1837 No Stars Seated Liberty half dime (w/grading poll)

lordmarcovan · November 13, 2011 12:15PM

I bought this yesterday from a forum friend's website. I look forward to seeing it in hand. I've always loved the type. It looks like this coin has some bluish traces of iridescence, which would add considerably to its eye appeal as far as I'm concerned.

The coin is in TPG plastic. As usual, I'll unveil that later. I welcome your input and opinions.

I brightened the pictures slightly, but not by too much.

Larger obverse photo

Larger reverse photo

Index of similar grading poll threads like this

UPDATE: after posting this, I only just now discovered something freaky about this coin, and perhaps my underlying psychological reason for liking it so much. Read down to my sixth response on this thread.

lordmarcovan · November 13, 2011 12:18PM

For the record, I have voted the "Neutral" option, since the coin is encapsulated. Sometimes I'll express my grade opinion in these polls and sometimes I'll pass. I do personally believe the coin is solid for the grade the TPG assigned it.

pursuitofliberty · November 13, 2011 12:24PM

Rob' ... I like it ... it appears to be a nice looking example with good meat, a nice strike, no unsightly marks and some decent remaining luster

WTG!

AnkurJ · November 13, 2011 12:34PM

First thought was cleaned and retoned. Hard to tell from the images.

lordmarcovan · November 13, 2011 12:38PM

In just about every one of these polls, there's always at least one person who votes "Genuine/No Grade/Problem coin" but never explains why they think that. It's a fair opinion when there's cause to believe that, but I'm beginning to think one of my silent haters is just trying to take a few potshots at my coins.

<< <i>First thought was cleaned and retoned. Hard to tell from the images. >>

Edit- ah- so were you the one who voted that, AnkurJ? OK, then, that's different. Fair 'nuf. You could be right, for all I know.

I don't have a problem with anyone voting what they believe, as long as it's an honest opinion and not based on their opinion of me rather than the coin.

TPRC · November 13, 2011 1:43PM

I will say 45 and I'll guess it's in an ANACS slab. It has a fair amount of meat and luster, but also a little too much wear on the leg and in the obverse fields for anything higher, IMO, and I could see it as a 40.

stealer · November 13, 2011 1:46PM

I think it's between a 40 or 45 with enough meat to go AU but not enough luster.

At least, that's what I like to see in my AU's.

CarlWohlforth · November 13, 2011 1:50PM

I like that coin very much!

For the record I voted Neutral.

golden · November 13, 2011 1:58PM

I vote 40.

lordmarcovan · November 13, 2011 3:01PM

There's a consensus forming. We're at 29 votes as I post this. One or two more votes and I'll do the reveal.

I'll also reveal a fascinating twist in the tale- I just discovered I've gotten myself into another one of those freakish numismatic coincidences that seem to crop up with me from time to time.

Hey- "coincidence". Looks like coincidence, doesn't it? I just discovered a cool coincidence about this piece, only about an hour or so ago.

lordmarcovan · November 13, 2011 3:27PM

30 votes.

The forums have fizzled as we're moving into the wee hours, and it's slowed down here a bit, so I'll do the reveal in the morning, I guess.

And tell the interesting twist.

Type2 · November 13, 2011 3:36PM

Went with EF45 nice coin love the no star.

lordmarcovan · November 13, 2011 5:22PM

OK, it's 3 AM here now, and I'm still awake. (I'm off tonight, but I worked graveyard shift last night, so that probably explains why.)

We're at 36 votes in the poll.

So I guess now's the time for me to reveal the TPG grade (as always, I admonish you not to peek at the link until you've voted in the poll.)

Now, here comes the freaky coincidence I mentioned.

I bought this coin from Carl Wohlforth. What can I say, I just liked the look of it.

After I posted this thread, I did some keyword searching on this forum and came up with this old thread from 2008.

In it, Carl is discussing the 1837 No Stars Seated half dime he just bought from Oreville. The images he posted have since gone bad, though. I can't see what the coin looks like. But looking at the URLs for the bad pictures, it seems he was discussing a coin of the same date and grade as the one I just bought from him. Could it be this coin?

He also mentions that Oreville got the coin from... ME!

Oh, my gosh...

You see, back in 2001, when I was brand-new to these forums, I was breaking up my old type set. It had begun as a Dansco 7070 collection, and eventually morphed into a slabbed set, with slabs from the various TPG services that were in vogue at the time. When I transitioned to PCGS Registry Set collecting (a pursuit which brought me here), I sold off some of the coins that weren't in PCGS holders. Most of my old type coins were ANACS, in the old small holders.

I took the 23 Seated Liberty types (including the 20c piece and Trade dollar), and listed them all on eBay as a single lot. A Seated Liberty type set. There were some nice coins in there. I took some chances by listing them as a true auction with no reserve. Suddenly, dead-bang in the middle of the week-long auction, 9/11 happened. It looked as though it would adversely affect the bidding, too. So without any prompting from me, Oreville stepped in as a "white knight", won the auction, and bought the collection.

This half dime was part of that collection.

In other words, this coin I just bought was one I used to own before the millennium- and I didn't even recognize it!

I only put two and two together after this poll was launched. I just now discovered the coincidence.

In the decade since, I had forgotten a lot of those coins or kept vague memories of only a few of them.

OK, you might say- these forums are a bit of a small world so it's not that big a deal. Coins move around quite a bit in this tight little community. And you'd be right- but I still thought it was kinda freaky.

I guess it shows my tastes are consistent, huh? It seems I had an eye for nice circulated type coins long ago- even before Y2K.

jdillane · November 13, 2011 7:00PM

I voted 45, giving the nod over 40 due to the amount of luster apparent. She looks to have EF meat and a nice look at that!

bronzemat · November 14, 2011 6:15AM

Beautiful coin & great story. A type I am still on the hunt for myself.

lordmarcovan · November 21, 2011 11:05AM

The coin is in hand, now. First time I've seen it in a decade.

Looks good. I don't regret buying it... again.

1837 No Stars Seated Liberty half dime (w/grading poll)

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