I picked up a couple sets of AU Bust halves at the last ANA show in Philly. Thanks to the NGC image feature, images are available if you have access there. I have tried to transfer images on to my imgur account but that is not supported. Certification numbers for look-up are: http://www.ngccoin.com/certlookup/CertResults.aspx?CertNumber=3655718-001 and 002; I bought these coins from Tommy, "The Elusive Spondulix" for $1300 for the pair. Also, here are a couple of others I bought raw from Mr. Garcia of Scotsman, they graded about what we figured, the 1822 graded AU50 and the 1837 AU55: http://www.ngccoin.com/Dealers/ShowInvoiceCoins.aspx?InvoiceNumber=3655740-001 and 002. Something new on the variety front, they are using "GR" numbers, as I got with the second coin: [TABLE="class: ScoreTable"] [TR="class: ScoreTable_row"] 001 1822 O-110a 50C AU 50 [/TR] [TR="class: ScoreTable_Altrow"] 002 1837 GR-9 50C AU 55 [/TR] [/TABLE]
OK.....think I know the book. It's new. Let me go do some poking around....... [edit to add] I think this might be the book associated with those GR numbers. Gonna be a 'must have' for the busty collectors.......
Gr- must be named after the author of the book on the subject, Dick Graham. "A Registry of Die Varieties of Reeded Edge Half Dollars 1836-1839" I picked up a copy from Dick at the ANA. He lists varieties with a GR designation, eg: GR-4
Is it a good read? I've been meaning to pick up a copy, but there aren't too many available online. I know DK was selling some on his eBay page, but he was asking like $80.00 per copy. And, I've been meaning to ask this - are the varieties listed on a rarity scale of 1 to 8 like usual? (i.e. R1-R8) -Brian
It's a great read, but I might be viewed as not the best person to give a review since I wrote the 30+ pages of Introduction while Dick wrote the 130+ pages of attribution. I only have a few copies of the book left at $65 per copy plus $6 shipping, while I do not know how many copies Dick has remaining. The GR is for Graham-Reiver since Dick renumbered the die marriages, added some and deleted others. Yes, the varieties are listed from R1 through R8 with the same criteria as for Overton die marriages.
Good to hear from the experts on this. I have been told there are no significant varieties in the Turban halves, now I know different. What sort of rare varieties should collectors be on the lookout for or do we have to buy the book to find out?
There are, of course, quite a large number of R1 through R3 die marriages, but there are also a fair number of more scarce marriages. Many of these have quick pick up points that can be identified by the position of die cracks or other visual cues. One thing that many folks do not realize about these half dollars is that quite a few can be had with very dramatic cracking and this looks quite cool. In fact, I wrote a thread about some of the die cracks on this series and included images, too. The thread is on these boards, the NGC and PCGS boards and my Facebook page, but I did not post it to my website.
http://forum.freeadvice.com/copyrig...images-us-coins-bills-copyrighted-526957.html If you want more official documentation that can be done...
