Your opinion of this early quarter?

dan1ecu

Here are scans of an 1806 bust quarter that is in my collection. It’s graded VF30 by NGC. Is anyone familiar with early American cions? Does it have the right color for a coin this old? Could it have been cleaned in the past? Overall, I think it is a pretty nice coin - good eye appeal in person. What do you think of it?

Thanks,

Dan


1806 25C Obverse
1806 25C reverse

cardinal

Many coins of from that era have been cleaned to varying degrees during their lifetime, so it's entirely possible that this one was cleaned long ago -- long enough ago to no longer be visible. The toning looks completely normal to me for a VF coin of that age. (I've seen many VF coins from the 1790's and early 1800's with similar color.)

I think it's a really nice coin. Thanks for sharing!

--Cardinal

airplanenut

That is really a great example- thanks so much for sharing it with us! I have an 1827 F15/VF20 bust half with the same dark color, and I really just love how it looks- the simplicity of the olden days really is something to see. Once again, thanks for sharing such a great piece with us!

Jeremy

lathmach

This is Browning 9. I see there's die clash marks on the obverse above the 180 in the date.
A nice looking piece.

Ray

dan1ecu

I appreciate the comments! Believe it or not, there’s still some luster in the fields. I don’t know if that’s typical for a VF coin. Anyway, these early American coins are nice to look at - and many aren’t too expensive.

lathmach - That’s incredible that you recognized the variety! I didn’t know it was a B9...

darktone

great looking coin! A very nice example of an early quarter. mike

coinkat

I think the coin was given an appropriate grade. With the usual disclaimer about grading the photo and not the coin itself, I think it is unlikely that the coin was cleaned. Why? The coin exhibits a change in the tone/color over the high points of the coin that have been worn. If the coin were cleaned, its not as likely that the color/tone on the high points would be so well defined as they are in the picture. Unfortunately, this is a tough concept for me to explain. In any event, I like the coin. Its a keeper.

dan1ecu

Coinkat - I appreciate your comments. Your method of detecting a cleaning makes sense.

Dan

MacCoin

if this beauty has been clean it was a long time ago. it looks real good for nearly 200 years old. the drape bust quarter is one of my favorites. a very nice coin thanx

Dave99B

100% original, if the image is accurate.

How this piece survived the dippers/improvers/doctors for almost 200 years is beyond me. Congrats. Nice quarter.

Dave

coinkat

There is one other tip for detecting a coin that may have been cleaned. Try tilting the coin under a light, use a strong loupe and check the surface of the coin for an unnatural glossy look. On a worn coin, especially VF and lower, original silver will most likey not have a glossy look that will be apparent on a cleaned coin. Also, check for hairlines as you tilt the coin. Many hairlines moving in the same direction within a close proximity on the coin's surface are clues that the coin was abrasively cleaned...and such coins should be avoided. Keep searching for more of those quarters so we can see them...

EVillageProwler

Dan,

Nice looking coin. I would have to agree with many who've already responded and say that the coin looks fine to me. It is unusual for a ChVF coin to still have luster; that is usually reserved for EF+ specimens. It may be that your coin is weakly struck. I am not familiar enough with EQ's to say if the B.9 generally comes weakly struck.

If you don't want the coin, PM me.

EVP

numobri

Dan

If the coin has luster on it,your in.I do Bust dollars and have many in VF with luster.By the way,nice coin.

dorkkarl

i would grade vf-20 for wear, color is nice, later die state. better-than-average vf in eye-appeal, i would value at about 800.

K S

buster

I specialize in Early Bust Quarters and this is a real nice coin. I'd buy that in a heartbeat.

Bill

BillJones

This is an example of the type of early coins that I love. It's original; it has no major defects; and it's attractive. The coin is a solid VF-25. Unfortunately the services have been hanging numbers like EF-40 on coins like this.

The prices are strong for early material, and they should be because these coins are quite scarce when one compares them to the later issues. The mintages were low; few pieces were saved; and weak strikes often shortened the coins' useful lives. Still I don't think that's a reason to overgrade them.

Great coin dan lecu! Congratulations!

crito

This is Browning 9

Truncated serifs on I and T in Liberty (obverse) makes it look more like a Browning 2 or 3 to me. Descriptions and pics in Browning's book are so bad though, I'm never 100% sure

buster

Based on my observations, this looks like a B-3.

Bill

prooflike

It looks totally original to me also. A nice circualted example of early nineteenth century coinage.

redhott

You're lucky you got to buy that beauty as a VF. I'm amazed Heritage didn't dip it and sell it as XF. Must be that they didn't own it, but was a consignment. They can't touch consigned coins (without permission, and for sure they're not going to offer to do free "conservation" work), so you got a rare opportunity to purchase an early piece in the same condition as dealers get them over their counters.

Baley

That is a very very nice quarter, yes the skin looks original to me, I love the VF grades on draped bust material, seems the best value to me if the coin is "unimproved" as this one is, super eye appeal, glad it escaped owners who would have felt compelled to "shine her up"!

NumisEd

dan1ecu, I think that NGC actually got this one right! I agree with their grade. Regarding the originality of your coin, it's better than most that I have seen, and I have seen a lot of draped bust quarters.

Regarding the variety, it's B-3, R.1.......very common. Too hard to tell the die state from the scan, but probably ds-1.

Congratulations on having a nice coin. HINT: it would look even better if you could touch the coin and view it without looking through a 1/4" of plastic. Set that baby free!! Crack it out!