Two new acquisitions

I had my eye on a Capped Bust Half Dime in the recent Heritage auction at the FUN show. It was an untoned 1830, graded MS65 - just right for my set. The reason I liked it was its exceptional strike. Early on, I entered what I thought was a strong bid. The starting bid at the live session was two increments below my secret maximum. But alas, live bidders took it up three increments. I watched, but did not want to pay two increments (or maybe one and a half with a cut bid) more than my initial, supposedly strong bid. But I understand why someone else liked it at the winning level.

That coin gone, I had a couple others in mind. An 1835 half dime, also graded MS65 was a few lots later, and was sitting at what I thought was a pretty low bid. I decided to go for a single cut bid when it came up. As with several other recent auction wins, this cut bid won.

One more coin was on my shopping list for that auction. For my younger son's high school graduation, I wanted to give him a decent mint set for 1890, 100 years before his birth. The target was MS64 for the cent through the dollar. I have not yet gotten the half dollar (and college graduation is now just a few months away...), and the nickel and quarter I did get are proofs. Further, the quarter is a 63 (Cameo), not a 64. That same auction session included a nice MS64 1890 quarter, and I intended to have it.

Unfortunately, bids were already up to the edge of my comfort zone, both for the coin and for total January expenditure. But I figured half an increment more wouldn't really be that painful, so I employed the same strategy: immediately enter a cut bid and leave it at that. Again, the cut bid won.

So I seem to be on a path to replace that proof 1890 nickel with a business strike, and still need the half dollar. Over the several years I've been looking, there have been few MS64 1890 half dollars to be seen. And they went for more than I wanted to pay. At some point, I will have to bite the bullet and pay the price, or compromise on grade. Such is our hobby sometimes.

Anyway, here is the reverse of the new quarter. Happy hunting...