grade THIS ! 1803 50c

Immediately upon reading "The Declining Fall of the Roaming Umpire" by Claudius Minimus, I decided to do something totally new and original - throw down some coin pics and have you heavy hittahs throw down opinions.

This time, a special treat - my #1 girlfriend Anne Bingham, model for the Draped Bust design which debuted in 1796. Perhaps our most beautiful design ever, and certainly the most delightfully feminine. A raving beauty of her day, she was a well educated socialite, moved in the highest circles of the Grand American Experiment, and wed wealthy William Bingham, namesake of Binghamton, New York.

Today's coin is from 1803, the year Thomas Jefferson completed the Louisiana Purchase. And this is how we paid for it - with half dollars, not silver dollars.

In 1803, most coins for domestic circulation were heavily used in commerce. Considering the light wear, it's quite possible this is one of the coins sent to Europe to sit around in a bank vault in payment for all that crawfish etoufee in New Orleans.

Any opinions as to grade and attribution ?

 

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PS - absolutely ZERO juicing, amping up, saturating, or otherwise playing with the images. Both shots are somewhat underexposed, particularly the upper portion of obverse. I didn't lighten 'em since I wanted to preserve fidelity.

 

Of all the shots I took, this one has the best-balanced exposure (but lost all the color)...

 

This one shows good color, but is not a good exposure...

 

I'm not good with these but it looks like a AU55 to me. If I had a second guess it'd be XF45.

It's a great looking coin too.

 

I would go with EF45.
Wear is scattered throughout, don't know about calling it an AU just yet.

 

I know nothing about these coins but it looks fake.

after thoughts:

What struck me as odd about this coin is that that proportions of the face on the obverse do not match the the photo in the RedBook for the coins minted from 1801-1807. It has the correct number of stars , but the distance from the brow to the hairline look exactly like the coin from the 1797 15 star variety. In the 3 different facial varieties shown in the RedBook this coin matches the chin , nose , mouth , brow , hairline & hairstyle of the 1797 more than it does the 1796 or 1806.

 

Wow, an easy Overton.

[easy because:
1) There are only 4 varieties for the year;
2) the only use of this obverse-- which, by the way is a typo in the reference.]

O-104, R-3.

Very nice piece.

:thumb:

 

I love the variation of dies in the early days which give us such unique treasures.

I'll have to look at the Overton IDs on the Heritage Site for closer inspection. I know one ID has been made already, but I always like to keep 'none of the above' as an option when dealing with these variety lists. I find it interesting how many new variety finds are found misattributed in collections after someone published it's markers. We tend to choose the best of known choices unless we think outside the box.

After close review, I concur with Treashunt on the Overton 104. Stars point between dentils at proper locations and HWH and Second Highest Wave of Hair are properly located to confirm the Obverse. The reverse has the parallel die scratches from the cloud below S2 to the to the left of the upper third of O to confirm the Reverse.

 

That is a really fine coin 900.

I see the obverse a couple of points higher than the reverse.

EF45 Obverse/VF35 Reverse. In my opinion would grade Net EF45 due to the beautiful toning and overall appeal. Nice!


PS- For comparison, Bonedigger graded this 1801 from my collection as EF40 (I grade it VF35). In my opinion, yours is better.

 

Grade. Old XF40 Modern AU55 obverse, Old VF 35 Modern AU 50 reverse. Old VF35 Modern AU55. It's a beautiful coin and the eye appeal affects Modern grading when it used to only affect pricing and NOT grading where they used to only look at the weak areas like the wear at the eagle's head.

 

Good Press For 1803

I have over a hundred of them. Bust halves are one of my vices. The relief on that coin is excellent on both sides for 1803, they geared up the presses in 1803 and turned out a lot of poorly pressed coins. I give it & AU-50. But thats just me.

Steve

 

I cannot go AU, so I will say XF-45.

 

Beautiful EF-45.

 

I don't know much about this series; though I can say it's a beautiful piece! I'd also guess EF40-45.

Dima

 

Everyone has to remember that 1803 Bust halves were not struck. They were made by placing the planchet, if I spelled that right, in between two working dies then turning a giant screw handle to press upon the coin. What your seeing in the photo of the 1803 Bust is poor pressure not wear. Thats why the eagles head looks worn but its not, that the way they came out of the mint in 1803. Just a thought,

Steve

 

No not at all, the obverse has obvious wear on Libertys face. I was just pointing out that when it comes to early American coinage the mint sent things out the door that was unbeliveable by todays standards. And with the bust halve series they were lightly pressed resulting in inadequate transfer of the design from the dies. Thats why I graded it AU-50.

Steve

 

The 1803 is a much better date. I could see this coin as an EF45.