I put this set together over ten years ago and have displayed at the Winter FUN twice. Oddly enough, it has never won "First Place U.S." which I find odd. Since I finished the set, I added some additional pieces for things like changes in weight and thickness for the copper coins. Okay, here goes. It will take more than one message because you can only have 10 pictures per post. Half Cents 1795 Lettered Edge. This is a Cohen, and it's graded AU-58. It is among the ten finest known for the variety. 1795 Plain Edge. In late December, George Washington used the power given to him by Congress to decrease the weight of the half cent and cent. This was struck over a Talbot, Allum and Lee cent. The undertype is very visible. It's not a high grade coin, but I have it for that reason. The variety is Cohen 6a. Cents 1795 Lettered Edge cent. This is an S-73. Here's the edge. 1795 Plain Edge cent. This is an S-76b. The "a" variety is a lettered edge cent. This is "common," and there is even a hoard of them in Mint State. You would not know from the prices for nice ones. This is graded MS-62, Brown. The weight was reduced by George Washington at the same time as the half cent. Half Dime This is a Valentine 4 or LM-10. It it is the most common variety for the year, and I think the most common of all the early half dimes. This one was from the change purse of "a little old lady" in London who brought it to a coin shop there. The late Billy Paul, a dealer who brought many coins back from London, mostly British, sold this one to me. It is graded AU-58. Billy told me he tried to get it into a Mint State holder a few time. I think that Ms. Liberty needed to "powder her nose" if she were to get that grade. Half Dollar There were not dimes or quarters made in 1795. It took me many years to find one which looked like this, which I could afford. It is graded PCGS AU-58. It was once in an NGC MS-62 holder. It's the finist known of a rare Overton variety, 1795 O-20. There are about 20 known. BTW this coin flunked at CAC, which why I was able to buy it. Silver Dollars The type changed in 1795 from the Flowing Hair to Bust Dollar design. Here is a Flowing Hair piece. This is graded EF-45. Having seen quite a few of these, I've learned that most of them were "struck in a lower grade." In other words the design details were never there. This one has mint luster in the protected areas. Here is the Draped Bust Type. Let's look at the gold in the next post.
Here the gold coins. There are only two. The quarter eagle was introduced in 1796. Half Eagle The half eagle was introduced in July 1795. This is graded AU-55 Eagle The "golden flagship coin" was introduced in September 1795. This is the much more common 13 leaf variety. This is graded AU-53.
