Draped Bust Half Cents - Images/Discussion

coinguy1

Recently, Bill Jones posted a thread Thread about the Chapman Hoard of Draped Bust Half Cents. That, along with Pinnacle's recently handling an exceptional coin of this type, got me thinking about these scarce and intriguing early coins.

Draped Bust Half Cents were issued from 1800 through 1808, though, interestingly (to me, at least) the Draped Bust Large Cents debuted in 1796. As was the case with most of our early coinage, mintages were quite small, relative to today's numbers, ranging from 20,000 plus for the rare 1802, to just over 1,000,000 for the 1804.

Not surprisingly, high grade examples are few and far between - NGC has certified only 14 MS65's (9 of them being "BN" and five of them "RB") and a solitary MS66RB. For its part, PCGS has recognized just five MS65BN's and two MS65RB's with none higher. Full red ("RD") pieces are extremely rare in ANY condition - NGC has certified a mere five examples of all dates and grades combined, while PCGS has attributed a total of 12.

Below are some images of mint state pieces, one of them being MS63RB, one MS63BN, two MS64BN and one MS65BN. The third and fourth coins appear to be "RB" but are in fact "BN". One of the 1804's features a distinctive and popular mint blunder, which I will mention later, if someone doesn't beat me to the punch. There are also a number of interesting varieties and over-dates in this very short-lived series.

Barry

Nice pics, Mark. In your opinion are those RB and Red coins original? First, it may be the pic, but the colors don't seem quite right. Second, it's hard to believe a reactive metal like copper can remain unoxidized for 200 years.

jbsteven

I do like these coins, here is one of mine. the thing I like about early half and large cents is that the minting process was a lot more crude and sloppy which leads to variations in coins that are just not seen today. the clearly visable overdates really get my attention. Kinda cool to have a 1800 large cent that was a 1799 and restamped with the 1800 date. Interesting stuff. I think I will pickup another Lage cent on the way home.

Baley

great thread, Mark! I like the "spiked chin", (a slip of the engraver's tool, or a die chip?)

here's an 1804 crosslet/stems, EF/AU details but porous, along with a classic half cent in VF:



just to show a circulated example

Baley

I really like how well struck your 1806 small 6 is, look at those wreath details! almost never are all the wreath leaves fully struck, as shown on some of the other pieces.

mdwoods

I agree with Baley. That 1806 is fantastic. Draped Bust coins are the coolest. Thanks for the photos Mark.

itsnotjustme

Here are my two half-cents

Plain 4 Stemless AU53

AU53 also

Clankeye

Mark--
Not really having any numismatic experience with coins like these, I will merely say thank you for the interesting thread. The images and the information are first rate as usual.

Carl

rays

Brian: I love your 1828-- the color is great for an AU53 and it is more attractive than many lower MS pieces I have seen.
Mark: Your 1806 Large 6 is typical of the hoard pieces. A lot of red but a few spots. I have a PCGS MS62RB that looks similar. It is the highest-graded early half-cent in my half-cent collection. I am still looking for a nice 1806 C2. They are rare.

nwcs

Ahh, lovely coins. I especially like the remaining color on a couple of them.

berylcoin

Timely discussion--my local dealer has an 1806 I was thinking of buying today.

BC

ccr

Nice to see early copper to be featured. Half-Cent/Large Cent are among the top of my favorite designs. They look pretty good.

coinguy1

Barry - the first coin is the only one designated "RB" in the group. The others are all "BN" and the two 1804's are more brown looking in person than they are in the images. I believe that they are all original and considering that they began life as bright, lustrous full red examples, they have oxidized considerably to "RB" and "BN".

jbsteven - I hope I didn't cost you any money by starting this thread.

Baley - I like the "Spike Chin" variety, too. I'm not certain of the origin of the area near the border at approximately 4:00 on the obverse. It appears to be a production defect of some type but I'm not clear on the precise cause.

mdwoods - as you and Baley mentioned, the strike on the second 1806 is special. So is the coin!

Brian - I especially like your 1828!

Carl - as always, I appreciate the support and good cheer that you bring to this forum.

Rays - for the record, the first 1806 is not ours. It was sold in a Heritage sale and I "borrowed" the images for purposes of this thread. I agree with you that it is a fairly typical looking example of what is most likely a hoard piece.

berylcoin - did you end up buying the one you looked at?

Thanks to all who took the time to reply.

Spudmasher

Thanks for the pictures of the early material. Exactly what we discussed in Baltimore as regards to originality of coins in this era. This post, and others such as the 1807 dime will bring to the beginner an excellent learning tool as to what original color looks like versus dipped etc. Thanks Ron

jbsteven

mark:

well I bought these on the way home





I still like this large cent of mine:

BillJones

Here's an 1802 New Reverse half cent. This one came from the Garrett collection.

All of these coins are overdates that were struck from a previously unused 1800 obverse die. The first ones, which are quite rare, were struck from the old 1800 reverse. The entire mintage was made for cut down large cent planchets that were in too poor of a condition to use for large cent production. Therefore these coins are never a thing of beauty, and none are known in Mint State.

Given that this piece, which was struck on a thinner than normal planchet is really quite attractive.

Nysoto

I like this series because you can obtain nice circulated examples at reasonable prices, my 1806 half cent is a choice VF30 @ $75. Much less expensive than circulated silver draped bust coins.

dorkkarl

i believe it is worth noting that many of the finest d.b. half-cents are not in slabs.

K S

berylcoin

Mark, I didn't buy it because I'm a scaredy-cat. I'm not very familiar with old copper and always seem to regret uninformed purchases. That said, I may give it another chance tomorrow. It's only F-VF so the downside isn't too great.

BC

rays

<< <i>i believe it is worth noting that many of the finest d.b. half-cents are not in slabs.

K S >>



But some are-see Jim McGuigan's collection.

ANACONDA

Draped Bust Half Cents are some of the coolest coins around. I have always had a passion for them. Great design....think about how expense anything else is in mint state with the draped bust design......"but they're so small......" I say, hold them closer to your face and save 10K.

I just bought the finest 1807 Half Cent graded by NGC, a 63 brown cent.

Breen said that the seven used on the half cent was the punch that was used for the cents and that is why it is so large on the half cent. Another author disagrees. I'll side against Breen. Breen said quite a bit about quite a bit and was wrong....quite a bit.

I think Draped Bust Half Cents are very underpriced.

They are generally very quick sellers in AU58 through MS 63 or so. Coins in the under 2K range generally move pretty quick.

adrian

Baley

I think that in the 1805-1807 period, someone at the mint had the bright idea of making extra dies with 180 punched and saving them for later, when the final digit could be puched in.

lots of coins of all denominations with these dates show not only overdates, again in the interest of economy and extending the useful life of dies, but the final digit punched either in a slightly different "font", whether because a different punch was used, or merely the same one but at a different time by a different employee, who may punch slightly shallower, deeper, or in a different alignment.

jbsteven

not quite a half cent but close and a nice XF. this is a NEWP of mine