1908-S Indian Head Cent Grading Set - The First Branch Mint Cent

Hello everyone. I just joined this Forum this weekend so I figured that my first thread here should be a good one (though many of you will likely prefer my second thread as it’ll be a giveaway!). I’m fairly active over at the Collectors Universe U.S. Coin Forum and I already see several familiar faces here, but many new ones as well. A few months ago when I posted this set over at the other forum, The Penny Lady suggested that I also post it over here. Now I am finally getting around to it!!

While my first love in coin collecting is my 1909 Mint Set (link in signature line), I also really enjoy collecting Indian Head Cents. I figured that a decent way to learn the series and how to grade the series better was to work on a grading set (one example of each grade). I've always loved the 1908-S semi-key date as it's the first time the cent was produced outside of the Philadelphia Mint.

For those who have never attempted a grading set, it’s a fairly expensive task since you pretty much need to choose a semi-key or key date coin; otherwise, if you choose a common date coin the lower graded certified examples will simply not be available. You need to choose a coin that is worth the certification fees even in the lowest grades or you’ll spend lots of time and money sending the coins in for certification yourself hoping they come back graded the way you need them to come back. The 1908-S Indian Head Cent works well since it is available in all grades G4 and above and is much less expensive than the key dates such as the 1877 or 1909-S.

In looking at my 1908-S IHC grading set, I know that not all of the examples in the set below are the best examples for the grade, some are overgraded a little and some undergraded a little, and some have other distractions like nicks and spots. However, some of them are fairly low population coins for the grade and it can be hard to find even one example in the grade at all. If you would like to know the current pops of these coins, a link to the Showcase set in the PCGS Registry with that information is in my signature. Eventually, I’ll “upgrade” a few of them once I find better examples, but for now they'll have to do. Also, sorry that some of my photos aren’t the best. I have difficulty taking photos of copper especially and plan to have the set professionally imaged once complete.

Thanks for looking and hope that maybe the set helps a few others learn the series too. Feel free to post your questions or comments. I’m especially interested in hearing which examples you feel are overgraded or undergraded.


PCGS G04


PCGS G06


PCGS VG08


PCGS VG10


PCGS F12


PCGS F15


PCGS VF20


PCGS VF25


PCGS VF30


PCGS VF35

 

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PCGS XF40


PCGS XF45


PCGS AU50


PCGS AU53


PCGS AU55

 

PCGS MS62BN


PCGS MS63BN


PCGS MS63RB


PCGS MS63RD


PCGS MS64RB


PCGS MS64RD


PCGS Genuine - 91 Questionable Color


PCGS Genuine - 97 Environmental Damage


PCGS Genuine - 98 Damage

 

Very nice thread! Very helpful with grading these. The only thing with the 1908-s is that it may be market graded higher as a "semi-key" than a common date in the same condition.

 

Excellent post! :thumb:

I'm not into IHC's but I loved the grade breakdown and I also noticed the mint marks are all over the place. Does anyone know how many different positions the mint mark had? :kewl:

Ribbit

 

Nice thread! I agree some of these are over graded, but I think they are an excellent example of how PCGS(or TPG's) in general grade key and semi-key dates for IHC's. Gotta love the baby coppers - especially IHC's. I don't have a grading set, but I have a few running around in my collection. This was a good post!

 

Very cool. I like your EF-40 and AU-50 coins a lot!

 

That ms64 red is awesome btw!

 

Great post, and this can show how TPG grade semi keys and even key dates. It happens, and people can't deny it, they do overgrade them more consistently then if it was a common date, as commons can be over graded as well.
I love all of the coins posted, they would be nice to own, and good additions to anyone's collection!

 

Excellent topic. Well appreciated.

Bruce

 

Beautiful set. Your photography is outstanding. I really like the 62BN. Chocolate colored IHCs are my favorites. I did a grading set of 1907 IHCs - raw. Since they're the most available of all the Indian Heads it figured it would be easier. I had to contact a few dealers and specifically ask for AG and cull cents.

 

Thanks for the comments and the warm welcome everyone!!

HandsomeToad: I’m not sure how many different mintmark locations there are for the 1908-S, but since dies were all made in Philadelphia and the mintmarks were added by punching an “S” on to the dies by hand I would imagine there are several different.

the_man12: The MS64RD is a spectacular example that has booming luster and is free of any noticeable marks and spotting. The coins also has a very nice strike compared to the generally soft strike of the San Francisco Indian Head Cents. I really think that this coin is better than many of the MS65RD examples that I’ve seen and passed on.

T$: I do agree that sometimes the key dates and semi-key dates get a bump in grade from the third party graders. I think maybe my XF45 and definitely my AU55 are examples of this.

Art: The MS62BN is one of my favorite coins in this set as well. Just love the strike, the color and the red peeking out from the devices. Finding low grade examples of the 1908-S has been very challenging, especially certified examples. The G4 is a pop 3 coin with no examples graded lower by either NGC or PCGS. Since these were replaced by the Lincoln Cent the following year, I suspect these didn’t circulate as long as the earlier dates in the series, especially when folks realized the mintage was relatively low for the San Francisco issues. I’ve seen a few raw AG candidates, but they have all had problems such as large scratches/hits and/or large rim nicks.


Finally, thanks to all who have nominated my first thread for a post of the week award, that is so cool!!!


P.S. Don't forget to enter my 7th post giveaway

 

Nice collection and great thread. Thanks for the time sharing with us. IHP is one of my favorites.

 

I have known Illini420 for a cpl years now, great guy.

Charmy and I had the pleasure to see this set in hand at the last SoCal show. A pretty impressive set to behold and near complete.

Also, welcome to CT !!! Glad to see you come over and share.:thumb:

 

Actually the most interesting one to me was the "questionable color" one. Beautiful coin. The color sure didn't seem very off to me. However, I wasn't surprised . I suspect when it gets a little more tone on the edges, it would do OK.

Jim

 

Great post, I bookmarked it! My only gripe with the ANA grading book is that it is not in color, so when I see something like this in color it's always a keeper. Thanks and welcome!

 

Thanks Jim. I think it's a beautiful example as well but I think PCGS got it right. I bought this one in a local auction a few years ago as a raw coin before I really knew what red copper was supposed to look like.

It was advertised in the sale catalogue as a "superb" example. I would guess that a coin like this one would fool maybe 8 out of 10 folks who haven't really looked at lots of full red Indian Head Cents. Especially those looking at San Francisco IHCs as they typically have a lighter and more orange color than the Philadelphia examples. In a side by side comparison with my MS64RD example though, it's pretty clear that the .91 Genuine example has been messed with to some degree.

It's still a nice coin though and I keep it to remind me (and hopefully others too) to be careful when buying high graded coins that have not been certified, especially if you really don't know the series.

 

Great to here somebody agrees on that topic :thumb:

 

Great thread and welcome.

 

Would love to see some pics of your 1908-S Indian Head Cents too!! So post them if you got them :thumb:

Here's a few more that I bought raw and sent in for grading recently. They came back F12, VF30 and VF35.





Not sure why the color of the coins came out so weird in these photos, I'm still learning