1842 Half Dollar

ajman · March 16, 2010 8:41AM

I was hoping to tap into someone more knowledgeable than myself into telling me about my coin. I own a PCGS graded AU 55 example of an 1842 50 cent Small Date, Rev. 1842. I believe the PCGS price guide lists it at $400, and I paid a premium for it like so many of us do for eye-appealing coins. Could it be that the price guide is due for an upward swing in value or am I to just be happy with a really nice looking type coin? Any info about this coin and series would be appreciated. Thanks guys. Tony

Barberian · March 16, 2010 10:50AM

I mostly buy coins off EBay, with occasional purchases from Heritage Auctions. From what I see, PCGS prices are fairly accurate for PCGS graded common date coins. Decent looking common date coins sell on Ebay for about 20% below PCGS values. Eye-appealing coins naturally draw higher bids and can go 20-40% higher than PCGS. PCGS prices can be way off for many of the semi-key dates and key dates. You're not going to get a PCGS EF40 1841, 1845, 1862, or 1863 for the prices listed in the PCGS guide, to name a few examples. In general, the CC coins seem to be undervalued. Coins with mintages below 500K can go for more than PCGS prices. I'd review Heritage, Teletrade, or Ebay archives for prices on any coins with mintages under 500K.

They seem to have adjusted their values for common coins and many scarcer coins in the past year (or maybe I'm using it more than the Redbook because I don't know where I packed my Redbook). Nice coins are selling for better prices now then they were a year ago. If your coin is choice, I don't think you have to worry about recovering your money.

Barberian · March 16, 2010 6:00PM

Perhaps I should adjust that mintage cutoff to 600K or 700K where PCGS underestimates the values of many SLHs. A 1870 (mintage 635K) VF30? (picture of coin was tiny) went for $133 on Ebay. I figured few people would take a risk on a coin with photos so tiny one couldn't be certain if it lacked a mint mark. Wrong. The price realized was at or above PCGS Price Guide values. I was the underbidder and perhaps failed to appreciate the difficulty of finding an attractive VF+ 1870. Now I think I should have bid $150, but there's no telling if I would have won the auction. PCGS Price Guides, at best, provide an approximate average value and are of little use when two people want a particular coin at auction.

1870 with tiny photos

1842 Half Dollar

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