New Bust Half Dime

[zrlevin]

I recently bought a new bust half dime on eBay. I haven't recieved it yet, but I wanted to see what you all thought of it.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/1831-Half-Dime-Cappe...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

How'd I do? What do you think the grade of this coin is, judging from the picture? Do you think it was cleaned?

 

Thanks for the input,

Zach

[Bruceswar]

How'd I do? What do you think the grade of this coin is, judging from the picture? Do you think it was cleaned?

 

I am not up to date on the pircing.... if you like the coin thats all that matters.. It was dipped, how long ago is anybodys guess.... This would not be a coin for me... but congrats

[Jazzy]

This is the 1831, variety LM 6 (very common), with a mintage of 1,242,700.

 

It's very difficult to judge coins by pics.

 

That being said, I'm going to give it a tentative AU 55.

 

It probably HAS been cleaned at some point, but that's just something that a collector of 19th-century coins takes into consideration.

 

At any rate, I think it's an excellent type coin!

 

 

[TomB]

My completely honest opinion is that I do not like the coin at all. The simple reason for that is that the piece has been dipped heavily at least one time. It's an AU coin that is 170+ years old, it shouldn't look nearly as white as an American Silver Eagle. Your winning price was pretty steep considering its obvious alteration since you paid over AU50 Greysheet for the coin. I'm sure you could always sell it when the time comes because so many people like "white", but I also think you may have been better off buying a problem-free, dark, gunky, original EF40/45 for about the same price. Sorry.

[zrlevin]

I'll let you guys know what it looks like when it gets here. To me, the picture looks edited, i.e. lightened, to make the coin look lighter than it actually is. I have no idea. I like the coin, and I think it will look nice in my Dansco 7070.

 

Zach

[zrlevin]

Also, If it obviously looks dipped, it has a return policy, so I'd only be out five bucks.

[EZ_E]

It's not a great coin but it isn't problematic either. Obviously it's been dipped before and has regained some toning from an album. If this is what your budget allows then it's a good coin for you. I would personally prefer another but don't find great fault with this one.

 

Notice the die clash of the bust on the reverse. That's cool enough.

[zrlevin]

Would NGC grade a dipped coin?

[EZ_E]

Depends. I think that they should grade this but who knows if they would or not. Someone that submits more than I do should answer this question.

[RGT]

I agree with most here. The coin is too light for it's age and surely has been dipped at one time. It does look like a nice AU55-AU58 with no apparent problems (other than the cleaning). Yes, you could have done better. Here's one I posted a while back. I picked it up on ebay in an ANACS AU55 holder. It's also an LM-6, like yours. I paid just under $160 for mine, but I did use one of the ebay/PayPal 10% off coupons.

 

[James_OldeTowne]

This coin has been lightly cleaned. But frankly, that's not saying anything about coins of this age that most everybody doesn't already know. Show me a one uncleaned high-grade bust coin, and I can show you twenty that are cleaned - slabbed or not. That's just the nature of the beast. At the age of 175 years, there are extremely few coins that have not been cleaned at some point in the course of that many years.

 

My response when somebody asks me whether some 175 year old coin has been cleaned is an automatic "yes".

 

Again, this is with regard to high-grade coins. Most people wouldn't bother to clean an AG-3 capped-bust dime ("lookie, mint luster!").

 

All that being said, I would be happy with this coin. It looks like the seller scanned the image, which nearly always makes a coin look worse than it is. I bet you'll be happy with it, cleaning and all.

 

James

[zrlevin]

Thank you everyone for your opinions! I can't wait for it to arrive. I expect it to come in the first week of April, because the seller has to wait for the check to clear.

 

Zach

[michael]

i like the coin and you did okie

 

it is a sleeper scarce coin with decent eye appeal

 

when you get it put it in your album and let it slowly retone no need to slab this coin it is a really neat in demand bread and butter coin that you can always sell for around what you paid

 

[paperchaser-migration]

I agree, looked 'cleaned'/'dipped' at some point in time. Nice coin but not for me. As you said, there is a return policy and if you don't like it send it back, especially if YOU determine it's been cleaned/dipped and this was not part of the overall description of the coin. You'd be well within your buyer's rights to send it back. Final determination is yours, of course. Oh, read EVERYTHING in the seller's description -- if you remove it from the original holder you will probably own it with no return recourse.

[zrlevin]

Oh, read EVERYTHING in the seller's description -- if you remove it from the original holder you will probably own it with no return recourse.

 

Yeah, I saw that. I'm just hoping it comes in a decent holder. The last coin I bought on ebay (1883 Lib Nickle w/o cents) came in half a scratched up flip, so I couldn't see the coin real well. The return policy was the same deal. I figured that it was a nine dollar coin, and kept it.