Are Half Cents Overvalued?

I put together a business strike date set of the Braided Hair issue.
Nothing spectacular.
XF-45 to MS-64.

And I also completed a business strike date set of the Classic Head issue.
The key here was adding two of the 1811 varieties.
1811-C1-4Star-VF35
1811-C2-XF40
And they are on planchets that rather free of porosity.

 

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I guess all debating aside, my question simply came down to how much I should pay. The end state was always for me to fill a hole in my album. I noted the prices I had observed. I may still consider the 20-25% overage and call it a day.

 

For a nice problem free coin, it would be real easy to spend 3-400$ at the least.

 

Mintage figures for half cents can be thrown out. A big majority became scrap after the small cent's popularity took hold and were melted during the hard economic times of the 1870's and 1880's. They are rare compared to their large cent cousin. My advice is buy them when you can find them at a reasonable price in any grade.

 

Plain 4 with stems (C-11) isn't that bad. 1804 C-2 and C-7 are much tougher. And if you are including varieties 1802 C-1 (rev of 1800) and 1808 C-1 are the big two in the draped bust half cents.)

 

Mintage figures are also not reliable because in the early years the date on the coin often did not reflect the year it was struck. We know, for example, that one variety dated 1803 was struck after a variety dated 1805.

However, we have a pretty good idea of the surviving population. About 3% of the Lettered Edge coins survive, about half that for the plain edge Liberty Caps, 1.2% of the Draped Busts and Classic Heads from 1809-11, 2.5% of the Classic Heads from 1825-35 and 5% of the Coronets. The reason the Lettered Edge coins survive in a higher proportion than many of the ones struck after them is that favored Philadelphia dealers were given the opportunity to take them out of the coins redeemed at the Mint from 1857-on.

 

Well this one could be an option.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1806-1-2C-D...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

 

They are. But the 1796 is like otherwordly hard I think is the point that was trying to be made. 1796 half cent is actually the lowest mintage copper coin ever made by the US mint. It's obscenely hard to obtain and the worst example imaginable is probably a 5 figure coin.

That's pretty interesting. I never considered that quantitatively.

I didn't realize the survival rate of these guys was so low. I believe that silver coins from the era survive at a rate closer to 10%. And same with cents I thought? Maybe someone could correct me.

Either way, that's pretty interesting. I've learned a lot from this thread. Were half cents the workhorse of US currency in the late 1700s and early 1800s?

 

I don't know about the other denominations, but in the Steve Tompkins bust quarter book, he estimates a 10% survival rate for 1796, 2-3% for 1804-1807, 3-5% for 1815-1828, and >10% for 1831-1838. The 1796 has high survival rates because they were saved for being the first year of issue. I wonder if the other silver denominations have similar survival rates?

 

Maybe I misquoted the statistic. For some reason I was under the impression it was closer to 10% maybe I was wrong.

Edit: Also the statistic I am referring to is for 1790s only I thought. No idea about early 1800s.

 

If I was going to overpay for a coin, a half cent would be one of my top choices, especially if it had attractive surfaces. The pleasure of owning something truly scarce is worth a few extra dollars.

 

Saw a very nice no problem AG-3 with good color this past weekend, $18,000.

 

Damn. Got a link to it perhaps? And presumably it had a pole, yes? I would imagine the No Pole variety would go for higher in that grade even.

One of my dreams is to own a 1796 half cent. But, that's beyond a long way off.

 

He doesn't have it up on his website Steve Ellsworth Butternut coins had it.

 

I always find the survival rates interesting. EVERY book you read says that in the early years of the US, gold was undervalued so it was all shipped overseas and melted down. Then later silver was undervalued so it was all shipped overseas and melted. Obviously, since a significant percentage of the mintage survives, what they said about these melts can only partially be true. The obvious fact is that the coins circulated, except for early half dollars which lived in bank vaults just like the Morgan dollars much later. For coppers, the early ones circulated until they were slick, and people continued to accept them based on their size until the government exchanged them for the Flying Eagle and Indian Head cents beginning in 1857.

As far as half cents being a workhorse in commerce, they were, but cents were the main workhorse. Coppers were truly the money of the people. The Mint made more money coining a cent than coining two half cents because of the labor involved, so it made a lot more cents (pun intended).

 

I just checked my type set.
I do not have a 1796.
What I do have are:
-- 1795 Lettered Edge
-- 1804 Spiked Chin
-- 1806

 

The ONLY 1796 Half Cent I ever came close to buying (I ended up getting two other type coins instead) was a smooth AG3.

It was at Baltimore about 10 or 15 years ago. The last negotiated price was $13,500.00.

 

I also have a special fondness for half cents, as with all the "uncommon denominators," to coin (ouch) a phrase (numismatize? I'll stop)...

They are indeed small in numbers (oops), and attract a more selective audience as well, but are worth what the market will bear and regardless of ticket price are worth slabbing in the better grades if only for authentication.

To me, they also represent a piece of history that most of us have no real connection to, and that alone makes them desirable and collectible. Unless you consider that Superman movie connection...

Bill
SilverWilliesCoins.com

 

Happy Highway:

You say that the price sellers want is higher than the coin price guides. What are they selling for? Have you checked eBay sold prices for those coins?

The coin price guide I use the most is:

http://www.bestcoin.com/united-states-coin-pricing-guide.htm

It appears to be based on eBay sales. The prices in bestcoin.com are also lower for the 1/2 cents than what you are quoting. Does anyone else use bestcoin.com? If yes, what do you think of it?

 

The problem with ANY price guide is that it tries to reflect the market, but the market for half cents is split, with the nicer coins in every grade going to collectors who are willing to pay a premium for them. If you find a mark-free VG with nice color and no problems, plan to pay Fine money for it and so on up. For the earlier types, I do not believe that it is possible to get a truly UNC or AU coin for the prices in the guides.