1792 HALF DISME......STRANGE DAY

[WildWildBill]

P01

 

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[Bill D. (VA)]

Joey - thanks for calling me about this today and shooting me those pics, and congrats to Andy and his father for suddenly becoming the owners of a rare, valuable and historic coin. That's an incredible find that I doubt either of us will ever put in our pouch regardless of how many sites we hunt. To sum up what I told you earlier, when I contacted my friend and colonial coin expert John Kraljevich, the same one who worked with me on my Lord Baltimore sixpence, he estimated this coin might bring as much as $10K at auction based on it's relatively poor condition. That pretty much matches the current redbook value. He also mentioned that as of today only about 150 are known to exist out of the original 1500 minted. If this coin had been in much better shape, EF for example, it might fetch as much as $100K. Regardless, it must have been an incredible rush to realize they were now the owners of a legit half disme. It definitely ramped up my motivation for getting back out in the fall. Thanks for posting.

 

[joeyfresh]

Damn damn damn!!!!!!!! I'm no coin expert but I will say this....when you start dealing with coins of this magnitude it's not always about condition. It's about having the right 2 collectors with deep pockets and no half disme in their collection to square off. I mean come on now....how many people on this earth own a half Disme? If the right person wants it they will pay a stupid amount of money for it.
I planned on not going out tomorrow then you sent that picture. Thanks a lot bro. Kim's gonna be pissed at you lol

Take her with you!! Not that you need any luck but she may be all you need to find a NE shilling

 

[port ewen ace]

just added that to my list at #1. now a plain old half dime seems like a piece of junk compared to that AMAZING piece of metal. you may have just made some new friends at the IRS

 

[joeyfresh]

Joey - thanks for calling me about this today and shooting me those pics, and congrats to Andy and his father for suddenly becoming the owners of a rare, valuable and historic coin. That's an incredible find that I doubt either of us will ever put in our pouch regardless of how many sites we hunt. To sum up what I told you earlier, when I contacted my friend and colonial coin expert John Kraljevich, the same one who worked with me on my Lord Baltimore sixpence, he estimated this coin might bring as much as $10K at auction based on it's relatively poor condition. That pretty much matches the current redbook value. He also mentioned that as of today only about 150 are known to exist out of the original 1500 minted. If this coin had been in much better shape, EF for example, it might fetch as much as $100K. Regardless, it must have been an incredible rush to realize they were now the owners of a legit half disme. It definitely ramped up my motivation for getting back out in the fall. Thanks for posting.

Don't worry Bill, you'll find one [emoji1]

Even though I didn't find either one, I can honestly say that I've done what many haven't and that's held two of the rarest coins out there. That being said, when's it going to be my turn [emoji22]

 

[1afox]

Joey, i was just talking with my dad. One of the guys he used to hunt with is going to bring his silver over to the house and drop it off for you to look at. You never know what might be in there. I brought all of the old coins over to the house tonight to go through and see what might be in there. Figured I could put them in a case instead of a cup. The stuff you saw today pales in comparison to some of the collections of the guys we used to hunt with back in the 80's. several of those guys had been digging since the late 60's. Back then the "state of the art machine" was a double eagle. I remember one of them with a plywood coil(and tubes). The ordinance buttons you saw today were found with a double eagle. The old man found the boots he was telling you about and tossed them aside. There was another father hunting the area with his daughter who was about my age at the time and she picked up the boots an took them to the creek and washed them out. That's when the foot bones came floating out. The boots were in such good shape that they did not appear to be period. That's been 35 years ago and I can still remember it like it was today. I have an old fisher that predates the Nautilus. Have to show you that some time. How times have changed. I remember dumping your pouch several times a day because it got to heavy. The good thing about the new machines is you can go back to the same spot and pull the small silver, brass and buttons out of iron. My first real machine (after a Heathkit) was a 5 button Nautilus that you hunted in all metal and then flipped a switch on the box to check the target with discrimination. I found a lot of relics with that machine and wish I still had it for sentimental reasons. BTW I'll buy you dinner.

 

[digger dad]

WOW !! What an awesome piece of history !! I had never heard of this coin or all the folklore that surrounds it . Thanks for the history lesson ..

 

[BigWaveDave]

Shame on the Tnet members who are missing this one...this is great!

 

[digger dad]

WOW !! What an awesome piece of history !! I had never heard of this coin or all the folklore that surrounds it . Thanks for the history lesson ..

