There are a LOT of die varieties of the Braided Hair large cents during this time period. As few years with about 20 but many more with 40-50. I've gone through two dates with about 30 varieties and haven't done well. It appears the variety pick-up-points in the Noyes' references were done with high grade (AU and MS) coins. Since I'm dealing with mostly VF and XF coins, many of the identifying features were so small or fine that they are gone. After working on a coin for 1-1½ hours and not coming up with a definite answer, it's getting a bit frustrating. I also have Grellman's book so I'm hoping that with the two references, my microscope and more patience I'll have better luck. I think doing one coin at a time with a generous break in between. Last thing I want to have to do is ship the coins back to the TPG's and pay for them to ID the variety and re-slab the coins with the variety number included.
Before you go sending them off, make sure your TPG of choice will even do the variety attribution you want. Some only do a limited number of reference books or even only a small number of varieties at all.
Bob Grellman, who a book on the late date die varieties, was a walking encyclopedia. He can take one look at these coins and attribute them. It’s really remarkable. These varieties are not my thing. They are simply too minor in my opinion. I have been working a date set of large cents in fits and starts. I avoid the rare varieties because of the added cost.
I would want to make sure they go to someone who can get it right. Grading is expensive enough these days without paying for mistakes.
Understand, John, but NGC and PCGS only recognize very limited sets of varieties. You can request it all day, pay the fee and get nothing. https://www.pcgs.com/varietyfaq https://www.ngccoin.com/variety-plus/united-states/ and https://www.ngccoin.com/variety-plus/united-states/cents/braided-hair-cents-1839-1857/ Looks like only N #s https://anacs.com/services/ https://www.icgcoin.com/faq/ They don't say it, but when I enquired about using the catalog numbers from Fivaz's Bad Metal they said they would...
The classic book on these die varieties was written by a guy names Newcomb. It is one of the few classic numismatic books that I don't own because I have no interest in these varieties. I have Grellman's book, and I have the John Wright book on the middle dates (1816 to 1839), which is excellent. If I were to take a shine to these coins, I would use it, but I haven't. The old time collectors used to talk about how hard it was to use the Newcomb book. Many of them agreed with Dr. Sheldon that all of the cents issued after 1815 were "machine made tokens."
I'm beginning to think like this ("They are simply too minor in my opinion.") I'll ignore a full variety set of Braided Hair large cents and probably change to a date set graded MS (63, 64, or 65). Thanks to all for the opinions. It's the push I needed.
My service will attribute these, although there is a grade at which attribution becomes impossible. I've have pretty good success at VF-EF with the Grellman book, but once the date start spreading from wear, it's hard to pin down the date position.
Well there is that... quality work, reasonable prices, great customer service (as in we know the dude what does that and we know how to reach him - no anonymous CSRs)
About 40 years ago, the first book was published on Two Cent Piece varieties. I had a Mint State 1872 piece. There were only three varieties listed for that date. I spent over an hour trying to figure it out. Finally I did. There was a tiny mark on the scroll where “In God we trust” is that was diagnostic mark. It was almost impossible to see, and if the coin were to be worn to less than AU, it would been gone. There Two Cent varieties with repunched dates that are easy to spot. Most of them require high grade coins and are very minor.
You know, if you are the kind of person who loves that stuff, great. If not, it's also perfectly fine to give it a pass... I feel your pain, brother... I was just cataloging for the next release of a book... The difference between PCGS(space)SAMPLE, PCGS-SAMPLE, PCGS- SAMPLE, and PCGS - SAMPLE, different coin#s, different certificate ranges... All when the known population is 20. At least labels don't get down to AG3.
