Best Capped Bust Half book?

thisnamztaken · April 25, 2006 8:50AM

Hi,
I'm new to this message board and also to Bust half collecting. What is the best, most current, reliable book available pertaining to this area of collecting? I also would appreciate any good web site addys with solid information on them.

I've been coming across the terms "die marriages" and "Overton" numbers. What's that all about? From my limited reading online, it seems like Capped Bust Halves were often struck using different dies for each side, is that right? And if so, how can I determine which combos mine have, and what they are worth etc.? Thanks!

DNADave · April 25, 2006 8:51AM

You have to get the Overton Book on Die Varieties from 1794 to 1836.

Can you post some pics of the coins you have

cmanbb · April 25, 2006 8:57AM

Overton....Early Half Dollar Die Varieties (third edition)
Bust Half Fever...by Edgar E Sounders (very informative reading)

DNADave · April 25, 2006 9:01AM

Overton book

OKbustchaser · April 25, 2006 9:03AM

Try this one

edited to add:

If you can find a copy of the 3rd edition, though, I recomend that you get it instead of the 4th.

Cladiator · April 25, 2006 9:47AM

I second that. Get the 3rd edition Overton.

thisnamztaken · April 25, 2006 9:51AM

Thanks for the info. and link! Why is the 3rd edition better than the revised?

Are there any good online articles, etc. available? I only have 2 Bust Halves (one in hand and another coming in the mail) so I may not be ready to spend $50.00+ yet for an exhaustive book, unless I get a lot more involved with them.

DaveG · April 25, 2006 10:04AM

Try this website, too:

Edgar Souders' website

thisnamztaken · April 25, 2006 10:19AM

If I can figure out how to attach a pic., I'll try to include one.
BTW, how do we use a photo of our own above our "nickname", or can we only use this board's stock pix?

thisnamztaken · April 25, 2006 10:23AM

I just get a black page there with a box with a red X in it!

Cladiator · April 25, 2006 10:25AM

The 3rd edition was made very well with pretty good photographs and very accurate (for the time) information. The 4th edition which just came out a matter of months ago seems to be lacking in many areas. The photos are not quite up to par with the 3rd edition and many of the rarity ratings are incorrect. There are also issues with some die marriages and re-marriages being omitted. The 4th edition is swiftly gaining the reputation of being hastily put together with less concern for accuracy than the previous books. It's still a cool book to have, especially if you want to own them all but realize that it is lacking in some areas. I like the 4th for one reason and one reason only...it has an addendum page featuring the R8 1806 O.129 coin that I had the privilege of being involved in the discovery of (Albeit my part was that of the fumbling court jester but it was a part none the less

)

Every month on the 15th PCGS will open up the forums for members to upload their own photos to use as their author icons. I believe the restrictions are 100pixels x 100pixels and 10kb in size (I could be wrong on the requirements). So get your photo ready and on the 15th you'll be in good shape to upload your own pic.

thisnamztaken · April 25, 2006 10:39AM

<< <i>The 3rd edition was made very well with pretty good photographs and very accurate (for the time) information. The 4th edition which just came out a matter of months ago seems to be lacking in many areas. The photos are not quite up to par with the 3rd edition and many of the rarity ratings are incorrect. There are also issues with some die marriages and re-marriages being omitted. The 4th edition is swiftly gaining the reputation of being hastily put together with less concern for accuracy than the previous books. It's still a cool book to have, especially if you want to own them all but realize that it is lacking in some areas. I like the 4th for one reason and one reason only...it has an addendum page featuring the R8 1806 O.129 coin that I had the privilege of being involved in the discovery of (Albeit my part was that of the fumbling court jester but it was a part none the less

)

Every month on the 15th PCGS will open up the forums for members to upload their own photos to use as their author icons. I believe the restrictions are 100pixels x 100pixels and 10kb in size (I could be wrong on the requirements). So get your photo ready and on the 15th you'll be in good shape to upload your own pic. >>

Thanks for the expanded information on those books, and the "author icons" heads-up!

I tried to attach a pic of my VF Capped Bust Half in my last post, but it didn't show up. Maybe if I downsize it...?

