Another 1861/0 Half Dime...

Having just made a purchase that now ranks as #1 costliest addition to my collection, I did not want to spend much, if anything, in the recent Heritage auction in Orlando. But one coin did catch my eye. It is an 1861 half dime in an old NGC slab graded MS60 and sporting a CAC gold sticker.

The coin is not particularly attractive, in that the toning is a bit splotchy and is not an entirely pretty color. There are no apparent marks on the obverse, and only a couple very minor ones on the reverse. The strike is not terrific, with softness in the upper left wreath and shield. The luster cannot be judged from the photo, and the minimal online-only session lot description is not helpful. Nevertheless, I agree that it appears to be undergraded.

Beyond that, the coin also appears to be another case of an unattributed 1861 1/0 overdate (see my journal from June 6, 2013). It certainly is not the same variety as either my normal date or overdate examples from 1861. In addition to the 1/0, there appear to be other peculiar features in the lower obverse devices. (Sometimes there are things like portions of misplaced digits.) In any case, this promised to be a relatively inexpensive pick-up that I might be able to turn around for a tidy little profit. So I planned to bid live on Saturday.

I was with my wife down at Ocean City, MD and Assateague National Seashore for the weekend, so I was going to have to use the Heritage iPhone app to execute the bid. I have been successful with this before, and arranged to be where there is service at the critical time. I got connected, logged in, and was following the auction. When the lot came up, I touched a button to enable bidding, and then the bid button. It informed me that my bid was being transmitted, but then another message popped up. Before I could read it all, I was kicked out to the login screen. Needless to say, my bid was not accepted, and someone else got a good deal (assuming he or she realizes it!).

Such is the life of a coin collector... I hope your hunts are more successful!

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