Yes, I'm still spending a lot on silver...

I picked up two half dimes in Heritage's Thursday afternoon auction session. This silver addiction may be getting worse.

After the two or three weeks of pre-sale absentee bidding, only one coin that fits my primary collecting goal was still at what I thought was an acceptably low bid level for me to consider pursuing. One other coin of interest, but one that might be considered a duplicate, also still seemed accessible.

Coming up on three years ago, I 'won' an 1848 Large Date half dime in a B&M auction. This is a really cool variety, with oversize date digits that overlap the base of the rock. As NGC MS66, it's a pop 1/0 coin, with the same pop info for PCGS. The Medium Date version for the date comes with the same population info for MS66 and above. In Thursday's auction, the NGC MS66, formerly part of the Sweet Collection, was sold.

My plan for that coin was to bid no higher than the next increment, and less if possible. (The starting bid was an odd amount, and I didn't know ahead of time if a cut bid would be accepted in that case. But at least the odd amount indicates that it is the high bidder's maximum and the next bid takes over.) While I think it will be nice to have superior examples of both Red Book varieties, my main goal is a basic date/MM set. So I didn't want to spend too much for a "duplicate". When it came up, the cut bid button was enabled, and I immediately clicked. My bid was accepted, and there was no advance. One down.

The next lot was the first of two MS66 examples of the 1853 with Arrows. This one is clean and very sharp, with only a hint of die clashing. (The following lot was nice, but struck from worn & clashed dies - so much so that it looked a bit mushy and less desirable to me.) The starting bid seemed low to me. Had I not gotten the previous lot, I would have been willing to bid up to a few increments higher. But I did get the previous lot, and money is a little tight (long story...). So, even though this coin was my primary target, I had to limit myself to a single bid, and wouldn't be too disappointed not to win it. When it came up, I waited a couple seconds to see if there would be any activity. There was none, so I clicked the cut bid button again. As with the previous lot, there was no advance. Two for two!

I immediately killed the window and went back to work. Even though I think I did well on those two coins, I didn't want to think about how much money I had just spent. At least the actual payment won't be for another two months, the credit card billing cycle being what it is.

Anyway, here's the 1853 w/Arrows. Happy collecting to all!