United States: gold 5-dollar half-eagle, Liberty Head type, 1842-D (small date)

Discussion in 'US Coins Forum' started by lordmarcovan, Nov 21, 2016.

  1. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    United States: gold 5-dollar half-eagle, Liberty Head type, 1842-D (small date)

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    Obverse: Liberty head in coronet facing left.
    Reverse: Heraldic eagle, olive branch in right talon, three arrows in left, Dahlonega "D" mintmark below.

    PCGS VF30 with CAC green sticker, cert. #11588556. Ex-Michael Kittle Rare Coins, 3/15/2014. (Sticker on back of slab indicates prior provenance to Douglas Winter Numismatics.)

    This was a really big-ticket purchase on my modest income. It cost more than twice the cost of my previous largest coin purchase in 38 years of collecting. In fact, it cost as much or more than many of the clunker cars I've driven over the years! I live in Georgia, and this will be my first coin from the Dahlonega Mint. I previously had owned one Charlotte mint gold dollar (with a hole obscuring half the mintmark), but that's it for the scarce C- and D-mint Southern gold.

    This coin technically belongs to my daughter, Victoria. Since she decided she's not into coin collecting, I sold her 1901 Victoria British Empire type set and put most of the proceeds into this coin, which I may sell ten or twelve years down the road, when she needs college textbooks or a wedding dress, or something like that. Until then, she's given me permission to reinvest and "play with" her collection proceeds.

    Obviously a midgrade circulated example of this coin is all we could afford. Mr. Kittle also had a Charlotte mint coin of similar grade on his website at the time I bought this, but this was the coin that spoke to me. I liked the orangey toning on it, and think it is a nice circulated example. Obviously CAC (Certified Acceptance Corporation) approved of it, too. This is my first CAC verified coin with the little "green bean" sticker on the label, which, though nice, doesn't really mean much to me personally.

    Miscellaneous links:
    Larger image
    PCGS cert verification page
    PCGS priceguide trends
    PCGS/Photograde standards
    Numismedia priceguide trends
    CAC verification page (copy & paste cert. # 11588556 into the search box to look up this coin)

    Wikipedia links:
    Dahlonega Mint
    Half Eagle

    When posted here, this coin was part of my "Eclectic Box of 20" collection.



     
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  3. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    Well, howdy, US Coin Folk!

    I'm just now getting around to transferring my "Box of 20" collection from Collectors Universe over to here. I'm not sure, but this might be my first post on the US side of these boards. (And coincidentally, with my most expensive coin- go figure- I didn't plan that- it was just next in the chronological list. Still, if you're making an entrance, why not put your best foot forward, huh?)

    You'll note a lot of seemingly unnecessary things like "United States" in the title. This might look weird on a US Coins forum (I mean, duhh, LordM, everybody here knows that's a US coin?!?), but since my "Eclectic Box of 20" includes Ancient, World, and US issues, and even the odd piece of Exonumia now and again, I have a standard format for my titles: (country/composition/denomination/type, etc.)

    A few more US pieces will follow. I am primarily a World Coin kinda guy, but I like it all, and in the US material, I like 19th century Type. But I say again: I like it all.

    This is why I dropped the idea of "sets" a few years ago and went with this "Box of 20" thing. This way I get to sample a little bit of everything and pursue whatever catches my fancy.

    Cheers!

    ~RWS/"LM"
     
    Last edited: Nov 21, 2016
    dwhiz likes this.
  4. britannia40

    britannia40 Well-Known Member

    nice piece I don't own any CC, C or D mints I find them way to pricey for my taste. I only have 2 gold USA coins a 1904 2.5$ and a Indian 5$ both Philly.
     
  5. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    Farewell, 1842-D half eagle. I've enjoyed having you in the Box of 20.

    This, my most valuable coin (by a factor of more than 2x), is being mailed off in a swap Friday.

    It will bring me three other coins.

    The new trio will cover three categories. There will be:
    • One USA and/or colonial piece,
    • One nice World piece, and
    • One sweet Ancient piece
    And that is all I can say about that right now.

    The ink is still wet on the deals, but it's all signed and agreed to. Stay tuned.

    Hey, if I just traded away my "best" coin for these three, you know they're gonna be nice, right? ;)
     
  6. NSP

    NSP Well-Known Member

    Ack, that was one of my favorites in your Box of 20!! That said, I'm sure the three it's being traded for are worthy successors. I'm looking forward to seeing them!
     
  7. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    I liked the coin a lot, of course, but in terms of sentimental appeal versus monetary investment, it might not have even been in my top five favorites. Close. Maybe #6 or so. The only thing that separated it from any other VF $5 Liberty was the sexier mintmark, and since I'm not so much always into the minutiae like that, having all the coin's value tied up in one tiny mintmark was becoming less important to me than what kind of other things the money could bring. (Would this 1842-D $5 have been a better investment over a ten-year hold period than the stuff I'm replacing it with? Dunno. My crystal ball's all fogged up. Sometimes I go on gut instinct, y'know. I've hit some home runs that way. Gotten some bloody noses that way, too.)

    In summary, the pangs of parting with a nice coin is one of the most difficult challenges of "Box of 20" collecting. But for there to be "hellos", there must first be "goodbyes".
     
    Last edited: May 11, 2017
  8. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    The trade did not go through on this coin, so it's with me a little while longer while I consider other options.

    That's not a bad thing. For various reasons, it's now time for me to sell or swap it, I think, but I've enjoyed having it these last few years and if I end up having it a while longer, that's fine too.
     
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