My current collecting effort is US half cents and large cents by variety. I have Fuhrman's 3 volumes of handbooks for the half cents and don't have much difficulty working with those coins, at least those from 1800 on. Identifying varieties of US large cents is another story , particularly those in the 1835-1856 date range. Not surprisingly identifying the Newcomb variety for those coins are often giving me fits. My references for these coins are: -- John Wright's The Cent Book, which helps with the last half of the 1830's. -- William Noyes' 6-volume set of United States Large Cents references are my key "go to" books. -- John Grellman's "The Die Varieties of United States Large Cents 1840-1857" helps a lot also. In spite of these large cents references I often have difficulty IDing a coin's Newcomb variety for the 1835-1856 years. I believe I saw a reference to an on-line site that helps simplify identification using actual photographs. I believe you have to subscribe to that site ($100?) Would someone point me in that direction? The coins I am currently working with are all slabbed (NGC or PCGS) and in grades ranging from VF-20 to XF-45. But some are AU or MS. I don't collect "detailed" or "genuine" coins, at least not for coins graded R-1 through R-3. Collecting "detailed" or "genuine" coins will be reserved for coins with higher catalog values. Any suggestions to help me along with this collecting effort would be greatly appreciated.
I really should check it out. I bought a copy at the EAC where it debuted but I've never bothered to get into it. It looks good and I think once I get into it it will be helpful on the early and middle date. I'm still skeptical about how helpful it will be on the late dates.
A question on collecting later date large cent varieties - Newcomb die stage must also be considered when attributing - Grellman's limits to only actual die pairs?
I don't have much experience with the most recent edition of Grellman, but the third edition did list how the dies broke down but I don't believe he listed specific die stages. I know Noyes listed die stages on the early and middle dates but I don't know if he did so for the late dates.