DWLange

Remember that our clad coins are mostly copper and thus quite subject to corrosion.

That's not what Tom was saying. He said that PERHAPS 1829 dies were used for the currency half cents MADE in 1831. That would not be unusual for the frugal U. S. Mint.

At the beginning dealers sent in only their best coins---the ones they'd been sitting on in anticipation of this new service and which were well worth the fees. Those alone represented a fairly large number of coins. When slabs proved to be widely successful the bar was lowered somewhat to include common date Morgans, commemoratives, etc---the meat and potatoes of the market. That's what caused the long delays in the early years. When the grading services finally caught up they found a new market was needed, and that's when collector accounts were created. Bulk grading at a sliding scale also brought in a lot of coins that weren't worth paying the tier fees.

By 1987-88 slabbing had really caught on, and regular submissions (not Express or Walkthrough or whatever they were being called back then) could take several months to be returned. I submitted coins for grading only rarely, but that was my experience. Zadok is correct that one had to go through an authorized dealer. Direct submissions by collector members weren't possible until the mid-late 1990s.

The toning is appealing, but it is not first generation. That coin was cleaned at some point before retoning.

During the period of the first U. S. Mint (1792-1833) the coinage figures were reported in a manner that is confusing to researchers today. In addition the Mint had a practice of utilizing dies until they failed, regardless of the date they bore. Incoming Mint Director Robert M. Patterson prohibited the use of obsolete dies around 1835, though the Mint's figures are still subject to interpretation, as it operated on a fiscal year rather than the calendar one. As Roger noted, the dates these coins bore was irrelevant to the Mint's accounting, making it difficult to be certain of how many coins were produced for specific dates.

You have a well worn bronze cent that was plated with silver or some other silver-colored metal.

That's a blast from the past. Walter included my findings in the Barber Quarter section of his 1988 encyclopedia.

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Not even in digital format ?

I don't believe any digital files were saved. Since the Census is a record of what has been certified to date, it's always a moving target. I would send two pdfs to the printer each quarter, one for USA and one for world (which required two volumes to print), but these were not saved.

It is quite harshly cleaned---to the point that it would most likely be labeled as Polished by NGC. My guess is that someone mounted it in a belt buckle or some jewelry where it tarnished and was repeatedly cleaned.

I'm afraid you have a combination of strike doubling and light contact damage. It's not an actual variety, but keep looking.

There may be a 2006 issue in the cornerstone. That's when we occupied the new building.

NGC's Census Report ceased to be printed after 2011. I know, because preparing it for print used to be among my responsibilities, and it was a real bear of a job that took me half a day. NGC maintained an archive of older issues, but I don't know that it went back that far. The last time I saw the collection was several years ago, and everything has been moved around since then. I don't know whether any early issues survive, but some may turn up on eBay from time to time. It's not the sort of thing that anyone consciously preserved.

A partially filled die is the most likely cause. There are no varieties of the 1855 Upright 55 cent that are particularly noted for a weak date.

There is no general agreement among experts. Unworn pieces seem to be all or mostly proofs, but there are quite a few worn ones that tend to suggest currency strikes, too. Mint records are of no help in settling the matter.

It's also coined from very worn dies that imparted a blurry look to the lettering before it even entered circulation. The new obverse hub created in 1977 had become quite worn itself by 1982 and was replaced with a much sharper one for 1983's production.

Yes---quite rare and expensive.

Here's some real hog money...

OK, I've had my fun. Here's some real hogge money, as it was called:

https://www.ngccoin.com/coin-explorer/united-states/colonial-period-1616-1775/sommer-islands/

Evidently people do, as there are plenty of similar issues certified:

https://www.ngccoin.com/census/united-states/modern-special-issues/209/

The 2022 numbers haven't been released yet but will be.

1964-D Peace Dollars were coined in May of 1965, but none were released. They went to the melting pot before year's end. I believe a few were preserved until 1970 or so within the Mint's Technology Office, but these ultimately joined their brethren. The complete story is in Roger's Red Book on that series.

There's no evidence that any 1964-dated Morgans were coined, but some Matrix elements turned up within the Mint a few years ago that revealed how they would have looked.

Roger that---damage only.

You may send it back to NGC for Grader Review and my attention. I'll take another look, and if the variety is there you won't be charged another fee.

This has been answered in the ASK NGC/NCS section.

Fairmont is a name chosen at random to cover a large quantity of vintage USA gold coins repatriated over the past few years. They're noteworthy for including a number of rare dates and/or condition rarities, few if any of them having been cleaned. Doug Winters has been writing about this hoard for CoinWeek.com, so you can learn more about it there.