Thoughts on a 1840-O Seated Half Dime
JRGeyer
Posts: 138 ✭✭✭
I've been sitting on this topic for a few weeks, but I wanted to run it by the minds of this forum, to see what I was missing.
As a matter of due-diligence, I was scouring eBay for potential additions to my collection, and I came across this 1840-O Seated Half Dime with Drapery below. An uncommon date in general, very uncommon in this condition, and quite surprisingly raw considering it's potential value:
It is listed as AU, which I thought was fair, but I thought it was potentially environmentally damaged, and scratched on the obverse noticeably enough to get a details grade. That would explain why it is being sold raw, at least. I crosschecked CoinFacts to see if the wear on the eBay coin was in line with AU graded coins for that date, and the first coin listed in AU-50 from a DLRC Auction in 2015 was this coin below:
Clearly this is the same coin in the eBay listing! But when I tried to verify the PCGS certification number, it is not found in the database.
Why would this coin get broken out of it's AU-50 holder and list at a sale price lower than its 2015 value, and why would that cert number not be in the database?
Comments
Looks like it was messed with in an effort to improve it, which didn't work out.
It's a decent V-7, with the die cracks at U east side and I2; #11 in my roster for the V-7.
Agreed. Always fun to find a match like that.
There are some sellers who might hope for an upgrade, or to list it at a higher grade raw.
Perhaps after the initial crack out it was listed at a higher value, but did not sell.
The normal way for this to happen is when a person sends the insert back to PCGS after a crackout.
Then PCGS will remove it from the database.
But many people fail to send in the insert, as they don't get paid for this.
My opinion: XF details, scratched, cleaned.
Dip gone wrong.
Type collector, mainly into Seated. -formerly Ownerofawheatiehorde. Good BST transactions with: mirabela, OKCC, MICHAELDIXON, Gerard
Maybe details if it was a half dollar.
But those scratches are truly tiny, once you account for the scaling of the photo.
I've seen much worse at that grade.
Personally I would move on to a better no problem coin, that scratch will be looking at you forever
Mike
My Indians
Danco Set
You have a good eye to catch that but I haven't a clue why someone would do that. James
Looks like somebody tried to get the crud off with acetone or something similar, removing dirt in the process and worsening the overall look of the coin.
"It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
This.
Resubmitted. Details. Cracked out again. Now selling raw. Probably.
This makes sense, but strange things happen with coins over time.
I once bought a 1798 large cent unattributed in a newer ANACS holder from a wholesale dealer at a show, on speculation it was a better Sheldon variety, since it was a Type 1 hairstyle. I checked after I got home and it looked to be an R5. I contacted a forum member EAC guy for verification. He confirmed, then added “that coin was from the Wes Rasmussen collection that Heritage auctioned a few years ago”…. I checked my catalog, sure enough, there it was, raw, and it realized far higher than what I had paid. How it wound up unattributed in an ANACS holder and likely through an estate buyer, I don’t know. I assume the original collector died or otherwise lost possession, and someone else sold it cheap.
Thanks for the responses! I was not aware the old cert gets deleted from the database if you send it in with the coin on a new submission, makes sense now.