Best Of

A friendly reminder to keep things civil.

@specialist said:
Simpson has nearly 2000 patterns!!!!!!! Not all are posted. Ok, so he needs 1,000 more to complete-and he has the only gold pattern set possible.

I know he had something like 2000 pieces, but hasn't he since sold off some of the less interesting parts of the collection?

As for DLH "needing" to collect patterns to compete with Eliasberg, he obviously gets to decide that for himself. But I will say that watching the way he has built his collection, he probably won't get too serious about patterns until he has a chance to buy a large collection of them. I think he understands that speed-building a major collection of patterns one coin at a time is a great way to run the market up on yourself.

Currin - thank you for putting all this data together. It is a pleasure to read.

It will be interesting to see how many of the 21 remaining are knocked down by this time next year.

A NEW SET

I was planning to keep things a little simple today and maybe provide a summary on the challenge that we have been watching the past few weeks. Sometimes Hansen does things to change my plan as he did last night. He created a new set and added one coin. This may seem simple enough, but it is more than worthy to mention today.

Capped Bust Half Dimes, Proof (1829-1837)

This is a set that does not seem to belong or at least not appreciated. The new complete series set consist of only dates: 1829-1837. A coin is required for each year no matter the difficulty. When I say difficulty, a few dates do not have any coins certified by PCGS. The registry provides a very simple description for the set: Low mintage is the name of the game with proof Capped Bust Half Dimes. The 1829 and 1831 issues can be found, but the rest of the set is going to prove a major challenge, even in lower grades. One coin from the series is required for a complete PCGS Proof Type Set. The Hansen Collection have an 1829 PR64 POP 3/3. I am not sure when he acquired this coin, but it has been the representative in his type set for a while now. Hansen did not update his type set last night, but the 1829 is short live for the type set. There is another interesting point that I will make. If you have followed me, you know that at times I have commented on the inconsistently of the PCGS sets. This is another example. In the Proof Basic Master Set (in the Complete Sets category), for half dimes, the set starts with 1837 Half Liberty Seated Proof. Why would this entire series be excluded?

Capped Bust Half Dimes, Proof Information from PCGS POP Report. (1832, 1833, 1835, 1837 did not have any PCGS certified specimens)

1829 H10C (Est. 20-30 known) PCGS Total Pop 11 coins (1 CA)
1830 H10C (Est. 5 to 6 known) PCGS Total Pop 2 coins (1 CA)
1831 H10C (Est. 10-20 known) PCGS Total Pop 3 coins
1832 H10C (Not in PCGS POP Report) None PCGS certified
1833 H10C (Not in PCGS POP Report) None PCGS certified
1834 H10C ( Est. 20-30 known) PCGS Total Pop 5 coins (1 CA)
1835 H10C (Not in PCGS POP Report) None PCGS certified
1836 H10C (Est. 1-5 known) PCGS Total Pop 1 coin
1837 H10C (Not in PCGS POP Report) None PCGS certified

Note: we need to be careful with the estimates due to proof –like coins. It is my understanding that PCGS is very selective at what they consider true proofs in many of the early issues.

1830 Half Dime, PR65+ CA CAC

These little silver coins do not get much love. I am curious, are there any half dime fans in the community? If so, this is the time to jump into the discussion. I think this coin is worth a decision. This coin appears to be a recent NGC crossover. As I indicated, PCGS certification coins in this series are very limited. This coin makes only the second 1830 certified by PCGS. The other is “The Eliasberg 1830 V-5, LM-9.1 Half Dime, PR65” that last sold in a 2008 Heritage Auction in $50,025. The coin did not have the CA designation. To be fair, the Hansen coin was certified recently and the Eliasberg Specimen more than 10 years ago. At the present time, the Hansen Specimen is the higher graded coin in a two coin PCGS race.

To the best that I can find out, there are only four (maybe as many as six) known 1830 Proof Half Dime. One is in the Smithsonian Institution (per Walter Breen). PCGS CoinFacts attributes the grade as unknown. With the Hansen POP 1/0 and Eliasberg 1/1 specimens, only one other confirmed 1830 Proof Half Dime shows up. That coin is usually contributed to Eugene H. Gardner Specimen. The coin has a cool history being that it is from Europe as: “obtained by a European noble while visiting this country in the middle 19th century and retained by the same family until the present time”. That coin is a “PR66 STAR NGC. V-10, LM-1.1, R.4” that last sold in a 2013 Heritage Auction for $49,937.50. CoinFacts list this coin after the Eliasberg’s as “PR65 estimated grade”. In any case, I will show my Condition Census report below as Hansen’s as the top coin with the PCGS POP1/0. Just keep in mind that all three of the specimens outside the Smithsonian Institution are close in grade. Places could very well switch in the future.

