An 1813 bust Half, please grade and attribute..more to follow too

[MikeKing]

I'm posting a few pics.

the first set are head on and a little out of focus and not enough light but you'll get the idea. I think this is a very well struck 1813 and something about the headon view lets you see that, maybe it's a shadow cast but the strike is pretty deep.

 

the second set of pics are with two reveal bulbs and me holding the holder in my hand to get within that area of non reflection off the plastic over the coin

 

the third set of pics were contrast adjusted (not color adjusted) using photoshop.

 

all the other pics are un tampered with.

 

I'm not happy with any of them, but I think you'll get an idea that the coin is a blend of all the above. It's more a dark golden brown with a little bit of lightening of the brown at the periphery. Before I say I think it's original, I need to study it a little longer.

 

There are some really nice die cracks thru the date up thru the stars on the right, I'll try to do a closeup view of the crack and post it later if I can.

 

It looks like theres a nice crack through the lower curls as well (straight crack).

 

On the reverse there are a couple of nice cracks thru the lower branch leaves, on over on top of the 50C and into the arrows.

 

A really, really nice original 1813 that I thought you might like to see.

 

[James_OldeTowne]

Can we get a luster shot? The details look AU-55 to me.

[MBA101]

Yummy! Now is that an O-107, or a 107a? That coin would make me very happy!

[rbrown4]

Mike,

 

That is a nice looking 1813 Half. I would venture to say AU-55 to 58.

 

Rey

[WinstonWare]

Nice coin Mike. I'll say AU-58. Did you ever tell us what the grade on that 1810 was?

[MBA101]

The more I study it, the more I say 107a. I know the grade, so I won't comment.

[MikeKing]

James, hard to capture the luster because its so heavily toned. all the gold areas around the devices and within the hair have flash. I tried to capture it as best as I could. of course, I can't give you a rotating view so areas with flash may appear plain brown but you get the idea.

 

 

here are some diagnostics

 

a helluva lot of cracks. didn't get them all, but it's a good education because there are different kinds of cracks and different things that happen with some cracks (like in the 1809 III edge 109b for example) many of which are happening on this coin.

[123cents]

Great looking bustie. I'll say O-107a, AU-58.

[MikeKing]

final analysis (I was hoping someone would name the different kinds of cracks though)

 

The coin is an 1813 50C Overton 107a PCGS graded as an AU55

 

This coin is exceptional in it's toning originality and plethora of die cracks. There are probably every kind of die crack present on this coin, which makes it a good representative of what the U.S. Mint had to deal with in terms of the steel available for making their dies, the annealing process, the actual punching of stars and numerals into the die (weakening it) and the actual minting process, with the consequences of die clashing and all the combinations of the above leading to shattering of the dies.

 

The die cracks are far too extensive and advanced for this to be an Overton 107, but some of the cracks have not made it to their final progression that can be seen in 107a's.

 

My personal grading opinion is that this coin should grade a 58, and maybe if resubmitted it would get there, but the toning is quite heavy and the only flash you can see is within the protected areas and within the hair strands.

This is probably why it was graded a 55, but who knows.

 

I see this coin as exceptionally well struck for an 1813. It's has a heavy but beautiful brown toning with bright golden highlights. The surfaces are very clean with minimal marks that you'd have to spend a lot of time with a glass, looking for. There are no hairlines at all, and I feel this coin is entirely original.

 

Thanks to everyone for their input on my coin.

[rrantique]

I must say Mike those are some incredible close-ups Thanks for posting

[bsshog40]

Nice coin and nice die cracks there Mike!! and pics too

[michael]

great thread

[EZ_E]

WoW...! One can certainly appreciate the depth of strike with the closeups!

 

What I find incredible is that the dies lasted so long with cracks in them. Obviously, a die crack severely weakens the die. Then, with the tremendous striking pressure (even with the early mint), the dies go on to provide useful work for scores of strikes. It just seems to me that the die would give up the ghost much sooner than they do. This even applies to modern coins where die progression can be followed on various coins. Chris Machuga has documented such a progression on a run of Kennedy halves.

 

I also wonder what the final coin would look like on the shattering blow. Is the coin thrown in the hopper for circulation or is it put aside to be melted later? I can imagine that when force is applied on that final blow, the die shatters before any detail is raised. So, I would imagine that there are coins with a very shallow strike, possibly only showing faint details. Am I off base here or does this make sense?

[Mozin]

MikeKing,

 

I agree with your reasoning as to why PCGS only gave your coin AU55. On a good day, it might garner AU58. Lovely coin.

[JRocco]

Hey Mike, nice coin. Great pics also.

I agree with you assessment on this one too Mike.

Another aspect that I have noticed on this series Mike is that a lot of these coins have weak to no milling. Looking at your coin, this may have caused the grader to lean a little lower on the AU scale. This is a die characteristic and sometimes a striking characteristic that should have NO EFFECT on the grading, but that is not always the case.

I wish that the TPG companies could only have graders, experienced in this series looking and grading these, but we know that doesn't happen either. This is a tough series to grade.

Nice coin Mike

[MBA101]

Hey Mike, nice coin. Great pics also.

I agree with you assessment on this one too Mike.

Another aspect that I have noticed on this series Mike is that a lot of these coins have weak to no milling. Looking at your coin, this may have caused the grader to lean a little lower on the AU scale. This is a die characteristic and sometimes a striking characteristic that should have NO EEFFECT on the grading, but that is not always the case.

I wish that the TPG companies could only have graders, experienced in this series looking and grading these, but we know that doesn't happen either. This is a tough series to grade.

Nice coin Mike

 

I think this says it all...