"Common" type coins that are now hard to find.

[BillJones]

I am within eight coins of completing my U.S. copper, nickel, silver and clad type set as defined by NGC. One of the types, the 1796-7 Draped Bust, Small Eagle half dollar is beyond my reach, but the others are well within my range in high collector grades. I've got all of these coins in ANACS holders or raw, but they won't grade or cross or are not worth the expense.

 

At any rate I've been looking for the following coins in NGC or PCGS holders and have generally come up empty:

 

1794-7 half cent, EF or AU

1973-4 with arrows dime PR or MS-64

1854-5 with arrows quarter MS-63 or 64

1839-65 no motto Half Dollar, PR or MS-64

 

Having trouble finding the half cent is to be expected. Many of the best coin are in Early Copper Club collections, and most of those coins have never seen the inside of a slab.

 

The 1873-4 with arrows dime is somewhat scarce, and the 1854-5 quarter is a little easier.

 

The no motto half dollar is a the real shocker, however. Years ago you could have walked into any major show and taken your pick. Today the inventory in most dealer's cases ranges from nothing to very little.

 

How times have changed.

[TomB]

I have to agree regarding the half dollar, this is the coin that I was truly surprised to see on your list. By the way, you have a fantastic set and do a great job of sharing your knowledge with others.

[Oldtrader3]

Beautiful set, Bill. The 1873-74 Arrows dime seems to be available. I sold a nice, toned MS64, 1874 Arrows dime last year. Heritage has a few no motto halfs in their future auction catalogs. Most are AU though. I have been looking for an AU, Civil War-Reconstruction era half and all I see are halfs from the 1850's in auction catalogs.

[okbustchaser]

 

PCGS Pr-64 in Stacks' Baltimore sale

[Merc]

I bought a MS64 1847 no motto half 3 years ago and have seen few if any since. The day I bought it, I was not planning on buying any seated halves. I saw it in a dealer's case and liked the look. It is deep silver grey but when rotated it has orange/magenta colors.

 

I have seen no MS64-65 no motto halves on ebay. People are not selling them (or at least not there).