GTG 1814 E/A O-108a Capped Bust Half Dollar
jacrispies
Posts: 1,056 ✭✭✭✭✭
What is your opinion of the grade?
The first set of photos are courtesy of a previous David Lawrence auction, and the second set are my photos. The scratches on the cheek seen on my photos are due to a single lamp light source, thus lighting up the wear from one direction, appearing like a cleaning. For kicks, there is a guido on the edge visible by S-13 on the obverse and A-2 on the reverse. Thanks in advance.
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you" Matthew 6:33. Young fellow suffering from Bust Half fever.
BHNC #AN-10
JRCS #1606
5
Comments
40
EF45 or so. How much of a factor should the reverse have? Is the greatest wear on a side the limiting factor most of the time?
45/50
50
35
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40
Standard weak strike in all the normal areas and looks to have decent luster in protected areas.
BHNC #248 … 130 and counting.
Weakness in the eagle's head and left wing are very common in this variety (and lots of others in the series) and that should be taken into consideration along with other factors to determine the grade, IMO.
Another interesting example is the 1809 O-104. This coin is the PCGS plate coin as AU55 and is an amazing coin but has a typical weakly struck chin, that in lower grades can almost look like damage. Almost like someone took a cloth and tried to rub dirt or a planchet defect off of it. It also has a weak left wing and head on the reverse. This is also seen on several other 1809 die varieties.
BHNC #248 … 130 and counting.
These are notorious for being undergraded, so I will guess VF30, but I think it's more of a 40.
Great pictures, and great variety!
I'm going to say it's a VF38!
Really I can see this somewhere between VF30 and EF45 depending on how I feel about the surfaces, but I'm leaning to strong 35 or reasonable 40.
“We are only their care-takers,” he posed, “if we take good care of them, then centuries from now they may still be here … ”
Todd - BHNC #242
Wonderful variety...the E over A.
Speculation is that the A punched into STATES instead of the correct E was not a matter of illiteracy by "the help" or a spelling error by Reich. It was likely due to a distraction that caused Reich to lose his place. Seeing a T and little more (under magnification) he didn't realize he was about to strike the fifth letter, not the third.
These are tough to grade. The dies were well worn and strikes are always soft, especially evident at eagle's neck and head. and the left-facing wing.
I like it as a 40. But anything 35-45 wouldn't surprise me.
Nice example!
Lance.
A market 50. A technical 40.
35
I like it. Nice die clash. Strong eye-appeal overall.
40
https://www.the4thcoin.com
https://www.ebay.com/str/thefourthcoin
My guess would be 40.... Nice die clash on the obverse... Cheers, RickO
45
Mr_Spud
Big spread, VF-35 to AU-50! This was expected, especially since this is a tougher marriage to grade. Lance explains it well, the eagle normally comes weakly struck.
I'll post my personal grade and NGC's grade tomorrow, in case anyone else wants to get their opinions in.
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you" Matthew 6:33. Young fellow suffering from Bust Half fever.
BHNC #AN-10
JRCS #1606
The first set of images , I was thinking a very flashy 30...
When I saw the 2nd sets of pics, 40 all the way. Higher wouldn't surprise me either.
Super coin for sure!
I've had a couple of these but never one with the arrow clash and the eagle claw clash so sharp!
it doesn't seem common that these clash strongly enough or appropriately enough for the D in untied to make it to the obv?
Changing my guess to 45
I'll go with 40. Love the bold clash.
@LanceNewmanOCC Good eye. I was studying those clashes a couple weeks ago. There are clash marks of the first few stars underneath UNITED as well. Super cool. I didn't have those specific closeups on hand, but I do have these photos of some other features:
NGC gave this a VF-30. I purchased this and cracked it for closer study, as I like my coins raw. I think it is an XF-45, included ownership bias.
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you" Matthew 6:33. Young fellow suffering from Bust Half fever.
BHNC #AN-10
JRCS #1606
great images~!
nice info the strength of clashing carried over to the rev as well.
auspicious timing on the close-up of the liberty clash on the rev. i was JUST thinking the past few days or so how neat it would be to see that clash again w/o me having to go digging for images. so thanks.
seeing that same clash multiple times over the top of each other and also inside the shield is pretty nifty too.
Here are, in order, a VF30, VF35, and XF40. FWIW.
Lance.
And here is another XF40.
You can see these are tough to grade.
Lance.
Thanks for sharing those examples to provide discussion for grading these. I actually somewhat disagree with those grades listed. I think they are XF-40, VF-35, and AU-50 respectively. Luster, in my opinion, seems to be the best thing to go by in high VF-AU grades considering that the detail can be so inconsistent. The middle coin has a better strike with less luster so that would mean more wear, thus a lower (technical) grade.
I think the market grading system screws up coins like this because it severely knocks the grades of original coins with knowingly weak strikes.