 

[joeyfresh]

Joey, i was just talking with my dad. One of the guys he used to hunt with is going to bring his silver over to the house and drop it off for you to look at. You never know what might be in there. I brought all of the old coins over to the house tonight to go through and see what might be in there. Figured I could put them in a case instead of a cup. The stuff you saw today pales in comparison to some of the collections of the guys we used to hunt with back in the 80's. several of those guys had been digging since the late 60's. Back then the "state of the art machine" was a double eagle. I remember one of them with a plywood coil(and tubes). The ordinance buttons you saw today were found with a double eagle. The old man found the boots he was telling you about and tossed them aside. There was another father hunting the area with his daughter who was about my age at the time and she picked up the boots an took them to the creek and washed them out. That's when the foot bones came floating out. The boots were in such good shape that they did not appear to be period. That's been 35 years ago and I can still remember it like it was today. I have an old fisher that predates the Nautilus. Have to show you that some time. How times have changed. I remember dumping your pouch several times a day because it got to heavy. The good thing about the new machines is you can go back to the same spot and pull the small silver, brass and buttons out of iron. My first real machine (after a Heathkit) was a 5 button Nautilus that you hunted in all metal and then flipped a switch on the box to check the target with discrimination. I found a lot of relics with that machine and wish I still had it for sentimental reasons. BTW I'll buy you dinner.

It would be an honor to see other's collections as it was to see your dads collection. You couldn't see me in the backseat but I was glued to every word your dad was saying while he was "driving". It's always fascinating to hear stories from the ol' timers because those stories are all we're left with when the guys like your dad are gone. You're lucky to have a cool dad like that to share those experiences with.

 

[1afox]

Joey, Tell ya what... I'll try to get us a chance to see the collection that my friend that hunted the Berkeley has. He is in his 90's now and I will see if I can get us in to look at it. He is one of the original "relic hunters".

 

[gordonquixote]

Wow....just wow. I was going to guess $15k-$20k at auction

The history behind those coins is insane.

 

[huntsman53]

I just saw this Thread and am amazed at such an awesome coin. It is great of you Joey for going through your friends dad's coins, finding such a rarity in amongst the other coins, letting them both know what a rare coin his dad had found and then you both sharing the story and pics with us here on Treasure Net! Although the coin is rough and it is nearly impossible to get PCGS or ANACS to certify and grade a dug and damaged coin, I would bet that they will certify and grade this coin due to it's rarity. If they decide to go that route, I would advise to not only have the coin certified and graded but also consider having one of the top two grading companies conserve the coin as well. Such a rare and historic coin deserves to be treated very special and give it the Premium Spa Treatment per see! I believe that the coin teeters between a Good-06 and a Very Good-08 but would not be surprised at all to see PCGS or NGC give the coin a bump in grade to a Very Good-10 or even possibly a Fine-12 due it's extreme rarity! That being said, the coin is likely worth in the $25,000 to $40,000 but due to it's rarity, I would not be surprised if it fetched a price between $50,000 and $60,000 and especially if the conservation does the coin justice. Also, at the beginning of the Thread, there was reference to a Thread stating that there are 200 to 250 known to exist at the time of the Thread Post but PCGS' Price Guide states that there are under 100 known.

Bust Half Dime (1792) Value - PCGS Price Guide


Frank

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

After the good deed Joey did by bringing this rare and valuable coin to the attention of the finder and his son, I think this post is worthy of honorable mention. Very cool story too.

 

[Iron Patch]

Imagine what the heck is out there sitting in people's houses that they don't know about!

The main thing that would be missed is the super rare varieties of some coins. I bought a nice CT copper several years back and it was about a $250 coin and the only thing I could see that was different than the much rarer other variety (a $15,000 coin) was a 2mm difference in the placement of the stop after the letters. Even dug coins are worth a pile of cash if they are rare enough, but I'm sure many have never looked into ID'ing them.

