1773 VA Halfpenny - You Vs NGC (Grade Posted)

She is a beauty!!

I couldn't begin to grade this, but that is one amazing piece of history! Nice!

How are they with grading this series and the marks on the obverse? I'm not familiar with that technical aspect on colonial copper but I imagine it could grade at the standard of old gold so I will call AU58 and no details if I'm correct on my thoughts.

AWESOME American history to say the least

hubba hubba hubba

Never graded one of these before but standard grading usually applies. First thought was AU50 maybe 53. In any case its a really cool coin. What is the value of something like this?

Nice coin! Generally well struck were these Tower of London Mint issues.
Not sure off the bat on Newman variety although it does have the dot after Georgivs as well as 7 strings on harp as a clue.
I'd go AU53 on this one.

Thanks for all the responses! The eye appeal on this one is why I picked it up, particularly the obverse. The reverse is a tad weak in the center of the shield, but it doesn't appear to be wear in my opinion.

NGC did detail this because of the obverse scratches, giving it an XF Details grade. Having looked at some others in NGC XF details holders, I'm betting this would upgrade if I resubmitted it, which I'm thinking of doing, but to PCGS. The detail on the obverse is much better than XF in my opinion and I don't think the scratches should have dropped it a grade. Many of the XF ones I have seen have no detail left in the leaves and hair curls around the ear, while this coin has plenty left there. I also found the scratches to not be very distracting, they are very old and deep brown toned. I welcome any and all opinions, I am by no means an expert, just going off of comparable coins sold at Heritage. There would likely be a significant "value" jump going from XF to AU, even in a details holder, though I think it costs more to have colonials graded compared to regular US issues. What are the communities thoughts?

I agree DS. I don't think it will go into a problem free holder. My thinking was that it could go into an AU details holder which if previous auction results suggest would increase the value despite the scratches, its less of a problem than corrosion or improper cleaning, at least these particular scratches since they aren't on the head.

The other reasons I would want to crack it and resubmit are more because I am a bit picky. There is a foreign object on the obverse right after III that can probably be removed with a thorn/toothpick. Also the white spec on the neck is a piece of fuzz on the inside of the plastic (where was NGC product control on that one?). Both of these annoy me, but don't detract from the coin itself. I want it to stay slabbed mainly so that I can show it to folks without touching it, and for storage. I don't know of an album set up that fits with what I currently have and I'm not a fan of putting coppers in paper envelopes. So would it be worth cracking and resubmitting for the reasons above? Its not really about value, just preservation/conservation and storage. I am all ears though on what folks have done to store colonials in an album unslabbed, preferably with the eye appeal of a Dansco type album.

This was the one colonial coin I really wanted, mainly for its history. It might have opened up another can of worms though!

I agree. Knew I was overly optimistic in my guess but I think NGC was harsh.