I got the one I wanted.

As I wrote last time, my auction priorities changed at lot viewing on Monday. I entered a strong maximum bid online, and was taken close to it by another online bidder. The live floor session that included this coin, a half dime, was held Wednesday evening. After taking my wife home from work and making dinner (for my sons), I drove back in to attend the session. I wanted to be there to bid on other coins if my high bid was beaten (and maybe even if it wasn't...).

When the lot came up, there was no action. So I got it for a bit under my maximum, but still a few hundred more than it fetched five years ago. It is an 1840-O No Drapery half dime in an NGC MS63 slab. It is now the lowest graded coin in my MS "Route 66" set. A photo is below.

The coin that had been my top pick prior to lot viewing came up a couple minutes later. It is an 1871-S. It's a decent coin, graded MS66 with NGC+PCGS population of 9/0. The S-B website indicated that there was an unmet reserve. At the live session, they started one increment below that reserve (as expected), but then acknowledged a cut bid and a book bid between the cut and the supposed reserve amount. With a hasty decision, I then raised my card to bid, but was beaten to it by a live on-line bidder. I let it go and went home.

When I tried to add the 40-O ND to the registry, it indicated that it was still registered to another member, but soon was transferred to me. I looked, but could not determine what set it came from. Perhaps it was registered, but not in a set. In any case, here it is. It looks better in-hand.

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