i sure do like these early coppers.
if this coin were sent to a third party grader I would expect it to grade either fine or very fine details. they would details the coin for either environmental damage or the rim bumps. it would cost more than the value of the coin to have it graded.
copper is super reactive and tends to degrade quickly. these coins are also quite heavy and tend to get lots of dings and dents. they often look like your coin. I own quite a few that look as used or worse.
the big money buyers and advanced collectors try to find undamaged examples with unblemished surfaces. this is the case everywhere in coins.
there are 15 varieties of 1838, listed as N-1 - N-16 (13 was delisted as it was determined to be a late die state of 11). varieties N-15 and N-16 command a bit of a premium, but nothing big. I cant tell which one this one is, but I did rule out both of the scarcer varieties.
Posted 09/01/2022 09:21 am
