Bust Half Educational Post-Props to Hoot and James

[TomB]

We have had a few threads about Capped Bust half dollars recently and James had an excellent idea that we could perhaps post images of Bust halves, from time to time, and let folks practice their attribution skills. Since I am currently unable to work because of my ruptured lumbar disc, I thought I would write something about a Bust half that I own and then let folks attempt to attribute it.

 

The coin in question is an 1810 CBH and, coincidentally, the 1810 CBHs are a year that has always intrigued me. Think about it; Thomas Jefferson had just been replaced in the Presidency by James Madison; the War of 1812 was already smoldering; the British were still years away from burning Washington, DC; Andrew Jackson was a career military man who would not rise to national prominence and catapult to the Presidency until the famous Battle of New Orleans, which actually occurred after official cessation of hostilities; Abraham Lincoln had been born the previous year and the US Mint, which burned to the ground on January 11, 1816, was not modernized.

 

As for 1810 CBHs, I like these for several reasons including the fact that they represent the second sub-type for the CBH series, a sub-type that was only produced from 1809-1811, just over one million pieces were coined and this includes an unknown number of 1809 CBHs delivered with the 1810 coins and the quality of the extant pieces is not uniformly high. The 1810 coins are plagued with die cracks, which is consistent with the low quality die steel that the early US Mint had to work, and there are notable areas of strike weakness including the ubiquitously weakly struck left wing of the eagle and the central obverse curls of Ms Liberty. These design areas very closely oppose one another on this coin. The border dentilation is also weak or partially missing on a majority of this issue. Edgar Souders, in his wonderful book Bust Half Fever 1807-1836 estimates that there is a ratio of at least 8:1 of weakly struck 1810 CBHs vs well struck CBHs. He is by far more of an authority than I am on this date, and this series, yet I can scarcely recall any 1810 that is struck well throughout the entirety of the coin.

 

There were nine obverse dies and ten reverse dies employed during the year and this resulted in ten independent marriages for the year, as tabulated by Al Overton in Early Half Dollar Varieties 1794-1836. There are no particularly rare or scarce varieties for this year, only the elusive well struck coin. By the way, if anyone here has a well struck 1810 CBH that they would be willing to sell, give me a PM!

 

Oddly, although the CBH series was widely counterfeited and sometimes produced wildly fantastic pieces, there are no catalogued contemporary counterfeits for the 1810 issues. Keith Davignon produced the reference work for these bogus pieces in his Contemporary Counterfeit Capped Bust Half Dollars and the 1810 is one of only a few years that there are no representative fake halves to image. I'm not certain what that really means for the genuine pieces, but I will state that contemporary counterfeit CBHs dating all the way until 1842 have been discovered! Think about it...1842 ...the series ended in 1836!

 

The one thing that I believe is quite unfortunate is that the Reeded Edge half dollars of 1836-1839 have not been embraced by the Bust half community as a whole. These latter coins are only relatively minor modifications to the CBH theme, and are much more closely aligned to the CBH than are the Flowing Hair or Draped Bust half dollars that preceed them. However, reference works dedicated to the Bust half, or to CBH coins more specifically, nearly always omit this important transitional coin. The obvious reason might be that the Reeded Edge coins were the first produced in a closed collar rather than the open collar of the other series. In my mind, this is not a valid reason to abandon the last incarnation of the Bust half dollar.

 

The coin imaged is an 1810 CBH, graded by PCGS and the image is from a scan taken at 300dpi. The coin actually has fairly strong toning on both obverse and reverse and, because of this, I believe PCGS essentially net graded the piece and gave it something lower than its details might warrant. The obverse has some gold and navy blue present while the reverse has a bloody auburn in the fields along with deep gold. It is a very odd little coin. I will embed the images within this post for easy viewing.

 

Lastly, if anyone else would like to continue these type of posts, in a sort of educational and fun series, be my guest! I only own about a dozen Bust halves, so I can't go much farther than that.

[stman]

Great post Tom. And a handsome crusty Bustie as well!

[Hoot]

Tom - this is a great post with ample information providing a sense of the time when this coin was made! I love it.

 

This is a tough coin for me to attribute, but I have taken my own stab at it without the benefit of other posts, as I opened your thread before there were any responses and then left for dinner and the evening!

 

Anyhow, I am not convinced of my attribution, as some of the features that I think I'm seeing, I cannot be sure of. However, I am going to say that you have an EDS specimen of Overton 102. You have one that was struck before the usual fine die crack appeared left of the date. But I believe I am seeing the little cut/curl in Liberty's upper lip (the "hairlip" character) and the date is strongly slanted left. Star 12 appears recut. On the reverse, the arrows appear strongly recut, especially arrows 1 and 2. I can't be sure that the T in UNITED has the low T below it, but there appears to be some reminant there. The eagle's left wing appears to show the typical strike weakness, but is better looking than most.

 

So that's my take on your coin. I love the appearance - original and wonderfully toned without the oft-seen dip job or scrub job. A very pretty circulated specimen with greatly smooth and crisp fields for the issue. Bueno.

 

Hoot

[Hoot]

By the way - Since I am currently unable to work because of my ruptured lumbar disc

 

So this happened since I last talked to you? What kind of trapeze act have you been performing?

 

Hoot

[TomB]

The disc was injured prior to our last round of phone conversations, but I had not yet had it examined by a specialist at that time. By the way, you should see the type of traction that my wife was put into!

[James_OldeTowne]

Guys, I don't have the brick (Overton) with me right now, but I'll start keeping it handy. And, we should probably go beyond bust halves, as I have books for Bust and Seated dimes and half-dimes as well!

 

I think this will be fun!

