Went through a bag of half dollars today. Amongst all the pound of lint, guitar picks, screws, car wash tokens, and other crap, I find this beauty. What appears to be an 1835 Large Cent. I did some googling and as far as I can tell, it's genuine, but hence the reason I'm posting here. The scan doesn't do this coin much justice. It is pretty beat up, but when tilting it just right in the light, you can read the ONE CENT. To date, this is the Oldest US coin that I have pulled from circulation. In the same bag, I also found an 1893 Columbian Expo Half. The 1893 would have been the highlight as it is the first Columbian Half that I've pulled from circulation and the oldest US coin that I've pulled from circulation (but not by much). Unfortunately, the Columbian Half will never get the recognition that it deserves having been found in the same bag as the large cent. My question is, do you guys think the large cent would grade any higher than F02? Do you think this coin is genuine. I really don't have any books on large cents, but I'm always up for learning. Looking at the coin in hand, it looks more like abuse than anything else. Thanks in advance for any feedback.
Fantastic ! I bet that was a thrill. I suppose it is an F-02. It's also Head of 1836, which I personally think is cool. Congrats on the Columbian Expo as well !
Wow what a neat find, the lg.cent will never be more than a filler(fa2), also, seems to have a small 8. Yes, I agree the columbian halves are very underappreciated...
If you think the Columbian Halves are underappreciated now, can you imagine paying a $1 for that coin in Chicago, only have some 1½ million of them released into circulation at face value only a couple years later. You think the wife complains about buying coins now, imagine buying a coin only to have it drop in value 50% in less than 3 years.
what the heck kind of bag of $1/2 was this? Not from a bank I'll bet. Not with guitar picks, screws and lint.
Yep, it was a bank bag. That level of crap is normal for a bank that doesn't receive halves very often. Being the last exit from the sorting head on a coin counter, often that's where most garbage ends up. Gauging from the amount of garbage in the bag and past experience, I'm guessing this one took about 3 years to fill up.