Cladiator · April 25, 2006 10:53AM

For attaching photos to a thread it's got to be 50K or less to host on the forum. You can go to photobucket.com or imageshack.com and host them yourself for free. If you do that you can post as large a photo as you want

thisnamztaken · April 25, 2006 11:19AM

Unfortunately I'm not much of a computer tekie, so would probably have a hard time figuring that hosting program out.

My digital cameral seems to take pix at 2048 pixels width X 1536 height (according to my Photoshop Elements 2, which I'm not very adept at either), so how small should I resize them to, in order to reach the 50K you mentioned? PS 2 will also let me resize them by percentage, if that's easier?

thisnamztaken · April 25, 2006 11:25AM

Is there a more appropriate forum here for asking technical questions? I noticed the Q.& A. forum mentioned not to ask them there, but did not specify where we should ask them!!

MikeInFL · April 25, 2006 11:30AM

In Photoshop Elements, load the photo, then:

Hit "Ctrl" + "Alt" + "I" to open the Resize menu.

In the window you're presented, simply type "100" and hit enter.

Hit "Shift" + "Ctrl" + "S" to open the Save As menu.

Type in a new file name.

Be sure the Format window shows "JPEG" in it. If not, choose it from the pulldown -- "JPEG (*.JPG, *.JPEG, *.JPE)"

Click OK from the Save As menu.

You will be presented with another window, JPEG Options, which has a slider. Move the slider around and look at the bottom of the window where the file size is approximated. Move it around until the number is around 90k, then click OK.

All done.

lakeshore · April 25, 2006 12:22PM

In my opinion, the new edition of Bust Half Fever by Edgar Souders is by far the best, most entertaining, and educational book on 1807-1836 bust halves. It combines solid collecting advice with a date-by-date discussion and analysis of each bust half. In addition, it offers historical tidbits, minting information, and insights that make the book read like an interesting novel. However, if you just want to determine the variety and rarity of individual bust halves, Overton is the book to get. But there is so much more to these coins than just their variety and rarity that you should treat yourself to the Souders book.

Cladiator · April 25, 2006 12:37PM

<< <i>In my opinion, the new edition of Bust Half Fever by Edgar Souders is by far the best, most entertaining, and educational book on 1807-1836 bust halves. It combines solid collecting advice with a date-by-date discussion and analysis of each bust half. In addition, it offers historical tidbits, minting information, and insights that make the book read like an interesting novel. However, if you just want to determine the variety and rarity of individual bust halves, Overton is the book to get. But there is so much more to these coins than just their variety and rarity that you should treat yourself to the Souders book. >>

Agreed.

thisnamztaken · April 25, 2006 6:05PM

<< <i>In Photoshop Elements, load the photo, then:

Hit "Ctrl" + "Alt" + "I" to open the Resize menu.

In the window you're presented, simply type "100" and hit enter.

Hit "Shift" + "Ctrl" + "S" to open the Save As menu.

Type in a new file name.

Be sure the Format window shows "JPEG" in it. If not, choose it from the pulldown -- "JPEG (*.JPG, *.JPEG, *.JPE)"

Click OK from the Save As menu.

You will be presented with another window, JPEG Options, which has a slider. Move the slider around and look at the bottom of the window where the file size is approximated. Move it around until the number is around 90k, then click OK.

All done. >>

Unfortunately, when I hit Ctrl>Alt>I altogether, it darkens the pic. and gives me the "crop" tool!

thisnamztaken · April 25, 2006 6:17PM

See if this works now!

thisnamztaken · April 25, 2006 7:12PM

Ok, one more time?

thisnamztaken · April 25, 2006 7:36PM

Taah-Dahhh!

thisnamztaken · April 25, 2006 7:54PM

<< <i>For attaching photos to a thread it's got to be 50K or less to host on the forum. You can go to photobucket.com or imageshack.com and host them yourself for free. If you do that you can post as large a photo as you want

>>

Ok, I finally fumbled around with it long enough at Photobucket , and got it to work, but only with the IMG codes-not with HTML! I set the picture size at 600 X 450 pixels in P.S 2. What a hassle for this non-geek!!

Thanks again for your advice, Cladiator!
What grade do you think it is everyone, and please tell me if it's one of those rare Overton # varieties?

Best Capped Bust Half book?

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