Some price discrepancies in draped bust halves

TahoeDale

It is curious why some low pop draped bust halves are valued/priced so differently, and
have similar pops in the same grades. A look at the PCGS pops, and current guides is revealing, but hard to understand.

The 3 dates I am referring to are the 1803 small 3, 1806 knob 6, sm stars, and the 1806/9.

Total graded MS AU 58

1803 sm 3 81 2 1
1806 k6,ss 97 1 1
1806/9 108 2 2

All have total pops near 100. Each have MS examples, 1 or 2, and 1 or 2 in AU 58. And the
distribution of the grades lower than 58 are similar.

But the pricing( demand) is quite different.

The small 3 1803 is the big winner, with the current 58 for sale at 37,500.
The 1806/9 last sold around 25,000 for a 58
But the pop 1 AU 58 1806 k6 ss has a price/value around 11,000( no auction records)

There are 2 to 300 hundred graded for the 1801 and 1802, with several 58's for both dates.
These rarities have sold in the $40,000 and up range for several years.

Reasons???

EagleEye

Not my series, but I bet one is due to dealer or consignor over-reach, one is due to an auction record and another is due to lack of sales data.

Nysoto

Some observations after collecting draped bust half dollars for 20 years:

Years 1801, 1802, 1803, and 1805 are extremely rare in AU58 and MS, for all die varieties combined.

The year 1806 has many more examples in AU58 and MS than 1801-1805 combined. There are more date collectors than Redbook variety collectors for DBH's, which explains the high valuation for the 1803 sm3 compared to the 1806 varieties.

The 1806/9 is a long established and interesting variety that has commanded a strong variety premium for many years.

The 1806 knobbed 6, small stars is not as interesting as a variety and has historically carried only a slight variety premium, thus is valued less than 1806/9, despite having greater rarity in AU58 and up.

Baley

Some additional observations after collecting draped bust halves for over 10 years:

First, you can tell by the volume of the responses to this thread, that there is not a tremendous interest in the series. In fact, very few coin collectors assemble a date set of these coins; I'll bet the majority of members of these forums do not even have an example of the type, even though they are less than $500 in the lower grades. And if they do have a single coin, it's almost certainly a common variety 1806 or 1807. So the subset that collects these more subtle varieties has to be even smaller, and then the number that collect them by variety in the higher grades is miniscule.

As Nysoto noted, among those who do meet all those criteria and are in the market for higher grade coins of the type, they're going to tend to go with the more common variety with the higher grade and higher eye appeal, or they're going to go with an 1801 and or 1802. For example, our own RYK began collecting these a few years ago, but lost interest in the "magnifying glass" varieties and just held on to his 1801 and 1802, a relatively well matched pair of original looking higher grade circs, VF or so. The 1801 and 1802 (and 1803 small three, to an extent) are scarce coins in any grade, so it makes sense that the high grade ones would be in demand.

Meanwhile for those putting together date sets, a common 1806 will fill the bill versus one of the more scarce die pairs, and for redbook variety collectors such as myself, for 1806, if you have the stem through claw and no-stem 1806, and any of the knob-6 coins, as well as one of the 6/9 marriages, the need to get the knob 6 with the small stars may not be as high.

Alternatively, I do not know what the 58's you're referencing look like, but the prices may or may not reflect some "specialness" in their appearance, one way or the other. Or, the knob 6 small stars may be "undervalued", and maybe they are (or were, the prices seem to have been revised quite a bit higher, possibly as a result of this post?) Price Guide Draped Bust Halves shows + $15k move in MS 63 and + $1k for AU55; no price for MS60 and members can see AU58

stman

Baley, although I'm not a set builder kinda guy years ago I worked on a set of Draped Halves in VF condition. I only needed the "common" 1803 and 1805 and interesting enough those were the stoppers for me. To find ones with the look that I seek. Then after a long time I let go of the idea. I do have one for type at the moment that isn't quite so common.

roadrunner

When I researched early bust halves by date in the mid-1970's, it was only the 1802 and 1801 that didn't show up very often vs. a fairly low price guide level.
So I looked for 1802 halves in XF rather than 1796's, 1806/9's, or some other varieties. Most collectors appreciate a great date rather than a less obvious variety.
As this market matures, those varieties will probably gain some ground on the better dates like 1801 and 1802. The discrepancy in 1976 was that an XF 1802 half
could be found for $600. That didn't makes sense for how infrequently they showed up. An 1842-0 small date seated quarter is a great date, so is the 1840-0 wd lg O.
But many people can't get past that you can spend a lot less for a large date or a small o and save a lot of money in the process. I tend to like coins better that are just
rare because of the date/mm. Everyone building a set of any sort needs one. 1799 large cents and 1815/2 bust halves fit that bill pretty nicely.