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 Replies: 11 / Views: 1,112 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3619 Posts |
This is another estate purchase coin. Some coins can be frustrating, and this is one of them. There's a lot going on here. Notice the obverse die crack and die chips (IDB? RIDB?). Notice the prominent die polishing lines and the semi-prooflike obverse. Notice the pancake strike on the lower leaves and back of the head and on the eagle's head and upper wings. Try not to notice the clear circulation wear, evident coin cleaning scratches, possible graffiti, heavy contact marks, and prominent carbon spots.  It's clearly a details coin. Where in the world does this details coin land for underlying grade? I'm attaching the obverse and reverse photos and detailed photos of the die crack and chips, carbon spot, and evidence of cleaning scratches most plainly visible on the upper leaves (and elsewhere). Thoughts?      |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11880 Posts |
Looks like an AU coin. For all the issues you list, it appears to be details, but I have seen much worse in a straight grade holder. Maybe AU55. Hair and leaves appear weakly struck. Still a first year of the type and a chunky piece of silver.
IN NECESSARIIS UNITAS - IN DUBIIS LIBERTAS - IN OMNIBUS CARITAS THE MAN IN THE ARENA, Theodore Roosevelt at the Sorbonne Paris on April 23, 1910: " It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." My coin website: https://fairfaxcoins.com |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
3619 Posts |
Thank you! It's an odd duck, isn't it? I haven't seen many semi-prooflike Barbers, but seeing one from Philadelphia that is this weakly struck is strange. So many of the pickup points for grading are buried in its flat strike. I have no earthly idea what that guy was collecting. The estate included a strange assortment of random coins, along with a lifetime supply of Wheat cent bags he obviously pulled from circulation in the early 1960s. |
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Pillar of the Community
Portugal
655 Posts |
I think it is just a circulated coin. Those marks do not look to me like what people called cleaned. Not that I understand or approve much of this details thing.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
73579 Posts |
I'll say AU details as well.
Errers and Varietys.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1509 Posts |
This is definitely an interesting one. Would love to see it in hand. Lean towards AU Details, but a great first year Barber!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3619 Posts |
Thank you all! This helps.
The obverse has some scuffs but isn't too far from the 1880s-early 1890s prooflike Morgans. It isn't quite as deeply reflective, so it is more in line with the old "semi-prooflike" description. It's as odd as the New Orleans Morgans, with beautiful die basining and horrible strikes. The reverse just has the usual luster in the protected areas, and more of the usual cartwheel effect, though subdued.
A strange one, for sure. Again, thank you all for the help. I'm going to help this one mosey down the road to a new home, and I wasn't really sure how to balance all that was going on with it for a fair description.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3848 Posts |
AU Details--polished is my opinion. I don't think this coin came prooflike from the mint.
Suffering from bust half fever. Want to learn how to attribute early half dollars by die variety? Click Here: http://goccf.com/t/434955Shoot me a PM if you are looking to sell bust halves. |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
I agree that it may have had a light metal polish, but must have been a long time ago, and since well patinated over.
Some wear flat spots on the high points.
AU-50.
Nevertheless, I would still buy it at the right price.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3619 Posts |
Quote:
Nevertheless, I would still buy it at the right price. I snagged it and a few other halves in a "Dutch Auction" at an estate sale a couple years ago when silver was around $22-23/oz. I had the top bid at $ 11.25 21.25 per coin.  That's the estate sale where I came home with a *few* bags of wheat cents. OK, it was more like 47 bags of wheat cents, but we won't talk about that. EDIT: I need to check my posts with my reading glasses before clicking to post it. I paid $21.25, not $11.25. We didn't get the chance to inspect the halves before bidding, so I thought it was worth a risk to see what was in the box. I ended up taking a few of them home, this one and a late Walker and a couple Franklins that were generic UNCs.Edited by fortcollins
05/01/2025 09:50 am
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
18627 Posts |
your original obv and rev photos are hiding all the issues discussed pretty much and then I saw your others and can see where the coin looks like it had a cleaning.
AU details (cleaned)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3619 Posts |
Quote:
AU Details--polished is my opinion. I don't think this coin came prooflike from the mint. I respectfully agree here in part and disagree here in part. The coin has been cleaned (abrasively, E-W on obverse and reverse), but it has not been polished. Whatever was used for the abrasive cleaning left long surface scratches across the devices and marred parts of the field. The fields on the obverse are mirrored and did leave the mint that way, but the reflective depth is only 3/4" in the unmarred areas. The obverse devices are not mirrored at all, and show light frost in spots but not continuously. The reverse is the normal cartwheel, and the coin is only AU. For all of these reasons, it could never receive a prooflike designation, but it is the occasionally seen coin that we all called semi-prooflike back in the day. In that sense, it never was a prooflike coin, but was semi-prooflike on the obverse only. There are fully prooflike Barbers, mostly from New Orleans and San Francisco. They are not as common from Philadelphia, and I am not aware of any fully prooflike 1892 Barber half. Philadelphia did produce fully prooflike Columbus Halves and Isabella Quarters at about this same time as this coin, though. My biggest hesitation here was trying to pin down a technical grade because of the absolutely awful strike quality. It seems like the consensus is 53-55-ish. I was more 50-53-ish. IMHO this is AU details (cleaned), maybe with a little bit more eye appeal because of the semi-prooflike obverse, and that's maybe enough to offset the eye appeal loss because of the distracting carbon spots. It's value is the same as any other generic low/mid AU details 1892 Barber, and it obviously isn't something anybody would slab. Thank you all for the input. It gives me an idea how to list it when I wholesale it out with my next batch of gotta-go coins. Thanks! |
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Replies: 11 / Views: 1,112 |
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Posted 04/27/2025 3:20 pm
