I posted this in another forum, but thought I’d share it here, as well as pose the question: What milestones are you hoping to achieve as you pursue your collecting interests? We all have “milestones” which we strive to attain in our collecting goals. During my earlier journeys to complete set of Charlotte Half Eagles, I “branched over” into Early Half Eagles. HE’s are my favorite denomination to collect and, aside from the early copper issues, no other U.S. coin denomination was produced with the regularity of the $5 gold HE during the first 40 years of U.S. coinage. And it was obvious, particularly in its early years, that the mint was willing to get quite creative to ensure consistent HE coinage. As far as large transactional arrangements, nothing “worked harder” than the HE, and in my opinion, no other denomination has more enigmatic issues. That said, I decided over 15 years ago to embark on what I thought was a manageable endeavor to put together a set of early Bust Right/Large Eagle & Capped Bust (Bust Left) HEs from 1798-1812. Since that time, I’ve slowly acquired all of the dates, weeding out early mistakes/replacing examples I thought didn’t quite match up with how I wanted the set to look. The last date needed was the 1807 Capped Bust Left. While it was one of the very first early HEs I purchased (circa 2004), I sold the coin long ago because it just didn’t have the character & look I wanted for the set. Yesterday, the last “hole” in the set arrived… I’m very happy with it, as it has the right coloration & look I’m after - milestone met!. It's a bit darker in hand, with an attractive coppery coloration to it. My lighting arrangement "blasts" it out more than it actually presents. Looking forward to having Todd image it at an upcoming show. Who knows... maybe I'll finally pick up a nice Bust Right/Small Eagle example to compliment the group - may involve prying one specifically lovely example from @Justacommeman , or maybe just totally throw caution to the wind and jump into the "Fattie" $5 arena next?
Terrific collection. Congrats and well done! Are "fattie" $5 coins the same as the reduced diameter bust left 1829-1834 half eagles? Cal
Thanks Cal. The early "Fatties" are of the large diameter - same as the 1795-1812 HEs. The later-date Fatties (1829-1834) are of the reduced diameter (23.8mm vs 25mm), but retained the same weight (8.75 grams) as their earlier cousins. In 1834, the diameter was further reduced to 22.5mm and the weight pared down to 8.36 grams with the introduction of the Classic Head design.