1849 "O" half dime! Rated "rarity 7.0" on PCGS!

ashleysflyr · Jun 29, 2011

1849 "O" half dime! Rated "rarity 7.0" on PCGS!

Been detecting a church here is Missouri built in 1870's. Had my eye on it for about 3 years, but the military has kept me too busy 'til now! I've hunted it for about 6 hours over 2 days (and the ground is QUIET! hardly ANY trash!) and here are the best finds so far...

The triangle with a star in the middle was identified in "what is it" as a horse blanket ornament which could be worth some money...
you can see some rivets, some coins, an old pocket knife, a gold plated pendant,

and a few other things...
a token...

Found this 1901 Barber dime...

and this 1926 Buff...

both by the outhouse about 3 feet from eachother and also near the horse blanket ornament and pocket knife.

Also found this weird plated horse ornament with two horse heads (look closely) about the size of a half dollar...

Found this 1906 IH penny about 10 feet in front of the door near the rock drivethrogh...

Also found a few rosies, all silver (not pictured), but, after talking with my father-in-law (who grew up miles from here) I found out that they used to have picnics here long before he went to the church. That promted me to detect further from the church where I would have a picnic if I were a member of the church years ago...That's when it happened... I got a penny/dime signal on my MXT. It was faint, but a solid +80 on the VDI and pinpointed at 7 inches. About 6 inches down I found this...

1849 O, my oldest coin to date!
I looked it up on PCGS and it has a rarity of 7.0 which means only 191-200 estimated to have survived!!!
There is a section of about 100X100 feet of prime "picnic" area that is over grown, but will be mowed SOON! Thanks for lookin'!

~Tom

rob.s · Jun 29, 2011

Re: 1849 "O" half dime! Rated "rarety 7.0" on PCGS!

Some great finds and thank you for your service!!

wwwtimmcp · Jun 29, 2011

Re: 1849 "O" half dime! Rated "rarety 7.0" on PCGS!

very cool finds and thank you for sharing.

stagger · Jun 29, 2011

Re: 1849 "O" half dime! Rated "rarety 7.0" on PCGS!

Very nice finds...especially the seated. Congrats!!

Wallhangers · Jun 29, 2011

Re: 1849 "O" half dime! Rated "rarety 7.0" on PCGS!

Very nice, that dime is getting back there in years for Missouri. Good luck on your follow-up after they mow.

birdman · Jun 29, 2011

Re: 1849 "O" half dime! Rated "rarety 7.0" on PCGS!

Cut that grass and post the goodies!! Awesome dime!

mfitzy111 · Jun 29, 2011

Re: 1849 "O" half dime! Rated "rarety 7.0" on PCGS!

wow great finds! congrats on that rare half dime!!!!!

prolab69 · Jun 29, 2011

Re: 1849 "O" half dime! Rated "rarety 7.0" on PCGS!

Yeah id hate to have a quiet ground like that :laughing9:

ModernMiner · Jun 29, 2011

Re: 1849 "O" half dime! Rated "rarety 7.0" on PCGS!

Excellent hunt AF. :hello2:

Congrats on beautiful rare half dime. Great find. :thumbsup:

A lot of nice recoveries there. Glad to see you got out again.
-Doug-

rottonr · Jun 29, 2011

Re: 1849 "O" half dime! Rated "rarety 7.0" on PCGS!

Holy moly that a great 1/2 dime. What is the value of the beautiful coin?

oldmaps · Jun 29, 2011

Re: 1849 "O" half dime! Rated "rarety 7.0" on PCGS!

congrats on the half dime , thats a great coin. A seated coin is high on my hunting list.
Thanks for your service.

h.h.

Briz06 · Jun 29, 2011

Re: 1849 "O" half dime! Rated "rarety 7.0" on PCGS!

very Nice Finds, especially the Half-Dime... And Thanks for Serving! ...Nice shot of you and the Barrett in your Profile Pic, Im going out tommorow to try a friend of Mines..

ddjames · Jun 29, 2011

Re: 1849 "O" half dime! Rated "rarety 7.0" on PCGS!

Those are some great finds. I like the research you have done, and the way you think through your site area. Paid off nicely!! Congrats

rhedden · Jun 29, 2011

Re: 1849 "O" half dime! Rated "rarety 7.0" on PCGS!

Wow, those are great finds. Congrats!

