Is there a such thing as a club just for 1792 Half Disme owners?

ms70

I figured maybe there's an exclusive online club for those who are lucky enough to have them. It would also serve to account for how many of the 1500 pieces are known to still
exist. Such a club would be pretty neat.

Are there any other clubs known for similar rarities?

ms70

ttt

500Bay

If there is such a club - I hope someday to be able to join it!

2bucks

sounds crusty...

MrHalfDime

I am not aware of any such club, but would aspire to belong to such a club one day. I am reminded of the comment by Groucho Marks, who said "I'm not sure I would want to belong to any club whose standards were so low they would allow me to belong". The 1792 and 1802 half dimes are the only dates missing from my collection, although like many collectors before me, I attribute much more significance to the 1792 than to the 1802. Jules Reiver once told me that he would never own an 1802, because "... it is the most overpriced R5 half dime known". Harold Bareford, with his spectacular collection of half dimes, never owned an 1802 because even the finest known (EF-45) was not up to his exacting standards.

The provenance for all of the known examples of the 1802 half dimes were studied by Harold P. Newlin in 1883, and more recently by David Davis in 1993, in "The Federal Half Dimes 1792 - 1837". There are 24 known (non-counterfeit) examples of the 1802. For the 1792, however, most cannot even agree to the original number minted, with estimates ranging from 1500 to 2000. Of those, perhaps 150 to 200 are extant in all grades. This is significantly higher than the usual 1% to 2% survival rate seen for most early Federal coins, but perhaps this is due to the very special place held by the venerable 1792 half disme in Americana .

I have accumulated a large file of information on the 1792 half disme - pretty much everything I have ever seen in print on the subject. It might be an interesting project to also include the pedigree of all surviving examples. I do not know if that has been done before, but would be an interesting project. Perhaps one day soon I will be able to add my own name to the list.

ms70

MrHalfDime, good luck with your pursuit. Please let us know when the big day comes! I wish I had the abilities & resources to dedicate to this project. While I do not own a 1792, I have
always been fascinated with it and all the history & mystery that goes with it's origins. If it were possible I would do it like this:

It would serve as a registry

List the pedigrees of each coin

Have a sale/auction archive

Have the best possible pics of each known coin

Have all possible research about the coin posted

I'd try to dig up historical documents & post them in high resolution

Anything else people could suggest to make it fun & interesting

oreville

I had a real chance to buy a 1792 half disme from Jay Parrino at a price I could afford. I blew it by buying other things I wanted more.

mrearlygold

Great coin. I've owned and/or handled a few over the years.

Wish I kept one for me

MrHalfDime

My favorite story about 'the one that got away' involves a 1792 half disme. It still pains me a bit to relate this story, so if my voice cracks a bit, you will understand why.

Several years ago (in the mid to late 90s) my favorite Boston coin dealer sent me a 1792 half disme on approval. I was honored just to have the opportunity to study the coin, up close and personal, and spent many hours just appreciating its beauty. The coin was an ANACS slabbed EF-40, and I fully agreed with the grade. It was flawless for the grade, and unimprovable. At the time, the asking price was (are you sitting down?) just $14,750! Now at that time, I had never spent anything even approaching five figures for a coin, so it was an exercise in futility, but I appreciated the opportunity to just see the coin. I should mention that I also had two kids in college at that time, and two more about to enter college, so coins of that value were not on my radar screen.

I even entertained the idea of perhaps selling off some other coins and sets that I had, wondering if this dealer might consider a partial trade for the coin. I actually ran an adding machine tape on my type set, to see if it might be in the ballpark, but ultimately gave up any idea of owning such a wonderful piece of Americana. In a last gasp attempt, I half heartedly asked my daughter if she might like to take a one semester sabatical from college, but upon receiving a negative, I sent the coin back to Boston with my sincere thanks for the privilege.

Several months later I saw the dealer at a coin show and asked her what happened to the 1792 half disme. She informed me that it was wholesaled to another dealer for $13,000!! I told her of my earlier thoughts, of possibly offering some coin sets in trade for the half dime, at which point she slapped me on the back of the head and proclaimed "You fool! You could own that coin now. I can't read your mind. You need to discuss these things with me. We would have worked with you to help you get that coin".

Today I am a bit wiser, but I lost an important opportunity which will never return. I might add that the very same 1792 half disme sold at auction about a year ago for $107,000.

Casey

Mrhalfdime,

I think I did hear your voice crack!

ms70

<< <i>Mrhalfdime,

I think I did hear your voice crack! >>



Forget his voice cracking, I have tears in my own eyes!

Cladiator

Mr.HD don't beat yourself up over that. Look at it this way. You actually got to hold in your hands and personally study for hours on end a 92HD. That is something few will have the privilege of doing. I'd pay good money to sit down with an XF example of that coin with my loupe and lamp for a couple hours.

Shamika

MrHalfDime,

That's a great (and tragic) story. I almost did a similar thing in obtaining a mint state 26-S Buffalo. I didn't have near the financial resources to buy the coin outright (three young kids and all), but I instead tallied up some of my higher priced coins and fortunately made the suggestion to the dealer that we might do a trade. Lucky me, he accepted and I no longer have to worry about the price of the 26-S going futher out of reach.

Now if I could only replace the coins I traded away...