Capped bust half dollars. Grading and Altered Surfaces. Part one.
BiddlesBank
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Capped bust half dollars. Grading and Altered Surfaces. Part one.
The capped bust half dollar was struck from 1807 through 1836.
PCGS states: “This is probably the toughest series to grade in American numismatics … they are almost never seen without either friction or weak strike.” (PCGS- Official Guide to Coin Grading and Counterfeit Detection.)
Fortunately the capped bust half is seldom counterfeited, at least in modern eras, compared to rare coins like the 1916-d dime. However during the early 1800’s they were counterfeited for general public consumption. These are called contemporary counterfeits and generally look like the real McCoy but with experience these can be spotted a mile away. Recently the Chinese counterfeits of early American coinage have made their debut and unknowingly novice collectors purchase these extremely crude fakes.
Altered surfaces are another matter entirely, and the series is plagued with grading defects. First of all we have to understand these halves were struck 171 to 200 years ago. Babies chewed on them, kids fiddled around with them, and they were in coin purses while travelers waded through the muck and swamps. They were used to purchase merchandise, were slammed on counters in wayside inns, were in houses that flooded or burned, and later they were stored in cans, desk drawers, and sometime hid in underground containers.
In the late 1800’s, as people started saving them out of circulation, they often were not real thoughtful about how to protect and preserve them. I am sure many were washed bright in water basins, scrubbed with brushes, polished and ect.
Once the coins were set aside as souvenirs in the late 1800’s they had to survive through several generations of one family alone to make it to the 21st century. For instance great, great grandma Jones set aside a few bust half dollars in a special jar. Later she passes away and while the grownups are going through the items they discover the half dollars which everyone just had to get their dirty hands on and look at, including uncles and aunts and of course the ever present kids who played with again. Probably many a scrubbing took place again to shine them up. Multiply this by the generations and low and behold you have a coin that survives to the year 2000.
Now did you ask if this coin has ever been cleaned? The question should be, how many times, and when was the last time it was cleaned.
Enough for now. More later.
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Too many positive BST transactions with too many members to list.
We'll cut you some slack this time.
Ray
<< <i>Okay Bid.
We'll cut you some slack this time.
Ray >>
Well I finally figured out to cut and paste.
Sorry for the inconvenience but these articles are best written in a word document first.
Thank you Ray for cutting me some slack.
The first 1815 CBH I bought was a solid well struck XF, bought it raw from a Bust Half specialist. I had a seller's guarantee that the Bustie would grade with the services, because I wanted all my US coins encapsulated. The darn coin came back bagged, with a notation that it had been tooled.
There happened to be a local coin show about that time, and the selling dealer and I took the coin around for other dealer comments. Not one dealer detected tooling. Anyway, the coin was returned, and I walked away a bit gun shy. The 1815 was eventually sold at Long Beach to a dealer who felt he could get the coin graded, even though he knew it had been bagged before. I don't know if he ever succeeded.
It would be interesting to hear what methods some of the coin doctors use to "improve" circulated Busties. What works on MS coins likely will not work on circulated Busties. I believe that usually a Bustie in grades below AU 55 will not be improved by dipping, unless the coin has some very dark ugly toning.
Mozin
No worry no more. Straight information only. No axes to grind.
Series 2 will be orientated on the inadvertent damage collectors over the years have inflicted on the bust halves they collect.
Bump
Gauging wee hour interest.
- Jim
Capped Bust Half Series
Capped Bust Half Dime Series