If the toning looks like that I would have snagged it already

 

This will always be a subjective thing based on any given persons likes or dislikes. I love this series as well as the bust halves. I love the blue toning that happens to nickels. But I prefer my silver clean and natural looking without the toning, especially on Bust & Seated coins. Some of my Kennedy halves have toned in the album, particularly the ones on the outside of the pages. The toning is acceptable but throws off the white of the others. One of our members here specializes in completely toned sets and I think that is great for him. In the end it has to be you that accepts a coin in whatever condition you prefer. This date was not a hard one to find and that's why, if it were me, I'd wait. There are quite a few dates of the Bust halves in V.F. that are quite affordable and for less than this one. I may be wrong but the very even toning on this gives me pause as to how the toning happened. White on the outside to blue and then russet, so even, like this would make me think this might be artificial toning of some nature. But I stand to be corrected if I'm wrong.

 

"I did actually offer 100 but his lowest was 120"

If you like the coin and you are only $20 apart I would go for it.
If you look at ebay sold listings it seems in the right range for coins with any details left on them.

 

Hey, collect what you enjoy, so if you want a nice example of that series, and like it, pay the price, otherwise, pass it up.

 

You could probably re sell later for a hundred, in which case you rented and enjoyed it for the price of a couple pounds of ground meat.

 

I believe the coin had some help with the toning.

 

No. I think it was heavily cleaned, and then was a baked potato job toning.