1839 O Bust Half Dollar - Input Appreciated

Lovely piece. XF45 would be my guess too

 

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I agree. Acetone will sometimes make tiny hits show more. I need a good reason to use acetone on XF or AU coins. I have made mistakes.

 

I really like the OP coin but the images don't really make it easy to understand the surfaces of the coin. It's hard to judge the luster and I'm not sure if the white balance is set to actually show the true color of the coin.
The reeded edge Capped Bust was only a two year issue. Wish I had bought everyone I found many years ago.

 

Well, after waiting a VERY VERY long time for PCGS to return the coin, the grade is in!
XF40
I am very happy that it straight graded but surprised it didn’t reach into the low AUs. No worries from me though, a straight xf40 beats an AU details every day of the week in my book. I intend to sell the coin and am weighing my options between eBay (my usual spot) and heritage or private avenues.
Enjoy the pic of her all wrapped in plastic!

 

I don't see why PCGS gave this a grade of 40. The new photo shows much better color than the yellow tint of the earliest photos. And both sides are considerably sharper than 40. I thought it was 53 to 55.

 

Is CAC still taking submissions for a gold / green bean? Or are they getting ready for the new grading service? I agree that it looks undergraded, but it's always hard to tell for sure if you don't have it in hand (and under a magnifier for my bad eyes). It would look a lot nicer with a gold CAC sticker on it.

 

Wouldn’t sticker at cac cause of the surfaces. But man they were brutal. 45 would be harsh

 

I think they were incredibly harsh in the grading. I would have gone AU 50. My personal feeling is that the dipping took away some of the eye appeal of the coin. I tend to like them with original surfaces, and so does PCGS. I would have left it alone, but even given that, it should have been been a very minimum of 45.

 

Here is my old ANACS 1839-O in EF45 for comparison.

 

This one got a 53 but I'm told that CAC passed on it.

 

It's not better than a 45. That's top of the line for this coin. You could try resubmitting.

I would definitely do variety attribution as well on this coin. For any series where a significant portion of collectors collect by variety, it adds more value than the cost.

 

40? That seems low! If I had seen this earlier, I'd have guessed 50.

The 39-O in attractive condition, at a price I'd consider reasonable... that's a coin that has eluded me for a while.

Does PCGS do varieties for the Reeded Edge halves? I don't think nearly as many people collect these by variety as the lettered edge. I have the Graham book, and attribute all of mine, but it hasn't caught on nearly as much as Overton.

 

Ha it's a good question. I would assume so, but I personally don't care for the reeded edge varieties.

 

You are correct. There is nowhere near the interest in the Reeded Edge half dollars as there is in the Lettered Edge coins, especially the Capped Bust half dollars. However, over the last year Jim Koenings has been issuing a monthly newsletter to interested Liberty Seated Collector Club members on the Reeded Edges hoping to drum up interest in the series and to help with attribution. Help is needed because I find them hard to attribute even with Dick Graham's excellent book open in front of me.

I can't say for sure if the newsletter is restricted to LSCC members only but it may not be. If interested, you can contact Jim at bustcoin1@verizon.net to ask.

Below is my 39-O as well as my other Reeded Edge half dollars.

 

sorry, but I agree.

they just don't have the character of the lettered edge varieties.

 

This coin has found a new forever home, and I'm so pleased to add her to the family: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/a-coin-ive-wanted-for-a-very-long-time-1839o-bust-half.401185/

 

Great die cracks!

 

I agree!