1833 Capped Bust Half, ANACS AU-58 Details

ShadowCreator, you can refine your search to a specific date and then further to grade and TPG's.

In 1833 there were and estimated 5,206,000 Bust Halves Minted
13 Obverse Dies & 14 Reverse Dies were used to produced 15 different Die Marriages.

The coin pictured is an O-103 according to ANACS. The 1833 O-103 used Obverse die 3 and Reverse die C.

It seems like you are wondering if you should keep it or send it back, and you are seeking the opinions of others. I'm with Bonedigger on this one, I would rather have a nice coin, that may have a minor problem, at a HUGE price break.

At this point in time it seems like coin collectors and coin dealers are paying for originality. As we all know things change.

Once you get the coin, take a look at it and decide, do I like this coin at 250 bucks or would I rather have a problem free version of it for 1000.......

Alan

There was another thread about the PCGS price guide you may want to look at. I have found that you can look on teletrade.com as another reference of prices on slabbed coins. The prices there, & on Heritage, are for coins that have actually sold. I don't have any idea where the prices on the PCGS guide come from, but in my opinion they are pure fantasy.

I see you have done some research on the heritage site. One thing you need to consider is that bust halves can be labeled with Overton numbers. This refers to the die pairs used to strike the coin. In other words, extensive research has been done to identify markers on the obverse & reverse dies used to strike these, these markers serve to identify the die. Some die pairs are rarer than others, & will cause the same date/condition coins to be valued differently. That should throw a little less light on the subject of pricing.

I want to feel like I am getting a "good deal" on things, & it sounds like you do also. I'm not having a lot of luck with that. It seems like coins get bid up by people that are willing to pay based on the PCGS price guide. I'm still building my collection but it's slow going.

I bought several coins back in 1996, & thought I was doing good because I was paying less than the PCGS guide said they were worth. Then I lost interest in coins & put them away for 10 years. I started back into collecting a couple years ago. One of the first things I discovered was that the coins I bought 10 years ago for "market value" according to PCGS, were now worth what I paid for them.

I simply did not find enough coins that sold recently to take into account die varieties, in fact I didn't really find much at all. I looked on teletrade and I found a few ANACS 50-53's that sold in the 250-400 range more recently. Very few AU 58's though. 55's were a little more. ANACS 53 details was around 200.

I'm glad I left a huge gap between prices I was willing to pay and PCGS price guide, though. I just don't have any other reliable data (because I have looked at these sites, and there's simply so little to go on more recently) except Red Book. I don't know if Red Book is high too, but 2008 (which is 18 months dated) was saying 350 in AU 50 with a huge jump to 1200 in MS60. Should I get a newer version of the blue book? I'm going to keep looking around though and if I didn't get at least 20% better than they typically sell for I'll probably return it. I've seen a lot of cleaned coins go for close to PCGS price guide and some non-cleaned coins go for more of them, but you're probably right that they get bid up by people who use it as a guide. But is that guide useful at all, like for retail prices? As in, at the coin dealer? I obviously don't want to delude myself about getting a good deal as much as it would be nice, I'm just pretty confused. Maybe greysheet would be a better bet? BUT, that costs a lot of money.

I'm willing to pay 'top prices' for key coins I actually want to keep for decades possibly; most of my recent buying has been an alternative to putting money in the bank plus a little collector fun added in. I grab some semi keys and type coins at low prices so I can sell them from time to time when people are interested or ask for one or especially when I see a key date I REALLY want. So this is why I need to make sure I'm not buying at more than 70-80% of typical realized prices. Unfortunately, like I said before, I don't really know how to find these out because the research I've already done has been inconclusive. I started taking into account all the prices on heritage but then realized that most of them were pre-2006.

Edit: checked out some other coins on HA, and some dates are selling for above PCGS price guide.

I got the coin today and I can't say I exactly like it...

The detail is great but the surface is even darker than in the seller photo. But it still seems, given what I've seen on heritage, that I got an good deal pricewise. However, I don't like the coin, and if I returned it, I'd lose something like 20 bucks including paypal fees and shipping.



So if anyone who likes the coin and said the price is good wants it for 320, please contact me within two days. The return policy is 3 days. I also need better pictures, I know. This is negotiable. Otherwise I will return it, but I'd rather be saved the hassle.

Well, as I said, it's negotiable. I just picked a starting point given the prices I saw around; with AU 50 details going for 250+, and a big jump up to 58 320 seems more than reasonable. It would only be about 60 given the insurance, paypal, and everything though, since it was about 250 after everything for me.

I mean, I like the detail, just not the color, and if other people like the detail and don't mind the color too much, then....

If I could get this to pass PCGS without comment, I'd submit it four times. I've seen PCGS AU-58's going for 900-1050.