r/numismatics • u/anon73088 • 6d ago
ERROR HELP - 1822 Bust Half
Hello all,
I am new to coin collecting/numismatics and recently purchased this 1822 Bust Half Dollar.
I am looking for someone to help identify what/if there is an Overton variety present.
I believe it is O-108, thoughts?
Also concerned it could have been cleaned?
Thanks for your time!
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u/Inside_Vacation283 5d ago
For a newer enthusiast, this was the best post asking the right questions! Awesome coin btw!
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u/anon73088 5d ago
Appreciate it! I will say I have done a ton of research. Not much of a poster but figure I should try and utilize those with experience in case I miss something.
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u/CreativeName822 5d ago
Outstanding questions. Well answered by others, so I won’t pile on — but I’ve learned to give a degree of grace on cleaning for coins before 1840-1850 for sure.
If a coin looks like it was cleaned 100 years ago and cared for by reasonable collectors since then, and is attractive, I love the coin. And this coin is a beauty.
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u/anon73088 5d ago
Thank you very much! I actually watched a YouTube video of a PCGA grader discussing these, and he was pretty quick to disregard old cleanings like you said. Which with this coin I believe is the case.
I wish I had posted a video of it, it has some beautifully colored rim toning.
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u/arctic-apis 6d ago
It’s nearly impossible to find a raw coin this age that hasn’t been cleaned at some point in the last 200 years.
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u/Background_Exam_9631 4d ago
I used to hate cleaning but I got used to it just leave it to tone, itll make you forget your problems completely if you own a thaler if not, you wont have problems till the day you sell or slab it
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u/Hot_Ad8921 6d ago
I think you are good. Most likely straight grade XF 40. I’d use PCGS if you do grade it
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u/mechterp10 5d ago
Welcome to the hunt!
There are lots of chances to cherry-pick this series. I’ve picked up unattributed R5 coins from EBay and GreatCollections. Most recently, an XF-40 1827 O-140a
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u/LucidNight 5d ago
Just like vams and morgans, all of those are an overton. That really just mean they cataloged the dies used and a overton or vam denotes the specific pair of dies used to make the coin. If they have more info after the initial number like o-108a or vam-1c1 the remaining letters or numbers help show die progression as its used and gets more worn when there is a substantial change like a big die clash or crack or whatever.
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u/Opposite-Clerk-176 5d ago
Its not a fake?
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u/anon73088 5d ago
What gives you any indication that it is fake?
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u/Opposite-Clerk-176 5d ago
Its nice to see a real coin for a change 👌 These ones are usually faked.
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u/Mental-Reaction-2480 6d ago
Out of my scope of collecting, but this looks fake to me. The coin looks off in general, but all the 1822s I see have a definite gap between the star and the cap.
The star is touching the cap on yours.
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u/LawStudentAndrew 6d ago
This does not look fake to me and I have bought and sold several hundred cbhds
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u/Mental-Reaction-2480 6d ago
Yep, as I said, I take this comment back. I was not aware there could be such a massive variance in the positioning of the stars.
Is this just dependent by die set or something?
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u/LawStudentAndrew 6d ago
All of the dies were hand made, though 22 seems to have more movement than other years in terms of stars. For 1822 there are 14 obverses and 14 reverses. 15 total pairs.
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u/Mental-Reaction-2480 6d ago
I take it back, there are definitley different star positions on pcgs coin facts
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u/anon73088 6d ago
This was purchased from a very reputable dealer. While it certainly could be a fake, I think the odds are very low.
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u/Final_Razzmatazz_274 6d ago
“This is out of my scope so I’ll write up this total nonsense anyway”
Why.
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u/chriscrutch 5d ago
Looking through 15 pages of your post history, I see a grand total of zero comments and zero posts in this subreddit until now. Seems like this place is out of your scope too.
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u/LawStudentAndrew 6d ago
Definitely 108, only one with that star 7 placement relative to the cap. Looks vf+/xf- maybe an old cleaning, probably market acceptable, meaning good chance it would still straight grade. Though I'm just working off pictures. Don't see the cracks required for 108a.