Bust Half literature/books ie. Bust guys....a little help please

Manorcourtman

I've started down the Bust half and quarter collection road. Can you Bust guys point out a few of your favorite sites to find the type of material essential to really understanding and identifying the rarities in the series, ie. books, ref. material. Thanks much! I hope to post a pic of my new 1806/5 Bust 50c when she arrives this week. Chris

stman

You will want to buy the Overton book. Also for varieties the BHNC updated the rarity ratings recently.
Here is a link for the capped bust material. Hope this helps as a start. BHNC updated rarity ratings.

Manorcourtman

Thanks! I've had no luck finding the Overton book yet. Any leads are appreciated!

stman

And here are the pre-turb rarity rarity ratings

LeeG

Just what we need, someone grabbing all the good material Dennis at JadeRareCoin is who I mainly work with on these. Great Guy!!! Heres the reference info he gave me:

There are many references, but I think that you are looking for the "most bang for the buck" references. Here are my recommendations:

Bust Half Dimes: Federal Half Dimes, 1792-1837 by Logan/McCloskey

Bust Dimes: Early United States Dimes, 1796-1837 by Davis/Logan/et. al.

Bust Quarters: The Early Quarter Dollars of the United States, 1796-1838 by A.W. Browning

Bust Half Dollars: Early Half Dollar Die Varieties, 1794-1836 by Al Overton

The Half Dime and Dime books are very well written and easy to use. The Bust Quarter book is terrible, but there is a new work in progress that should be finished within the year. It will be as good or better than the Half Dime and Dime books. The Overton book is also excellent.

There are many other supplemental books, but the ones that I mentioned are the fundemental references and you can grow from there. If you need any of the books, please let me know and I will try to locate them for you.


Good Luck!!! Lee

PreTurb

I have a fairly extensive online list of reference material related to Bust Half dollars - it's at the very bottom of the "Numismatic Literature List" link found on my website (see sig line below). None (almost) of the reference material is for sale, but it will help give you an idea of what's out there.

Steve Herrman's AMBPR (Auction and Mail Bid Prices Realized) is essential if you're active buying and selling early halves. PM me and I'll give you his email address.

Best of luck!

TomB

You will likely be able to find Overton on ebay, but make certain you buy the third edition, this is the 1990 edition. Also, you may find Bust Half Fever, by Edgar Souders, very interesting, and you may want to obtain a copy of Sheridan Downey's previous mail bid sales.

mozin

Check out http://www.sheridanscoins.com

Sheridan's auction closes 3/17/05 and the web site says he still has the Overton book available, and for only $49 which is a real bargain.

For some of the other mentioned books contact Brad Karoleff at COINS+ in Florence, Kentucky at 856-371-1414. If he does not have all of them he will steer you to someone that has them. Brad is the editor for the John Reich Journal where his email as vice-president is Karoleffs4@aol.com

John Reich Society web site is http://www.jrcs.org and I highly recommend you join this club if you are interested in Busties.