Only four high grade proofs of date are known (Note: NGC have certified a couple lesser than GEM and may be proof-like specimens).:

D. L. Hansen Specimen (PCGS PR65+ CA CAC) - Long Beach Connoisseur Collection (Bowers and Merena, 8/99), lot 79, which realized $18,400; Benson Collection, Part II (Ira and Larry Goldberg, 2/02), lot 350, which realized $23,172; FUN Signature (Heritage, 1/2007), lot 848, realized $57,500; Greensboro Collection; The Greensboro Collection, Part VI , 2/14 US Coins Signature Auction, which the coin realized $47,000, Hansen Collection 2019.

Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. Specimen (PCGS PR65) - Bowers & Merena 5/22/1996:912, $19,800 - Heritage 12/2008:1039, $50,025 A PR66 NGC example that we offered in January 2007, earlier from the Benson Collection (Goldberg, 2/2002).

Eugene H. Gardner Specimen (NGC PR66 STAR, PCGS Est. PR65) - “Obtained by a European noble while visiting this country in the middle 19th century and retained by the same family until the present time” (Heritage) - Noblesse Collection - Heritage 9/2013:6301, $49,937.50 - Eugene H. Gardner Collection - Heritage 6/2014:30184

Smithsonian Institution Specimen (Grade Unknown), per Walter Breen.

The Hansen coin as last sold at auction at the Greensboro Collection sale in 2016. At the time, the NGC PR66 coin was described as the “Second-Finest Certified” . The finest would have been the NGC PR66 STAR. This is the Heritage description of the date: Proof 1830 half dimes are extremely rare. As of (12/13), NGC has certified only four, the present PR66 piece and another PR66 with the star designation that was recently discovered in Europe, a PR64 specimen, and a PR64 Cameo coin. An additional PCGS PR65 from the Eliasberg Collection creates a total third-party census of five examples. There is also an example in the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution.

I have reviewed pictures of the Eliasberg, Gardner, and Hansen Specimens. It is really not possible to determine the best toning from pictures. But I can say, the new TrueView picture of the Hansen coin is spectacular! Heritage describes the coins as: A delightful proof specimen of the 1830 half dime was included in the collection of Harold P. Newlin, the first numismatist to seriously study die varieties of the denomination. Lot 91 of the Newlin Collection (Captain John W. Haseltine, 4/1883) reads, "1830 A beautiful brilliant proof. Rarer than the above." The preceding coin was a proof 1829 half eagle, and it is interesting that collectors recognized the relative rarity of the 1829 and 1830 proofs as early as 1884. Recent auction appearances of the 1830 proof include the offering of the present coin in lot 848 of our January 2007 FUN Signature, which realized $57,500. Over the years, any number of prooflike pieces have been offered as proofs, but the status of the current lot is unquestioned. The portrait is thickly frosted, and the eagle is also icy, despite the presence of original golden-brown peripheral toning. The strike is needle-sharp, and the fields are flashy. A couple of trivial hairlines near star 2 and a pinpoint spot at 7 o'clock define the grade.

I have not been able to find this coin as being offered for sale in recent months. How it came into the Hansen Collection is unknown. PCGS Coin Guide places the value at $64,500. Anyone know how that value was determined?

1830 Proof Half Dime PR65+ CA CAC (PCGS Standard)
PCGS Coin #84301 / PCGS Serial #25304398 / POP 1/0
PCGS Price Guide: $64,500

Long Beach Connoisseur Collection (Bowers and Merena, 8/99), lot 79, which realized $18,400; Benson Collection, Part II (Ira and Larry Goldberg, 2/02), lot 350, which realized $23,172; FUN Signature (Heritage, 1/2007), lot 848, realized $57,500; Greensboro Collection; The Greensboro Collection, Part VI , 2/14 US Coins Signature Auction, which the coin realized $47,000, Hansen Collection 2019.

This effort to ignite collector interest occurs in an atmosphere of collector fatigue with moderns, because of the volume of items created unrelated to commercial need for coinage.

It reminds me of what happened to stamps.

Here's mine:

That looks like a coin that should be called environmentally damaged. The copper corroded right out of that coin(hence the colors)! Of course my opinion could change if I saw it in hand!