As a Liberty Seated half dime enthusiast who has completed the collection, I feel compelled to make some comments about the 1849-o. While it is a better date, it is readily available in lower grades, and I feel that the PCGS estimate for the number of surviving coins is too low. There are presently 5 of them for sale just on eBay, for example. A search of two dealers' websites turned up 6 more examples for sale. I would estimate the surviving number of 1849-o half dimes at more than 1,000 pieces. It becomes a rare date only in AU or better with a full strike. It's still a heck of a nice detector find, and hopefully it will lead to others. Now go get that 1849-o quarter you left there!

jewelerguy · Jun 29, 2011

Re: 1849 "O" half dime! Rated "rarity 7.0" on PCGS!

great find on the dime. my guess is that the horse thing is maybe an old watch fob with mower damage

ashleysflyr · Jun 29, 2011

Re: 1849 "O" half dime! Rated "rarety 7.0" on PCGS!

rhedden said:
As a Liberty Seated half dime enthusiast who has completed the collection, I feel compelled to make some comments about the 1849-o. While it is a better date, it is readily available in lower grades, and I feel that the PCGS estimate for the number of surviving coins is too low. There are presently 5 of them for sale just on eBay, for example. A search of two dealers' websites turned up 6 more examples for sale. I would estimate the surviving number of 1849-o half dimes at more than 1,000 pieces. It becomes a rare date only in AU or better with a full strike.

Thank you all for your comments, and I enjoy serving (and enjoy the .50 Briz 06, she's a blast!). I can't wait to get back out there after it's been cut!

-rhedden, I am glad that you have completed the collection. That has to be a lot of work to round them all up...

You know, I am new to this hobby, that's why I went to PCGS (Professional Coin Grading Service) to get the info on it. The info that they gave was not for AUob, it was for "ALL" meaning all grades (I am certain you know what all means, just explaining it to the newbies like me).

They say "The figures for the survival estimates from which the Coin Facts Rarity Scale™ ratings are derived represent the consensus opinion of the Coin Facts Board of Experts. Coin Facts maintains an internal data base of survival estimates for all United States coins. Members of the Coin Facts Board of Experts (which include many of the top rare coin experts of all-time) list their estimates of survival rates in this data base. The figures used in the PCGS Rare Coin Market Report represent the average of the experts’ opinions. "

Maybe the fact that you found 11 (13 including yours and mine) after searching means that I didn't get the "top rare coin experts of all-time" 's opinion... Must have just been an "average rare coin expert of all-time." I gotta stop trusting the experts. Maybe you should go work for them.

Oh well, I'm still excited! Thanks for setting the newbie numismatist straight! Happy hunting!

~Tom

allen · Jun 29, 2011

Re: 1849 "O" half dime! Rated "rarity 7.0" on PCGS!

you deserve these great looking finds for helping protect our country !!

Cool Hand Fluke · Jun 29, 2011

Re: 1849 "O" half dime! Rated "rarity 7.0" on PCGS!

Really, really kool. Thanks for sharing! :icon_thumleft:

TommNJ · Jun 29, 2011

Re: 1849 "O" half dime! Rated "rarity 7.0" on PCGS!

Congrats on the nice half dime, barber dime and other nice finds, :icon_thumright:

!

TommNJ

rhedden · Jul 1, 2011

Re: 1849 "O" half dime! Rated "rarity 7.0" on PCGS!

I submit coins to PCGS for grading periodically (not dug ones, of course), but I don't trust their relatively newly released rarity ratings. They are based somewhat on the number of coins submitted to the grading service, I think. People won't submit low grade examples of half dimes like 1842-o, 1844-o, or 1849-o because they aren't expensive enough to justify the $35 to $40 submission cost. All of these early O-mint half dimes are rare in high grade, however, so PCGS has barely graded any of them. I think they overestimate the rarity of these "condition rarities" for that reason. I have corresponded a lot with a certain person from NH known as "Mr. Half Dime", who probably has the most complete collection of Liberty Seated half dimes in existence. My discussions with him and other collectors of the series form the basis for my opinions on rarity. The toughest dates to find in "any condition" with a metal detector or otherwise are 1865-p, 1864-p, 1867-p, 1866-p, and 1853-O, No Arrows. (excluding 1870-s, 1 known).

By the way, I did not complete my collection of these tiny coins with a detector. That would be a monumental accomplishment. I bought them all from private collections and to some extent from dealers. In fact, I've never dug a single one of them with my machine, never mind a better date like 1849-o. You'd think people would have lost half dimes and 3-cent silvers all over the place due to their size, but they don't turn up that often. When they are found, they are usually the very common 1853 Arrows issue. It's great that you were able to dig one of the less common ones!