Hey @Roach (and @Jacrispies) - I'm REALLY late to this conversation! Just happened to be looking back on "half dime" posts and was interested to see my name here! lol.
My conclusion, and PCGS' conclusion, is that this is indeed an LM-6.1! How do I know this? Well, I bought the coin in November 2023, and submitted it in January 2024, and was delighted to see PCGS concur! https://www.pcgs.com/cert/49022368
So - like you guys, I was initially uncertain. @Roach, I assume that was you that I bought it from on eBay. You'll remember that I expressed some doubt - as the markers can be subtle (especially the berry stems). It wasn't a slam dunk. But, "nothing ventured, nothing gained," and you worked with me on the sale. Long story short, I now have an LM-6.1 in my set.
Interestingly, I picked up another LM-6.x recently in a lower grade. I had some peers look at it, and got mixed reviews as to whether the lower-grade one is a 6.1 or 6.2. Had I not acquired your coin I would have pushed that other coin a little harder... but that's one that just makes me say "hmmm...."
I wish I'd seen this post back when it came out! We could have cut eBay out as a middleman!
And I also wish that CCF had tagging that would flag a post. Mods? Anyone?
No need to do any kinds of tests - it's a counterfeit, 100%. But the 1792 half disme (pronounced "deem") is a fascinating coin to read up on! This article tells more about it (despite omitting the word "half" in front of "disme" in the URL). https://blog.money.org/coin-collect...e-1792-disme
I'll also note that, per Russ Logan and John McCloskey in the book "Federal Half Dimes 1792-1837," these 1500 coins all made use of one obverse and one reverse die - so there's only one marriage (called "LM-1" for the year).
Lol! Chase, no, but I was co-opted into helping the JRCS do the Bust Quarter Census... so I'm riding along, having made some friends there (and being the proud owner of the beautiful book "Early Quarter Dollars of the US Mint 1796-1838" by Rea, Peterson, Karoleff, Kovach). Dimes and quarters are both on my future radar but my first love remains the capped bust half dimes, as you know.
The Bust Quarter Collectors Society will meet on August 7, 2024, at 2pm CDT in Convention Room 3. This meeting didn't make it into ANA World's Fair of Money catalog "Schedule of Events," so please make a note of the time and place! The BQCS will discuss the recent sale of a unique bust quarter and explore the E's and L's (famous counterstamped bust quarters). Anyone who has an "E" or "L" is invited to bring them for the discussion.
If you have questions, please PM me (Sean Kelly - AKA Bikergeek) and I'll relay them to the chairman, Dr. Glenn Peterson.
Wow, that's a great price for a '78 CC in that state of preservation! I think what appear to be hairlines on the obverse might make it hard to cross this to another grading company but it's still a heckuva coin!
The word "rare" doesn't mean anything to me unless I read it in a very reputable, scholarly work. As an advertisement, it's meaningless. I do care about the Sheldon scale and track the scarcity of my area of interest, capped bust half dimes by die marriage / remarriage, according to this scale. For many of the classic series, the R- numbers are estimated (or even known!) and it is very helpful. For more modern, plentiful, issues, this isn't particularly helpful. Even the famous 1909-s VDB cent had 484k minted - an "R-1" estimate, but still a key for the many Lincoln cent aficionados. By contrast, there are only nine 1835 LM-12 capped bust half dimes - I counted 'em recently - and I've owned two of them. Supply and demand at work... :-)
Rarity Estimated Number in Present Existence R-1 Greater than 1,250 specimens known R-2 501 - 1,250 R-3 201 - 500 R-4 76 - 200 R-5 31 - 75 R-6 13 - 30 R-7 4 - 12 R-8 2 - 3 Unique 1 (sometimes aka R-9)
In 2014 my grandson Ian was born with neuroblastoma - cancer. A tumor was found in his tiny newborn body. He spent his first year with hospitals and surgeries, chemotherapy and doctor's appointments. My son and daughter-in-law had great insurance, lots of supportive family in town, and wonderful hospital/doctors (Children's Mercy in KCMO). Ian is now a typical rowdy ten-year-old soccer superstar goalie. Watching my infant grandson go through that first year was tough. Watching my son watch his son in pain was heart-wrenching.
