1/2 Cent - Large Cent - Early Dollar?
gschwernk
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I am trying to decide between which of these: 1/2 cents, large cents or early dollars to start focusing on next. Any recommendations?
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They are all challenging series that require significant knowledge and education to know what you are doing.
Nothing is as expensive as free money.
Early copper is depressed right now. Might be a good time to jump in. JMHO.
https://pcgs.com/setregistry/showcase/2819
Without knowing your goals or what you enjoy that is a challenge. Many people focus on specific die varieties of each which can lead to a lifetime challenge. I personally think half cents are underrated but they have been for decades now. They may never be super popular. That might mean they will be available for a lesser cost depending upon the quality level you're looking for.
Not only does the category matter, but what would you be looking for? Date series, mint marks, varieties etc.? A lot to consider. I would recommend going to a large coin show (if there were any) and roaming the bourse. Look for things that attract you, history, design, appearance.... Such a decision is personal, and really, you must decide. Cheers, RickO
I've always admired early, good quality copper. The mintages on half cents are low, especially when you weed out the poor planchet examples. Like TurtleCat mentioned, they seem under-rated.
It's a tough decision, and it comes down to what you really like best.
Thanks for the help. I really like all 3. I am searching for something about them that I might have overlooked. They all require a sizable dollar commitment and I would hate to enter a dying area of the hobby.
If you’re looking for a series that will always be popular, or at least easily divested if that’s your concern, I’d say classic gold is a great option. Lots of series and subseries available.
Actually, my classic gold collection is pretty good. Want I still want doesn't come around too often or like the 1804 $10 is out of my price range. That is why I am considering the early copper and dollars. There are numerous coins available that I can afford. I think some of the rare early dollars are underpriced in say VF grades.
If you have the patience to collect the relatively short run of early dollars, it is a great series. I bought a couple of early dollars 30 years ago, then shifted to 1794-1807 half dollars and never looked back.
In order from my personal point of view only.....
Dollars
Half cents
Cents
Good luck with your personal choice.
A: The year they spend more on their library than their coin collection.
A numismatist is judged more on the content of their library than the content of their cabinet.
How do you want to collect? Are you into dates, Red Book varieties or die varieties?
The half cents would be the cheapest to collect by date. The Dollars are the easiest to collect by date, except for the 1794. Large cents are collectible except for the 1799 and 1804. Those two are the dates that have discouraged me. All are expensive if you want nice, not great, coins.
Variety collecting is difficult and can be a lifetime commitment unless you are super wealthy.
Of the three, I started with Early Dollars and at a subsequent point in time got into Large Cents. Never went after half cents. My goal with regard to Early Dollars was to get at least one for each year. This was obtainable with my set starting with the 1795 Flowing Hair Early Dollar. In total I have at least 14 Early Dollars although not all are in PCGS holders. Even so my set holds a top ten Registry Set ranking for the "Early Dollars Complete Variety Set and Silver Plug Circulated Strikes (1792-1808)." Some day I would like to add a1794, but as close as I have gotten to an "affordable" one was as the underbidder back when nice examples could still be had in the five figure range.
Never attempted a Registry Set for the Large Cents since many are not in PCGS holders. It was fun for a number of years to have owned one of the elusive 1794 Starred Reverse Liberty Cap Large Cents as I learned at one of the major shows from the Early Dollar specialists there that it, like most all Starred Rerverses, was identifiable as pictured in a book they had.
If you are dealing with pre 1815 copper, you will have difficulties, and I'm being very polite. I won't go near most pre 1815 copper for reasons I have posted here a number of times before.
Planchet quality improved after the Classic Large Cent stopped being produced, and you don't have those issues with Coronet Head or Braid Hair Large Cents, or Classic Head or Braided Hair Half Cents.
"Seu cabra da peste,
"Sou Mangueira......."
Why not try a type set of these early coins? Major varieties from 1793 to 1808? Chain, wreath, liberty cap, and bust large cent, then likewise for the dollars and half cents.
Thanks again. Great ideas from all. I already have a complete type set of all 3. I also own all dates of the early dollars, my 1794 is not great VF details and would like a better one someday. Most probably I will do a simple circulated everyman date set for 1/2 cent and large cents and work mostly on varieties of the early dollars( somewhere between 36 and 120 coins).
If you want a real challenge, maybe a date set of red or near-red cents or half cents. That would make for a stunning set.
You'd better do this with the later dates....many of the early ones don't exist in these conditions, and the few that do are generally high five figures and up. I don't think Cardinal even had very many in these conditions.
If you are looking for a challenging collection goal, there are (last time I checked) 250 known varieties of Middle Date (Matron Head) Large Cents. I'm currently s-l-o-w-l-y working on such a set in VF-XF as I can actually afford some of those. It's a lot of fun.
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Tom, formerly in Albuquerque, NM.
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