I agree with the grade of the fourth coin, XF-40 tops. It may appear that it has more luster than an XF-40, but those are heavy die flow lines that are more apparent and stay in the lower circulated grades.
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you" Matthew 6:33. Young fellow suffering from Bust Half fever.
BHNC #AN-10
JRCS #1606
I guessed VF30 was assigned.. here's my "30," ahem,
How does everyone have an E/A but me that’s what I wanna know
BHNC #248 … 130 and counting.
.
that is very peculiar. even I have owned them but don't have one currently!
Also interesting is that we haven't seen any O-108 earlier die states yet. Lance's first VF-30 example is a few strikes earlier than mine, but is still considered the "a" die state.
@kaz Nice example with an interesting later die state, thank for sharing! That looks at least XF-40, could be 45.
The large bulge in front of Miss Liberty is quite interesting. An effect of die deterioration, it has to be a lapped clash, die sink, or progressive indirect design transfer. The other clash marks on the right obverse field seem to mush away as well, so I would think it would be a lapped clash with PIDT as a minor contributor.
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you" Matthew 6:33. Young fellow suffering from Bust Half fever.
BHNC #AN-10
JRCS #1606
Here's mine, graded VF-35:
10-4,
My Instagram picturesErik
My registry sets
Below is an E/A prime. I have images of a couple more.
The bulge to the left of Liberty's profile is due to lapping after clashing (eagle's wing). Very common in the series.
Lance.
Improperly cleaned, AU details
I was going to guess 45, but am too late. Nice coin.
35 or a 40, pick one 🙂
you know, i like ddo, clashing, errors etc as much as the next person BUT EDS/Prime are VERY nice and it would be nice if they'd get grade bumps due to that. nice specimen.
didn't recall seeing the graded holder, so TTT in case others missed it as well.
i'd have cracked it too.
You have to spend money….these are not inexpensive! 😂
My xf45
I have a low grade example.
I don't actively collect bust halves, and don't know much about them. But, I did notice the A/E peculiarity on this one and was glad to buy it.
I’m not sure how I didn’t see this thread before just now. I happen to love this Redbook variety and believe the grading is indeed all over the place because of the typically weak strike found on the left wing and eagle’s head.
I have owned quite a few over the years. There are some really beautiful examples posted in this thread.
The early die state (prime) PCGS 58 shown above by @lkeigwin was mine before I sold it not long ago through one of Sheridan Downey’s MB auctions. It has an excellent (full IMO) reverse strike, which is rarely seen on an E/A.
I also sold an O.108a, also PCGS 58, a few years back which had an excellent reverse strike and some pretty peripheral reverse toning.
But my favorite example, which I still own and also happens to be a later die state, is my PCGS 63+. It has several sets of obverse clashes and an amazing reverse strike. Believe it or not, I bought it in a NGC 61 holder many years ago.
In my opinion, the E/A happens to be a scarce and undervalued Redbook variety, especially in the higher AU grades, and even more so in MS.
These are so much fun to study and collect. Grab one when you can!
Dave
I've owned just two. The first, an ANACS XF40 that crossed to PCGS as a 35, and the second which I bought as a 53 and it regraded 55.
Dave's 63+ is simply spectacular. I could look at it all day. Actually I have when we were thinking of turning the images into a jigsaw puzzle.
Lance.
@Eddi What an extremely attractive example you have there!
@drddm The combined features of strike, condition, and die state makes your coin phenomenal!
@lkeigwin If the bulge defect to the right of Miss Liberty is due to lapping, why does this example below still have the clash marks on the high points of the die (fields)? When lapping a die, I wouldn't think the mint employees would sand and polish the dies in a small, concentrated spot, completely avoiding all other clashmarks. Food for thought I guess. I really like your second coin, great colors and strike in an attractive circulated grade.
I didn't notice the feather details in the clash in front of Miss Liberty before! Quite amazing.
Are lower grade (F and below) difficult to come by for you guys? I come across the E/As in high VF+ and only have seen a couple lower grade examples before.
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you" Matthew 6:33. Young fellow suffering from Bust Half fever.
BHNC #AN-10
JRCS #1606
🤦♂️ look what I found buried in my safe. Forgot it was there! 🤣
BHNC #248 … 130 and counting.
I see them quite a bit at shows unattributed.
BHNC #248 … 130 and counting.
now THAT makes much more sense.
nice example AND pics.
Mine was an ANACS 45 that i submitted to PCGS and they graded it 45.
Each of the coins in this thread is a tribute to the early Mint workers who did everything they could to squeeze more coins out of the dies before they completely collapsed ( dies and workers, both).
Here is my first E/A I ever bought. Got it around 15 years ago from Dick Osborn and still own it. Bought it as a NGC 45 and crossed it to PCGS 45.
It also happens to be a O.108 Prime.
Dave