The Eugene H. Gardner Collection (yeoldeone here on the NGC Registry) Part 1 sale at Heritage brings $19.6 million

The Gardner collection may be the finest collection of US silver coinage ever assembled. Roughly one third of it was sold this past Monday in NYC by Heritage. I was looking at the 1829 large cent as a potential upgrade, and of course, at the Liberty Seated Half Dimes. I came away with one coin: the 1864 half dime, NGC graded MS67 and CAC approved. Once I actually pay for it, it will be my most expensive coin, by a pretty good margin. I really wanted the very pretty 1873, but having gotten the 1864, I just could not justify another, even bigger purchase price.

I have not looked over specific results beyond the seated half dimes, but for them it seems that bidders were willing to open their wallets. Sure, many of the coins are pretty, and most are in the top grades of certified populations, but some prices seemed quite high. For example, a PCGS/CAC MS63 1840-O with Drapery coin that I think is not very attractive sold for over $30,000. Even the PCGS price guide lists it at only $12,000. But some others were more in line with price guides and recent auction results.

Mr. Gardner (yeoldeone) had two seated half dime sets in the registry. The #1 set was far and away better than my set will ever be. The #3 set had half as many coins as my #2 set, but almost as many points. Had he continued building that set, it may have rivaled the first. But I did notice that in at least one case, he had a better (higher graded) coin in the second set: The top set had a MS62 1846 key, while the second set had a MS63. Only the MS63 was sold, so I am wondering if there will be a chance for me to acquire the MS62!

As the tenses above suggest, the yeoldeone seated half dime sets have been removed from the competitive registry, leaving my set as the current #1. Some years from now I will complete that set (except, of course, for the unique 1870-S). It will be a very nice set, but never as good as what Mr. Gardner put together. And there may well be other very high quality sets out there. In any case, I plan to continue to enjoy the pursuit of the best I can get!

Here is the obverse pic of my latest acquisition. Enjoy it, and the pursuit of whatever you collect as well!

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