So when I saw this Baby Aspen benefit auction thread on another forum, about a family in our collecting community, I kicked a few things into the auction, like a bunch of other folks did. GreatCollections is sending ALL the proceeds of the auction to the family of Baby Aspen (including the Buyer's Premium). I figure it's a great way to let people in the hobby show their generosity of spirit and support a family going through something that no family should have to go through.
Now, it's too late to send anything in to the auction. But it's not too late to BID like crazy on the coins in the auction! The money doesn't go to the people who donated the coins... nor to GreatCollections... but to the family of this little girl, to take the burden of their daily obligations off their shoulders in some small way so they can be there in the OR waiting rooms and the doctors appointments supporting Aspen's recovery. Search up "Baby Aspen" at GC or just click this link: https://www.greatcollections.com/se...mode=product - and bid early and often! I mean... look at this kid!
Love the coin. Would love to own one. Maybe someday. Amazing to think of toting around some of Martha Washington's silverware, as doled out by Thomas Jefferson. (Not sure if the silverware thing is a myth, btw.)
Hondo, glad it went well for ya! There's something subversive about pulling a mint state coin out of a slab and popping it into an album raw... I like it! hahah
Yikes! I've cracked a few slabs in my time, and they are not easy to get into. Someone musta stepped on that one to get it looking like that! A note: the crack in the plastic right on top of the coin worries me. Cracking the outer edges by standing the coin on edge on a hard surface and whacking with a hammer will usually open the seams - and when you peel the case off it's a lot like cracking an egg. But with the break right over that pretty coin I'd be nervous. Not sure how much pressure it would take for a slab to hurt the coin - but I wouldn't want to find out on that particular nickel...
Even badly damaged, the 1793 chain is an amazing artifact of our history. As I write this the Heritage coin here is already bid up to $5k ($6k with Heritage's 20% buyer's premium). For the interested folks, there's a wonderful talk by Bill Eckberg on the ANA site (https://www.money.org/money-talks-video-archive/ ) entitled "The Men Who Made the First U.S. Coins." He has the dates that the chain cents were minted, names the people who made them, shares their salaries - even calls out the one guy who showed up drunk and subsequently got fired! Totally worth 36 minutes of my time to watch!
I have watched both these threads with interest. I know CarrsCoins; we are members of the same local club. And I know jacrispies, who is earnest and passionate about coins. I firmly believe that neither of them is trying to "fool someone" and by doing so, make a profit.
They are "messing with" coins - but hasn't every single coin been "messed with?" From the moment of their creation, we slide them down conveyor belts, drop them into bags, roll them up with machines, flip them, drop them to hear their silver content. There are mint-sealed proof coins with fingerprints on them. Even when someone decides to "put one up" for safekeeping, they end up in varied environments: this one lives on the coast, that one lives in the desert. We put them in fireproof safes imbued with flame retardant moisture-bearing chemicals. Some environmental changes are gradual and others are concentrated. Some are intentional and others are accidental. But the common denominator is us humans. Even a detectorist's "ground find" that was eaten away in the earth had to have been dropped by someone!
I submit that the difference between the coin doctors who whizz, polish, smooth, fill, and wipe, and the conservationists who restore the underlying beauty of a coin can be summed up in one word: Reverence.
I'll go one further: the practice of dipping is widely accepted. But it is an attack on the surface of a coin, destroying the metal's natural defenses (i.e., toning) and is far more harmful - and generally less attractive - than trying to expedite in a few months what nature was probably going to do over time anyway.
I appreciate both CarrsCoins and Jacrispies' posts, have learned from their experiments, and hope that they (and others) are not silenced by disapproval of some. I find them to be reverent.
@Dearborn, we don't know each other, but I read the first page of the post and was immediately concerned for you! Burns are no fun whatsoever! So I promptly skipped pages 2 thru 8 and landed here on page 9 - where I'm relieved to see you're doing OK.
And I don't know if anyone else mentioned it, but after hearing from you guys who've had these experiences with propane tanks, I'll say: I'm more convinced of the virtues of Pex than ever! :-)
Posted 01/08/2025 11:43 am
