Posted 02/28/2023 5:00 pm
Hopefully @CarrsCoins will see this post, or @GERMANICVS
I love my early copper but far from an expert on 1796 attribution, Breen/Sheldon varieties, NC varieties and die states.
That being said, you should keep in mind that 50+ years of additional research has been done since Sheldon wrote his book. Much like Newcomb, some of the attributions have changed or been revised based on new research that's been done throughout that time.
I think you're on the right track with auction catalogues, though. That's usually my go-to when I am not at home and can't access my reference books, or when I need more up-to-date information.
Generally speaking, I'm not a big fan of HWH as one of the diagnostic pickups on DB's, but sometimes on badly worn examples it's one of the few parts of the design still visible; even then it can be a crapshoot based on how badly the obverse is worn at BERT.
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"Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done." -- Louis D. Brandeis
"Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done." -- Louis D. Brandeis
