Real Nice Progress Made - My Special Indian Cent Set - Only Eight Indians Left

winesteven

As many of you know from a prior post, I've been putting together a special Indian Head Cent Set, where each coin has both a CAC and also an Eagle Eye Photo Seal. Yes, there's a lot of overlap between those two. However, I've found they each emphasize and weight different things. For example, it appears that Rick Snow is stricter regarding carbon spots, especially on coins graded at MS66, and gives more weight to the strike quality, where CAC gives a higher weight to luster. I've seen many coins with a CAC or Photo Seal that would not get the other sticker. I believe by having both stickers, I have the best of both worlds.

I anticipate that whenever I complete this set, it will rank somewhere around #9. Just ten more coins to go, although I'm always keeping an eye open for upgrades.

Here's a hotlink to the set. If you click on any photo, you can use the side arrows to scroll to see the other photos of the same coin, as well as each photo of all of the other coins.

https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/half-cents/indian-cents-major-sets/indian-cents-basic-set-circulation-strikes-1859-1909/publishedset/266583

Steve

TouchOfGrey

I'm in love with your 1903.

Mr_Spud

I especially like how well matched the set is, it must have been very difficult to locate them in that remarkable state of preservation.

winesteven

@Mr_Spud said:
I especially like how well matched the set is, it must have been very difficult to locate them in that remarkable state of preservation.

While “matching” was not a primary goal, it’s a nice byproduct of me trying to purchase the “RB’s” with a large percentage of red remaining. As we all know, for PCGS to designate a coin with the RB suffix, it only needs to contain at least 5% red (and less than 95% red). I’ve turned down many coins with stickers that I felt were too dark, although there are a couple I did buy that are “only” about 50% or 60% red. On the other extreme, when I sent some coins to Rick Snow to apply his Photo Seal, I always ask him for his opinion of the percent red in the RB’s, and several he feels have greater than 95% red, despite the RB designation.

Regarding my coins with a RD designation, as a generalization, IHC’s before the very late 1890’s tend to have the red not quite as bight and beaming red as coins designated RD from the very late 1890’s to the end of the series.

jesbroken

Beautiful set, Steven. I have admired it for a while. Indians and Buffaloes were my favorite for 30 or more years. Buffaloes still to this day. Congrats.
Jim

lkenefic

Love that 1872... tough date.

johnny9434

That's a wonderful set, wtg

alaura22

Great set, I hear foot steps................

ricko

@winesteven ... Well done!! That is a great set. Very impressive. Thanks for the link. Cheers, RickO

WaterSport

What an endeavor! Very pleasing to the eye to look at, thats for sure.

WS

DCW

Ohhhh that 1877!
Great set, and I imagine it was alot of hard work.
Congrats!

hbarbee

Very Impressive. You have certainly went for quality and uniformity and it shows. It is a rare example of a collection that could sell as a set in the future rather than be broken up. You are correct that Snow looks at grading parameters somewhat differently than PCGS even though PCGS attributes 75% of their weight to surface preservation and strike. His Plachet/Die/Strike grading combined with CAC approval does make for an impressive coin.

How many of your examples have attained a full 15 on the PDS scale?

Have you considered extending your collection back through the Flying Eagles to have full coverage over Eagle Eye's reviews?

The only example I have with both approvals is an 1857, but it is an impressive coin with an older PCGS grade and a PDS of 15:

winesteven

Thanks everyone for your kind comments.

To @DCW , once I complete the set, when I make that post, I’ll describe the kind of time this took by the process of my hunting every day.

To @hbarbee , Rick has so far only been able to offer me seven coins out of the 45 currently in my set, and I’ve bought every one of those, so I have those PDS grades. For the other coins, when I send them to Rick to get his Photo Seal, I ask him for the PDS grades, which he gladly provides. On a few he got tied up, and returned them with the Photo Seal but forgot to let me know the PDS grade. Several coins I bought double stickered from auctions, dealers and collectors, so those did not have the PDS grade. With that said, of my 45 coins currently in the set, only 29 have a PDS grade. Of those 29, only 5 have a perfect 15 grade, but 18 have a grade of 14. I’m hoping to see Rick at Winter FUN 2023. If so, I’ll have the coins with me where I don’t have his PDS grade to get them. All but two or three of my coins have the accompanying plasticized Photo Seal card. At some point I’ll ask Rick to make those for me.

Regarding your question of extending the set to include Flying Eagles, right now I have only one, for my Type Sets - 1858 LL graded MS66+ by PCGS with a CAC and Photo Seal (upgraded from 66 via Reconsideration). So at this point, no plan to expand to other Flying Eagles, especially since the required 1856 is a budget buster! Thanks for your kind words.

Steve

Tomthemailcarrier

@DCW said:
Ohhhh that 1877!
Great set, and I imagine it was alot of hard work.
Congrats!

Steve,
You’ve put together an exhibition quality set of IHC’s. The meticulous way that you have approached your quest has truly paid off. I’m happy that the 1877 from my collection is now in a fine home. We hold history in our hands and it is our obligation and duty to preserve it.

winesteven

@Tomthemailcarrier , yes, I’m so appreciative that you reached out to me about two months or so ago and allowed me to take custody of this lovely double-stickered MS65RB key coin!

Steve