Heritage has just auctioned the amazing Jacobson collection of early gold half eagles. The 1798-9 issues caught my eye. Example pics of 1798 and 1799 coins (neither in this sale) are at the end. I don’t own any 18th century U.S. coins but am interested anyway. I was curious what prices the coins might bring and looked at PCGS auction prices realized. What I found was confusing to say the least. There are 5 groups of 1798 heraldic (aka large aka shield) half eagles and 4 groups of 1799 half eagles. Here are the group names (numbers are just the order in which the names occur on the PCGS website). 1798: No. 1: large 8; No. 2: large 8, 13 star reverse; No. 3: small 8; No. 4: large 8, 14 st rev; No. 5: large 8, 14 star reverse. 1799: No. 1: large stars reverse; No. 2: large reverse stars ; No. 3: small stars reverse; No. 4: small reverse stars. Huh? Large stars reverse versus large reverse stars? What’s the difference? To investigate further, I started looking at individual PCGS-graded coins and especially the descriptions by the auction companies. It soon became apparent that the PCGS groupings were based on Bass-Dannreuther (aka BD) die varieties. Harry Bass and John Dannreuther wrote the definitive book on die varieties, entitled Early U.S. Gold Coin Varieties, copyrighted 2006. The book is still available at reasonable prices. The BD groups for 1798 are 2-8 (there is no BD-1). The BD groups for 1799 are 1-9. Every coin PCGS grades is assigned a PCGS group number (PCGS#). The number can represent an entire issue (country, year, denomination, design, finish) or a group of die varieties or a specific die variety. The PCGS group number is the number to the left of decimal point on the slab. To add to the confusion, the group number on the slab may not be the same group number in the PCGS auction database but usually matches the PCGS# in the cert. no. verification database. This is because when the coin was slabbed, no one bothered to determine the exact die variety, so a PCGS# covering a group of die varieties was put on the label. At a later date, when the coin came to auction, the variety was attributed (probably by the cataloger, maybe by PCGS). The PCGS# recorded in the PCGS auction database for that sale was one for the specific variety. The results of my investigation are: For 1798: PCGS group no. 1: large 8, PCGS# 507322, (attributed BD-2). PCGS group no. 2: large 8, 13 star reverse, PCGS# 8078 (variety unattributed); PCGS# 507324 (attributed BD-4); PCGS# 507325 (attributed BD-5). PCGS group no. 3: small 8, PCGS# 8079 (variety unattributed), PCGS# 507326 (attributed BD-6), PCGS# 507327 (attributed BD-7), PCGS# 507328 (attributed BD-8). PCGS group no. 4: large 8, 14 st rev, PCGS# 8080 (variety unattributed). PCGS group no. 5: large 8, 14 star reverse, PCGS# 507323 (attributed BD-3). For 1799: PCGS group no. 1: large stars reverse, PCGS# 98081(unattributed). PCGS group no. 2: large reverse stars, PCGS# 519878 (attributed BD-5); PCGS# 519883 (attributed BD-8). PCGS group no. 3: small stars reverse, PCGS#s = 8081 (variety unattributed); 519873 (attributed BD-1). PCGS group no. 4: small reverse stars, PCGS#s 519874 (attributed BD-2); 519875 (attributed BD-3); 519876 (attributed BD-4); 519880 (attributed BD-6); 519881 (attributed BD-7); 519884 (attributed BD-9. I’m uncertain how PCGS assigns PCGS#s to NGC-graded coins in their auction database. NGC has a type numbering system similar to PCGS; it’s just not as obvious. There are several other years for which early half eagles have multiple groups per year in the PCGS auction database. Deciphering those will have to wait. PCGS should do a better job of grouping the coins and naming the groups. The coin below is a 1798 half eagle, PCGS# 8078 (specific variety unattributed, which was the case when it was certified). That number placed it initially in PCGS auction prices realized group no. 2. If the cert. no. is checked in the PCGS database, the PCGS# comes up as 8078 to match the slab. PCGS always wants labels and info in the cert. no. database to agree. However, when this coin was sold by Heritage in Jan 2022, it was recognized then or perhaps earlier as BD-2. So, it appears in the PCGS group 1 auction database with a PCGS# of 507322. If the coin were to be sent to PCGS in its current slab for a regrade or perhaps reholdering, it should come back with a PCGS# on the label of 507322 and that number would be in the cert. no. verification database. If it was cracked out and sent in raw, it might come back as PCGS# 8078 or PCGS# 507322 depending on what was written on the form or the expertise of the graders. The coin below is a 1799 half eagle, PCGS# 519878, which means it’s BD-5. However, this coin was originally graded MS-62 by PCGS and sold by Superior in Jan 1996. It was regraded MS-63 and sold by Bowers and Merena in Aug 2001. The earlier cert. nos. are no longer valid, but the PCGS# likely was 98081 (variety unattributed). The BD system didn’t exist for these earlier dates. The coin was regraded again to MS-63+ and sold by Stack’s Bowers in Sep 2015 (their pic).
