1809 Capped Bust Pocket Piece
jackpine20
Posts: 154 ✭✭✭✭
What follows is something I shared on Facebook in recent days; I thought it might go over well, here.
On most days, I carry a rare coin in my pocket, known colloquially as a 'pocket piece'. Traditionally, such coins are worn smooth after being carried raw for many years, sometimes decades. I like to mix it up. Today, I'm proud to carry this 1809 Capped Bust Half Dollar, Lettered Edge III variety, with a mintage of 1,405,810 in all varieties. According to the Professional Coin Grading Service, perhaps only 900 of this variety remain in all grades. The year 1809 is significant in that a number of interesting individuals were born in that year. The writer Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19th (today), 1809. In his honor, I will be listening to some of his works on Audible, all day, today. One nugget of birthday lore is that both British naturalist Charles Darwin and US president Abraham Lincoln were born on the very same day, February 12th, 1809. With this coin carrying practice, I feel in some small way, a tactile connection to the past. To my numismatic readers, I know you are concerned; allow me to explain. This pocket piece, as well as any other valuable specimen that I may choose to carry, is held in a protective Air-Tite plastic holder. My collectors' maxim is, "do no harm".
Note that this attractive example is unevenly worn on the obverse, due in large part, to an imperfect minting process. As for grade, my guess is Good-06 valued at $200. I paid $150, but I love knowing much nicer 1809 examples have sold at auction for $10,000 to over $40,000 in the highest uncirculated grades! Quoting Poe, "There is no exquisite beauty, without some strangeness in the proportion."
Matt Snebold
Comments
Nice coin, thanks for sharing. Have you had any encounters in which you shared the coin with someone interested?
@habaraca has a bearded goddess pocket piece and carries(d) it similarly to yours.
"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
What a great pocket piece! Thanks for sharing.
I hope occasionally you show to someone and it helps spark their curiosity as well.
“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
@jacrispies said:
Nice coin, thanks for sharing. Have you had any encounters in which you shared the coin with someone interested?
@habaraca has a bearded goddess pocket piece and carries(d) it similarly to yours.
protected Pocket Piece....... now in an Airtite
Ex Bittlesbank:
A year ago I started carrying 4 silver coins (just picked at random from a box of junk coins).
1921 d morgan that was ef/au
1926 d peace that was cleaned with a brillo pad at sometime in the past
1933 s walker in fine
1961 d in au
The 1926 d dollar no longer shows any scratches but what amazes me the most, in that time, my pocket has out performed my 401k on a percentage basis by a long shot.
Not saying I have bad investments, but the pocket silver has shot through the ceiling in this past year.
One day, as I was handing it off to an interested observer, it slipped and fell to the floor and then rolled away under something. We searched for maybe five minutes until it was found. We were both pretty embarrassed, but knowing it was protected, I wasn't too concerned. I swapped out the scratched Air-Tite when I got home.
Matt Snebold
Now, that actually looks like a pocket piece. Thanks for the pic.
Matt Snebold
Not a pocket piece, not a half dollar, but a half cent. This one is dated 1809. I believe that this is the second most common date in the half cent series after the 1804. This coin is still raw and is an "official" EAC MS-60. That was the grade it had in an EAC auction.
I change it up, sometimes, as well. Other protected pocket pieces that I may carry on any given day include:
1807 Draped Bust Half (holed) in Fair. dark toning.
1807 Draped Bust Quarter in Poor. dark toning.
1879 CC Morgan Dollar in About Good. dark field toning.
The only drawback is that I purchased all of these in the last year. So, I experienced those higher prices that you mention, first hand!
Matt Snebold
Sometimes I get the EAC grades, sometimes I don't. What is holding it back the rims? I see a P64+ BN
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
The rims hold it back a little, but it’s mostly because pure EAC grading is wicked conservative, sometimes ridiculously conservative in my opinion. I would think that this piece would be an easy MS-63 with a shot at 64.