New purchase- 1848 Seated half (sleeper date)
rhedden
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I just picked up this 1848 Seated half, PCGS AU50, to upgrade a VF30 to VF35 raw coin. I think 1848-p is a sleeper date in the series. In XF-AU grades in a PCGS holder, it's about as tough as 1851 and 1852. In Unc. grades, it's similar to 1851 and tougher than 1852. PCGS population report numbers will back this up. Since an 1848 in the AU grades is worth $500 to $1000, there is enough financial motivation to get them sent in, so I don't think there are a ton of raw AU's floating around out there.
The only thing that possibly keeps the price down for this date is the availability of cleaned XF-AU pieces that won't slab at PCGS or NGC. The coin I bought looks like it might be recovering from an old dip, though it has made up for it by developing pretty gunmetal blue and russet rim toning that hasn't come out well in the pics. However, a quick look at the Heritage archives shows that most of the 1848 halves slabbed by PCGS/NGC in AU grades are totally blast white, or else obviously retoned after a dip. Finding one of these in "totally original" AU is going to be really tough. By "totally original," I mean a coin like the 1844 (PCGS AU58 CAC ) shown below it. (1844 is a more common date in this grade). Anyone else have an example of a nice 1848 half to share?
The only thing that possibly keeps the price down for this date is the availability of cleaned XF-AU pieces that won't slab at PCGS or NGC. The coin I bought looks like it might be recovering from an old dip, though it has made up for it by developing pretty gunmetal blue and russet rim toning that hasn't come out well in the pics. However, a quick look at the Heritage archives shows that most of the 1848 halves slabbed by PCGS/NGC in AU grades are totally blast white, or else obviously retoned after a dip. Finding one of these in "totally original" AU is going to be really tough. By "totally original," I mean a coin like the 1844 (PCGS AU58 CAC ) shown below it. (1844 is a more common date in this grade). Anyone else have an example of a nice 1848 half to share?
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Comments
I think your coin just makes AU and, like you said, is recovering from an old dip that wasn't overdone. Getting some good color to it.
That '44 is a great looking coin with great details.
Now, how can I figure out a way to pry that VF30 '48 from you?......
Too many positive BST transactions with too many members to list.
Maybe with a crowbar and/or taser?
A taser eh? Don't tempt me. Man that's a nice one!!
Too many positive BST transactions with too many members to list.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Ron,
The more I see Seated Halves, the more i like them.
I only have a few but enjoy them immensely.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Coin collecting is not a hobby, it's an obsession !
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as their asking prices were usually far ahead of current price guides.....a common theme on better date seated from the 1970's to 1990's.
Probably most of the nice VF-AU 1848's still reside (raw) with collectors/hoarders who have no intention of getting them graded anytime soon.
They've been socking away the better early Philly dates for decades (41, 42 sd, 45, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52). In the mid 1970's the 41 and 51 were
probably the 2 dates in this group that showed up the least often. I still think the 51 is the best of the group. Back then it showed up half as often
as the 1848. And that fits with the 1851 having only 34% the mintage. We also have to remember that the dates of 1850-1852 saw a much higher
percentage of melting than did the dates of the 1840's. The 1851 also had a price guide of 2X higher than the 1848 even back in the mid-1970's.
The 48, 50, and 52 did have somewhat similar frequencies of appearances back then. But we also have to adjust somewhat that higher priced coins
like the 50, and 52 were preferentially listed for sale over say a 48. And those same coins were more frequently "flipped" before finding a home vs. a
more common date. A 0.1-.2% survival rate for those with 500K mintages is probably conservative (it could be as high as .3 to .5% which aligns better
the real scarce seated quarters and halves). That means a min. of 500-1000 survivors. Wiley-Bugert puts the 1848 at 1250-2600 survivors (the 1851 at 500-665).
So the TPG's haven't seen many of these at all, even assuming a large % are problematic. It's hard to give the pop reports much creedence for circ seated coins
when the orig mintage was >500K. But I certainly agree that the 1848 is underrated in comparison to other dates that have higher values in the price guides.
I think the WB estimate on the 1851 is a bit low. I would think 250-450 specimens is a better range. The 1849 is the "tail end" of this group with 2X the mintage
of the 1848. But it is surprisingly elusive and not 2X as common as the '48. The '49 may be the last of this group that is potentially buyable as a type coin....if you're lucky.
I've always loved ALL denominations of 1848 silver coins. As a group they were underrated and underpriced....and often forgotten since they were overshadowed by those
1850-1852 dates. 1848 was always my favorite complete year set for seated coins. I think of lack of mint marks had something to do with it as well. I mean, how could
anything silver minted in large quantities from Philly ever be scarce?
nice newps
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Very tough coin in that grade...!
I give away money. I collect money.
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