1795 1/2c Liberty Cap Right Half Cent Plain Edge No Pole

Looks AG3 to me.

still AG-3 is about all it will pull.

Agree with AG-03, tough coin in any grade.

Well, that wouldn't be the way PCGS sees it. According to its grading standards, Strike factors into the grade of an uncirculated or unimpaired proof coin (where strike is usually not an issue unless it is an error), but not coins in circulated grades. There are many examples of high circulated grade coins with poor strikes and soft to nonexistent details. Strike by definition happens at the Mint, not in circulation post-Mint.

That is not how ANACS views grading because they tend to net grade a coin based on flaws and imperfections, but I am unsure about how it deals with soft strikes.



The way that I tend to think about this is that strike is a Mint issue, therefore it doesn't really affect circulated coin grades. Everything that happens to a coin post-Mint does affect circulated coin grades.

However much you happen to like a coin based on its strike gets resolved through price, not though the grade.

Thinking that I will probably break it out and submit it to PCGS and see what they slap on it.

I guess it comes down to how you view it. I do agree with you @NS that the remaining details are sharper than AG (Devices in the upper portion of the obverse and lower portion of the reverse ). If PCGS chooses to not take the weakness from the thin planchet into account, the remaining details are a G04, even G06 IMO. If they choose to net down, it's in the same boat as it's current holder. It's does have what looks like a nice planchet going for it, with minimal to no porosity. I'd personally be inclined to net down, I'd say PCGS will say no more than G04.

Keep us posted!

I have heard in the past that VF level and below do not take striking issues into account when grading. I have seen that in practice over the years and it seems to be true most of the time.

That said this piece has a shot at Good and maybe even G06 on a generous day in the grading room. My concern would be the spotting on the reverse resulting in a no grade.

If my memory is correct, the leaf touching the I of AMERICA on the reverse would indicate Cohen-5.

I have one of the C-5a with the strike very similar to yours, weak at the date on the obverse and weak at the top of the reverse. I agree with BH 1964, probably thinner planchet at the weak areas.

Thanks folks.

@Phil310, thank you. I was waiting for the coin to arrive before attributing it but you helped me by pointing out that the leaf on the wreath touches the I in AMERICA. Unfortunately, it is not the rarer C-5 but the more common C-6 which is the coin that has the leaf touching the I. There are C-6a, C-6b and C-6c sub-varieties depending on whether it was struck on a Mint planchet or a cut down UK Talbot, Allum & Lee planchet. They also used cut down cent planchets and copper from planchets used to strike trial 50 cent pieces in copper. I guss they didn't waste metal back then.

We can probably rule out C-6b because this one is a thin planchet coin with a lettered edge. But I will have to break out the coin and check the edge because the C6-b coin with a thin planchet and a lettered edge was discovered in 2019 by NGC and this coin looks to have been holdered before 2019. This article recounts the recent discovery of the 1795 C-6b variety: https://www.coinnews.net/2019/03/12...ent-variety/

There are other varieties of the C-6b, including one with a thick planchet and one that is overstruck on a cut down cent planchet (should therefore be thick) or a token.

NGC shows 2 varieties of the C6-a, one struck on a thin planchet and one struck over a cut down cent (again thick planchet) or token.

Breen has a B-6c variety (Cohen still calls this one C-6b) that was overstruck over a Talbot, Allum & Lee token but also over 50 cent trial pieces coined in copper. So interesting.

Altogether there are 5 distinct C-6 subvarieties and 14 1795 subvarieties. My head is spinning.

On top of everything that shift at the Mint to the thin planchet coins took place in December 1795 so there wasn't a lot of time to strike the 1795 thin planchet coins. Seems like they were scrounging all over the place to find metal to mint these Half Cents.