Your thoughts on my ongoing search....................
keets
Posts: 25,351 ✭✭✭✭✭
Some may know that I've been hunting for a nice 1805 Half-Cent for a few years now, not an obsessive hunt but I stay up on most of the larger auctions. Every once-in-awhile a coin will show up but they are generally dissappointing-ly overgraded or don't have a look which appeals to me. More often than not, though, they just don't show up. I haven't done all that much research and only chose the date because I figured with four die combinations it'd be easier to wade through the offerings and if I chose the most common variety the coins would probably be available without much demand from others, especially cherrypickers.
Along the way I've learned a little about early copper and Half-Cents in general. One of the more interesting little tidbits relates directly to the difficulty in finding nice 1805 dated coins; the Mint's habit of shoddy record keeping and the equally annoying habit of long ago which entailed striking coins in a calender year different than the date on the coin. For the 1805 coins, much of the stated mintage of 694,464 was probably 1804 and 1806 dated coins. I've owned a few coins in VF grades but finding anything in AU+ has proved a daunting task. Today I went to the Heritage St.Louis catalog page and was rewarded with another big, fat goose egg!!!!
They list something like 41 41 Half-Cents and not a single 1805!!!!! Are there any copper guys out there who'd care to comment on what you believe the actrual mintage of this date to be, the true extant population in grades above AU of the C-1 variety(the most common one and also what I'm hoping to find) and any reasoning as to why it's not recognized as a more difficult date. My hope is to attend the upcoming P.A.N. Show where I know some EAC guys routinely set up. Maybe, just maybe.........................
Al H.
Along the way I've learned a little about early copper and Half-Cents in general. One of the more interesting little tidbits relates directly to the difficulty in finding nice 1805 dated coins; the Mint's habit of shoddy record keeping and the equally annoying habit of long ago which entailed striking coins in a calender year different than the date on the coin. For the 1805 coins, much of the stated mintage of 694,464 was probably 1804 and 1806 dated coins. I've owned a few coins in VF grades but finding anything in AU+ has proved a daunting task. Today I went to the Heritage St.Louis catalog page and was rewarded with another big, fat goose egg!!!!
They list something like 41 41 Half-Cents and not a single 1805!!!!! Are there any copper guys out there who'd care to comment on what you believe the actrual mintage of this date to be, the true extant population in grades above AU of the C-1 variety(the most common one and also what I'm hoping to find) and any reasoning as to why it's not recognized as a more difficult date. My hope is to attend the upcoming P.A.N. Show where I know some EAC guys routinely set up. Maybe, just maybe.........................
Al H.
0
Comments
Dont know if this is the variety you wanted - Good Luck
Lot# 306 - 1805 Draped Bust Half Cent, Small 5, Stemless. ANACS AU58 Details
Current Internet Bid: $700.00
No Reserve!
Time Left:
3 days, 1 hr, 11 mins
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Supposedly there were 814,464 - 1805 's ...