 

James

[Hoot]

James - what do you use for the dimes? I have Logan for the half dimes.

 

Hoot

[Mozin]

EARLY UNITED STATES DIMES 1796-1837 by Davis, Logan, Lovejoy, McCloskey, & Subjack copyright 1984

[Hoot]

EARLY UNITED STATES DIMES 1796-1837 by Davis, Logan, Lovejoy, McCloskey, & Subjack copyright 1984

 

Bueno

[James_OldeTowne]

Logan for bust half-dimes and dimes, Briggs for seated quarters, Greer for seated dimes, Reiver for early dollars, and Gifford for 3cn's. I also have a couple of references for Conder tokens, as well as Davignon for counterfeit bust halves. And I have Rulau for tokens

 

My numismatic library is not extensive, due to cost prohibitions, but I'm always interested in recommendations!

 

I almost think there should be a section on the boards strictly for attributions.....

 

James

[TomB]

James, or anyone else for that matter, if you ever come across Reiver for Reeded Edge half dollars please get a copy for me. I have been looking for that one for quite some time.

[TomB]

I guess I should let everyone know that Hoot attributed the coin the same as I have it in my records. Hope you enjoyed the applause emoticon, Hoot, 'cause that's all you're going to win from this.

 

The coin is graded VF25 by PCGS and I think they were being a bit conservative on the grade, but that matters little. This was not a coin I slabbed. In my opinion there wasn't any real reason to have this coin slabbed. I bought it already in plastic.

 

I also should apologize to everyone for being less than considerate since I had forgotten how much work it would take for people to look these things up. Next time, if there is a next time in this series, I will likely include the attribution so as to not inconvenience anyone.

[Hoot]

I guess I should let everyone know that Hoot attributed the coin the same as I have it in my records. Hope you enjoyed the applause emoticon, Hoot, 'cause that's all you're going to win from this.

 

That's reward enough for me!

 

I also should apologize to everyone for being less than considerate since I had forgotten how much work it would take for people to look these things up. Next time, if there is a next time in this series, I will likely include the attribution so as to not inconvenience anyone.

 

This may be the goofiest thing you've ever said. What inconvenience? So we each have to learn to put our books where we are? Indeed, I had to fetch my Overton, but it was worth it and now it's where I often am. I think it's fun to let us all go through the attribution process.

 

Hoot

[TomB]

Well, I had been hoping that more folks would participate since there seemed to be some interest in Bust halves, but then it was mighty quiet as for as attributions went. So, I figured that this might not have been the type of thing that lots of folks considered fun.

 

You, on the other hand...

[RGT]

I might like to participate in a different series, but I don't have an Overton. I do own one bust half I may post for attribution. Does Overton also cover reeded edge bust halves? I've got 2-3 of those.

[Hoot]

I might like to participate in a different series, but I don't have an Overton. I do own one bust half I may post for attribution. Does Overton also cover reeded edge bust halves? I've got 2-3 of those.

 

Hoot

[Hoot]

mighty quiet

 

A mighty challenge!

 

You, on the other hand...

 

I'm a challenge too.

 

Hoot

[spy88]

I had been hoping that more folks would participate since there seemed to be some interest in Bust halves

 

Tom, I know ALL of us are interested in everything numismatically posted on these boards but most of us (speaking for myself) are out of our area of expertise or just out of our league concerning attributing certain coins/series.

 

I wanna play but I don't know the rules!!! So I just read and learn most of the time!

[James_OldeTowne]

Here's a suggestion to all (that you can surely improve on).

 

Why don't we agree to designate a certain "formula" to threads for attribution of coins? For example, we could all agree that the title of the thread would be something like:

 

ATTRIBUTION POST: 1810 Capped Bust half, VF-25 (PCGS)

 

Then, we could all agree that all responses should be attribution/grade/pedigree related (or try to be).

 

That could be a very valuable service, especially to newbies.

 

What do you all think?

 

James

[spiny]

Could I just post pics of bust halves to be attributed and not (since I don't have an Overton's) play along?

[Hoot]

Could I just post pics of bust halves to be attributed and not (since I don't have an Overton's) play along?

 

Well you'll still have to play, even though your attribution error rate may be significantly higher.

 

Hoot

[spiny]

[TomB]

I'd be delighted if you posted images of Bust halves for attribution. Of course, if you don't at least guess at an attribution (you know, make up an Overton number) then that guy Hoot is bound to buzz around you...

 

I like that little juggling guy!

[spiny]

That almost tempts me to give this guy wings and make hims fly around the boards for a bit...

 

Ok then, I'll start with the only one I know. I lost the big picture when my isp trashed my webspace. Can you attribute this no stem, pointed 6 1806 from this die crack?

[spiny]

I just found a small pic of the whole coin down in the depths across the street. I can post it if the die crack is too obscure.

 

Edit to post the pic. I grade it VF20. It's probably the best one of the half dozen or so that I have.

 

[TomB]

Har Har Har, that's an easy one! I'll PM the answer to you so as to not spoil it for others.

 

Now, let's see that guy fly!

[Hoot]

Now Spiny is goading us. He's doing this ---> Starts us off with an easy one, then he'll show us his true colors (the fact that he's memorized Overton, and that's why he doesn't have a copy - no need).

 

Hoot

[spiny]

Yeah buddy!

 

Hmmm... somehow this seemed much busier before I uploaded it...

 

[Hoot]

Yeah buddy!

 

Hmmm... somehow this seemed much busier before I uploaded it...

 

 

 

Can we play Swat the Bison?

 

Hoot

[spiny]

Ok, since I stumped Hoot on the last one , here's an even easier one.

I'll guess O.18.11? (grade F12, old light cleaning, scratched)