"Bust Half Dollars Common in High Grade," and "Bust Dollars are Common in Uncirculate
BillJones
Posts: 34,798 ✭✭✭✭✭
Recently, Jinz86 made the comment shown below under the string, "20 Dollar Gold Rolls?" I started to respond there, and then I decided that my answer might make for an interesting topic so here it is.
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<< <i>All shipped in bags, Ive read the same about capped bust halves being used mostly for bank to bank transfers. Which is why theres many higher grade examples available(I don't see them, that's what the book said). >>
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The term "high grade" met something else when some of those books, or comments, were written. When I was a young collector in the 1960s, those who collected only Mint State coins were rather unusual. Many collectors were happy with nice, circulated coins. That was one of the reasons why the price difference between the high circulated grades like EF and AU (although the term AU in some people's minds was the really a choice EF), and Uncirculated was not nearly as large as it is today.
Things started to change in the early 1970s when the first big coin investment boom of my collecting life got underway. At that time the prices for Mint State coins shot up like a rocket, and the prices for circulated pieces increased to a much smaller degree. Suddenly Mint State coins were "investment quality" and circulated coins were for collectors, who were in opinions of some speculators a bunch of odd balls and eccentrics.
Bust half dollars were (are) often found in VF or better. You don't see them grades like Good and VG very often because they did not circulate that much and were mostly used by banks as reserves to back their paper money. To collectors in 1960s, Choice VF or VF-EF and EF were considered to be high grades. Most of the half dimes, dimes and quarters they saw fell in the Good to Fine grades. Bust half dollars were usually available in higher grades than that.
Another factor was that grading was not as strict. I can remember reading that Uncirculated Bust dollars, which were listed in a Red Book in the early 1960s at $150 to $200, were "common." When I got a bit older and could afford such things, I wondered where all of these Uncirculated Bust dollars were because I couldn't find them. The answer was a lot of Choice EF and AU Bust dollars were graded "Uncirculated" in those days. Quite often they were dipped or cleaned to have bright white surfaces to further the illusion of Mint State. This is why a lot of Bust dollars that we see today have odd colors. Many of them have retoned on their own or they have had some "help.' (They have been AT'd.)
<< <i>
<< <i>All shipped in bags, Ive read the same about capped bust halves being used mostly for bank to bank transfers. Which is why theres many higher grade examples available(I don't see them, that's what the book said). >>
>>
The term "high grade" met something else when some of those books, or comments, were written. When I was a young collector in the 1960s, those who collected only Mint State coins were rather unusual. Many collectors were happy with nice, circulated coins. That was one of the reasons why the price difference between the high circulated grades like EF and AU (although the term AU in some people's minds was the really a choice EF), and Uncirculated was not nearly as large as it is today.
Things started to change in the early 1970s when the first big coin investment boom of my collecting life got underway. At that time the prices for Mint State coins shot up like a rocket, and the prices for circulated pieces increased to a much smaller degree. Suddenly Mint State coins were "investment quality" and circulated coins were for collectors, who were in opinions of some speculators a bunch of odd balls and eccentrics.
Bust half dollars were (are) often found in VF or better. You don't see them grades like Good and VG very often because they did not circulate that much and were mostly used by banks as reserves to back their paper money. To collectors in 1960s, Choice VF or VF-EF and EF were considered to be high grades. Most of the half dimes, dimes and quarters they saw fell in the Good to Fine grades. Bust half dollars were usually available in higher grades than that.
Another factor was that grading was not as strict. I can remember reading that Uncirculated Bust dollars, which were listed in a Red Book in the early 1960s at $150 to $200, were "common." When I got a bit older and could afford such things, I wondered where all of these Uncirculated Bust dollars were because I couldn't find them. The answer was a lot of Choice EF and AU Bust dollars were graded "Uncirculated" in those days. Quite often they were dipped or cleaned to have bright white surfaces to further the illusion of Mint State. This is why a lot of Bust dollars that we see today have odd colors. Many of them have retoned on their own or they have had some "help.' (They have been AT'd.)
Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
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