and one to go...

As you probably know, the spring Baltimore show is in progress. I was able to escape work to go Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. Nothing was especially interesting for me in the Stack's Bowers auction, and I just bought two half dimes, so I wasn't expecting to get anything pricey on the bourse. I was planning on attending the LSCC and EAC meetings.

On Thursday, I arrived at about 1:20, registered, entered, and managed to scan all the dealer tables by 4:30. On my way in, I noticed a line of people going in the side, as we used to for lot viewing and pick-up. But this was a longer line. It turns out, those folks were after the new baseball commemorative coins. Apparently, there were offers of $$$ for them and folks were buying just to turn a quick profit. Later in the day I did see a couple dealers with piles of empty mint packaging. The line was just as long when I left, and was there again Friday morning.

During my scan of dealer offerings, I stopped and looked at several coins, including a 1794 starred reverse large cent. Both sides had numerous tiny pits, but PCGS had certified it as XF40. Without magnification, it did look pretty nice. The asking price was a cool $275,000. Back to my reality, I also looked at several nice half dimes.

In the back of my mind, I have been thinking of upgrading a few of my early half dime purchases. This is because my goals for the collection have evolved. In some cases I think I can get a higher grade, and nice original toning has become more desirable to me. My 1862 was an early purchase of a lustrous, well struck, "white" MS66 example. For some time now I've been thinking of it as one that needs an upgrade. I came across two MS67s, one NGC, one PCGS, both CAC. The price on the NGC one was acceptable, and the other dealer was busy.

Having slept on it, I decided to get the better of the two. So I still needed to get a good look at the PCGS one and get its price, and have another look at the NGC one, which I did Friday. The price on the PCGS one was about 25% higher, and I didn't like it as much. So I got the NGC one, shown below. The lighting for my photo isn't very good, so the color and luster are not as apparent as when the coin is viewed properly in hand.

The photo was taken with my new iPhone 5s, with a magnifier attachment over the camera. Not all of the field of view is in focus. At some point I'll have to experiment without the bulky protective case on the phone to see if that makes a difference. But I did play a little with the camera's zoom function, and was quite impressed with the quality of the images. Perhaps I'll show you some of that in another journal.

For now, here's the heavily clashed obverse of the new 1862 half dime. Happy collecting to all!

Alan

To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.