I was looking at Ronald P. Manley's book The HALF CENT Die State Book/1793-1857 and in particular the Classic Head (1809-1836) section. There is a lot of detailed information about the die states of the various years. (That was a "duh" moment for me; of course, that's part of the book's title.) Unlike Cohen varieties which are also covered in the book, die states seem to be in the advanced specialist collector's realm. Does anybody here include die states of issues that they specialize in? Or do you stick at most to varieties?
Sometimes. I have sometimes owned multiple examples of the same variety if there was a significant difference between die states, a remarriage, or collar change. This is especially true when a particular die state is very rare.
How Significant Are Die States to You? It's always gonna be a personal thing. To me they aren't significant at all. But then, to me, neither are varieties or errors - at least in most cases. But I will admit there have been times when I bought a specific variety when its rarity factor was extreme. But even then, originally, my primary interest was in acquiring the coin itself, not that specific variety. In other words, I bought the cake because I wanted that cake, the fact that it had a specific icing on it merely made it a bit better edit - I suppose I should add that to me errors are mistakes, screw ups, reasons for me NOT to buy the coin !
It's nice to have a few different ones of the same coin but in reality, I don't get excited about them.
I guess it depends on what the die state is. If it’s something interesting like a cud or a major die crack, then I may be interested. If it’s some minor clashing that you can only see if the coin is AU and above then I probably won’t care about the die state much.
Die states are one of the reasons why I gave up collecting half cents by die variety. All I wanted was one example of each variety, but die state collectors want as many as it takes, which leaves few pieces for other collectors. When one guy has to own multiple examples of a scarce variety, and others can’t get any, it’s time to collect something else.
I might collect a couple of die states of a die marriage if I find them interesting, but usually I just collect the latest die stage which could include a cud or heavy die break. I don't hoard die states. They are interesting to study as a terminal state can explain why a rare die marriage ended early in the divorce of the obverse and reverse dies
I started going sideways within 1801 S-223 Draped Bust Large Cents (among others) but then eventually figured out that the die states listed by Breen don't actually all exist. As I considered how many other mistakes may be out there, some of the wind was taken out of my sails. I do generally like LDS/TDS large cents.
Many VAMs are listed with die stages, but only a few are widely collected that way. The 88-O VAM 1B "Scarface" has a progression of 12 different stages that people seek, from no die crack at all, to the full die break all the way across Liberty's face. The 21-S VAM 1B "Thornhead" is another, also with 12 different stages, showing the same die get gouged and then polished over and over again. Most breakdowns by die stage will get you merely a polite response, however.
