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Message:: [QUOTE="okbustchaser, post: 2088390, member: 72642"]Good job tracking down a copy of Dr Peterson's book.  Many people find it much easier to use than the Overton/Parsley book. Another book you (and anyone else with an interest in CBHs) might want to look into acquiring is "Bust Half Fever" by Edgar Souders.  Not an attribution book, but excellent content on the series and the early mint.  Again, kinda hard to find, but well worth the effort. From a review on the NGC boards...<blockquote> "Bust Half Fever" provides a tremendous amount of information that fills in the gaps of the other two books. The book is easy to read, well organized and brimming with stories gathered from Ed's decades of collecting and research. A new collector or one who would simply like to know more about the early days of the mint should have this book in their collection. The first chapter is an excellent introduction to the craftsmanship and technology that went into the making of CBH dies. Chapter two stresses the importance of grading and why one must learn to do this for himself and not rely on someone else's opinion. Here is where Ed's experience shines through. In chapter three he warns of altered, cleaned or repaired CBH coins and how to detect them. Souder stresses the importance or using a hand-held 30X microscope when inspecting these coins for die varieties and possible cleaning or whizzing. I followed his advice and purchased one. Amazing how much detail one sees at this magnification. Chapter four discusses toning and artificial toning, a topic of considerable interest on these boards. Chapter five helps one prepare a realistic road map for collecting these beautiful ladies. The rest of the book covers CBH's by year, then by overdate varieties. For each year we learn the published mintage and Ed's comments on how accurate that may be. He lists the mintage ranking within the series. A year date with number of dies used is given for each calendar year. Any changes in design are duly noted. Souder gives his overall rarity classifications by grade. He discusses the typical strike and why it might be that way for that particular year. Collector appreciation covers how the coin might fair in value in the coming years. A delightful feature found in each year is something on either the history at the time, anecdotes about the mint, information on people, suggestions on storing coins and many, many other topics that makes the book both interesting and enjoyable to read from cover to cover. </blockquote>[/QUOTE]

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