 

[joeyfresh]

I just saw this Thread and am amazed at such an awesome coin. It is great of you Joey for going through your friends dad's coins, finding such a rarity in amongst the other coins, letting them both know what a rare coin his dad had found and then you both sharing the story and pics with us here on Treasure Net! Although the coin is rough and it is nearly impossible to get PCGS or ANACS to certify and grade a dug and damaged coin, I would bet that they will certify and grade this coin due to it's rarity. If they decide to go that route, I would advise to not only have the coin certified and graded but also consider having one of the top two grading companies conserve the coin as well. Such a rare and historic coin deserves to be treated very special and give it the Premium Spa Treatment per see! I believe that the coin teeters between a Good-06 and a Very Good-08 but would not be surprised at all to see PCGS or NGC give the coin a bump in grade to a Very Good-10 or even possibly a Fine-12 due it's extreme rarity! That being said, the coin is likely worth in the $25,000 to $40,000 but due to it's rarity, I would not be surprised if it fetched a price between $50,000 and $60,000 and especially if the conservation does the coin justice. Also, at the beginning of the Thread, there was reference to a Thread stating that there are 200 to 250 known to exist at the time of the Thread Post but PCGS' Price Guide states that there are under 100 known.

Bust Half Dime (1792) Value - PCGS Price Guide


Frank

Thank you for the reply Frank. Being that the coin is one of very few known, I was nervous that if the owner of the coin sent it in to be graded that it would forever be recorded as "dug" or "environmentally damaged". Is there the option to redact the grading from record if the owner requests so?

 

[Iron Patch]

Thank you for the reply Frank. Being that the coin is one of very few known, I was nervous that if the owner of the coin sent it in to be graded that it would forever be recorded as "dug" or "environmentally damaged". Is there the option to redact the grading from record if the owner requests so?

There's several reasons why there's no reason to be concerned. The first is, it is what it is, and if it goes through an auction house they are going to authenticate it, and grade it, so there's really no getting away from that... and given the rarity there's no reason not to. On top of that the coin has some nice eye appeal with the dark toning, and being marked cleaned or environmentally damaged would not have near the same effect if it was polished shiny, or something like eaten from salt water. There's not a lot of these that come up and at the end of the day a collector would still like one that's nice to look at, and despite this one likely getting a low net grade, it still looks nice. My only concerned would be getting it to the proper location, and I would personally hand deliver it to be 100% certain it arrives safely. This is a coin there is no problem with following the process on, and it makes the most sense anyway.

 

[joeyfresh]

There's several reasons why there's no reason to be concerned. The first is, it is what it is, and if it goes through an auction house they are going to authenticate it, and grade it, so there's really no getting away from that... and given the rarity there's no reason not to. On top of that the coin has some nice eye appeal with the dark toning, and being marked cleaned or environmentally damaged would not have near the same effect if it was polished shiny, or something like eaten from salt water. There's not a lot of these that come up and at the end of the day a collector would still like that that's nice to look at, and despite this one likely getting a low net grade, it still looks nice. My only concerned would be getting it to the proper location, and I would personally hand deliver it to be 100% certain it arrives safely. This is a coin there is no problem with following the process on, and it makes the most sense anyway.

Great rationale IP. I think the owner agrees to not mail the coin as well. PCGS is up in Baltimore this week and it may be worth the drive to hand deliver it.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

There's several reasons why there's no reason to be concerned. The first is, it is what it is, and if it goes through an auction house they are going to authenticate it, and grade it, so there's really no getting away from that... and given the rarity there's no reason not to. On top of that the coin has some nice eye appeal with the dark toning, and being marked cleaned or environmentally damaged would not have near the same effect if it was polished shiny, or something like eaten from salt water. There's not a lot of these that come up and at the end of the day a collector would still like that that's nice to look at, and despite this one likely getting a low net grade, it still looks nice. My only concerned would be getting it to the proper location, and I would personally hand deliver it to be 100% certain it arrives safely. This is a coin there is no problem with following the process on, and it makes the most sense anyway.

I wouldn't worry about sending this off in the mail. Many rare coins are mailed each year to the grading and authentication services without incident. I was hesitant with my Lord Baltimore 2 years ago, but my coin expert friend assured me it was not a problem as he's sent hundreds of coins more valuable than this one in the mail, and has never had a problem. So please don't let that stop you.

 

[joeyfresh]

I wouldn't worry about sending this off in the mail. Many rare coins are mailed each year to the grading and authentication services without incident. I was hesitant with my Lord Baltimore 2 years ago, but my coin expert friend assured me it was not a problem as he's sent hundreds of coins more valuable than this one in the mail, and has never had a problem. So please don't let that stop you.

The coin has become Andy's new baby so he has to be convinced. Plus I think it would cool to see a coin show!! You up for a road trip in November?