The 1793 Facing Left, Half Cent is the smallest denomination of any US Coinage series, but that isn’t the only interesting fact about the Half Cent denomination. It’s actually a bit of a mystery and debate, on the actual designer, of the coin itself. In addition, there were many factors that almost derailed the first Half Cent, and it’s a wonder we even have the coin to talk about and collect.

It all started when then President, George Washington and Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, diligently sought after talented European engravers. One in particular, Pierre Droz, a Swiss artist. However, they failed in this endeavor.

The matter was finally settled when an artist named Joseph Wright, from New Jersey, became the “unofficial” Mint Engraver in 1792. It was a short lived post as Wright died of Yellow Fever, less than a year into his new post, in late 1793. The Yellow Fever epidemic struck Philadelphia hard and prompted, all who could, to leave the city and caused a shut-down of mint operations for a time.

During this short tenure, sources give Wright only partial credit, along side Robert Birch, for a single creation, the 1792 Half Disme design (pronounced deem). It’s obvious that the facing left and flowing hair qualities of the 1792 Half Disme are the only similarities between it and the 1793 Flowing Hair Half Cent.

However, he must have worked, at least jointly, on the 1792 Disme during this time frame. Which is near an exact duplicate of the 1793 Half Cent portrait, minus the Pythagorean Cap on a pole. So who came up with the 1793 Liberty Bust, design? Was it the man responsible for the 1792 Disme Pattern?

We can, with certainty, eliminate Robert (Bob) Birch since all of his Proposed Coinages mirrors the same 1792 Half Disme Bust Design more than the 1793 Half Cent Bust. Robert Scot replaced Wright and was the first official Chief Engraver in November 1793, but he is not responsible for the 1793 Half Cent, Facing Left, Flowing Hair Liberty, Cap Pole design either.

Most experts give Henry Voight, the Chief Coiner, the credit for the obverse and reverse designs with no mention of Scot, Wright or Birch. I question the basis for this claim. It’s also known that Adam Eckfeldt, Voight’s assistant Coiner, might have had a hand in the design of the 1793 Half Cent, and some sources even give him credit for the 1792 Disme.

Other sources claim Wright designed the dies for the Half Cent obverse and Voight the reverse. So, it’s obvious that Wright and Voight worked in unison on the Flowing Liberty, Facing Left, Half Cent. However, Voight designed the 1793 Flowing Hair Large Cent and this portrait of Liberty is not as well executed as the Half Cent portrait in question.

Both, Large Cent and Half Cent Flowing Hair coins are similar in design concept but they’re much different renditions of a final product. So I still feel it’s a stretch to give Voight all the credit, and if we do, then it should be listed as a group or tandem creation, and maybe include Eckfeldt, as well? I personally believe it would be an injustice to credit any single person for this design, and I will tell you why. Read the rest

CoinHELP! has expanded and updated their Indian Head Cent Price Guide. The price guide includes business strike grades from good through MS65 and proof values for PR63 and PR65, plus all major varieties and types.

The values listed, in this Indian Head Cent value chart, were compiled and averaged from online auction’s final value sales and other third party price guides.

Also, raw and coins graded by PCGS, ANACS, NGC, were included in our formula to achieve the average value for each date, mint, variety and type.

To view the latest Indian Head Cent Price Guide click here

Related Links: How to grade Indian Head Cents, Indian Head Cent images, facts, specifications, Indian Head Cent Patterns

 

Not interested in Indian Head Cent values? Here’s our list of price guides for all US Coins U.S. Coin Price Guides 

 

Some of already you know, whiles others don’t, but it’s a fact that the Presidential Dollar Program is a bust. I liked the idea and still do, but it’s costing tax payers a lot of money. It’s not a good time, for any government program, to be considered an obvious loss of money during an era of spending cuts as we’re are enduring presently.

I wonder what decision Congress will make on this matter? Will they just cut the mintage of each coin? Will they cease the Presidential Golden Dollar Program forever? Or will they suspend it, for a later time, until it’s more economical to continue production?

Watch this video and you will see a need for swift action. Click the title of this article to view entire article and watch video.

I would like to introduce are updated and newly released 24 hr. spots charts for all precious metals and base metals. The charts include live feeds of ALL metals and this includes: Gold, Silver, Platinum, Palladium, Copper, Nickel, Zinc, Aluminum and Lead. All on one page, so it’s one click away if you bookmark the page or save it in your favorites.

It’s updated each time you refresh your browser window and when the market is open in the United States. If the market continues at this pace, we will see nickel gaining on silver and copper not far behind.

Currently, copper is the next most desirable metal since it’s readily found in U.S. cents dated 82′ and earlier, even though nickel is more valuable, it’s not found in great quantities as part of US Coinage planchets.

Note: Copper cents get all the press when it comes to their copper content, but many bullion and coin collectors, don’t realize that clad Eisenhower Dollars contain more copper than cents. In fact, Eisenhower Dollars contain more copper than any U.S. Mint coin every minted.   Of course, the best deal is 95% copper cents because they are worth 2 and half times face, and Eisenhower dollars have only 22 cent worth of silver but are $1. (August 21, 2011)

ACCA (Asian Coin Certification Authority) appears to be on the forefront of a “new” computer technology (introduced in 2009)  for authenticating and grading Asian Coins. ACCA operates out of Taiwan and is considered reputable in authenticating and grading Asian Coins.

This technology is being referred to as “Artificial neural network approach to authentication of coins by vision-based minimization”, and was first reported by SpringerLink. The development, research and publication of this technology is credited to Jang-Ping Wang, Yi-Cih Jheng, Guo-Ming Huang and Jen-Hsien Chien

Of which, Jen-Hsien Chien, formerly Professional Technician of London Jewelry,  was promoted to the President of Asian Coin Certification Authority (aka 2009),  (sample image of their holder above). This technology will hopefully bring in an era of more consistent and trustworthy methods of authenticating Asian coins, and hopefully for US Coin Grading and Authentication, in which the present leaders in the U.S. now are *PCGS, *NGC (ANA), *ANACS and *ICG respectively.

Considering the Reference’s mention of Kenneth, B., Abe, K.: The Official American Numismatic Association Grading Standards for United States Coins. American Numismatic Association (2006),  applications of  the Artificial neural network approach to authentication of coins by vision-based minimization, just might soon be on the way. This might be stretch on my part, considering the reluctance for such technology being used in authenticating and grading U.S. Coins, but it’s my opinion that its use is long over-due. Read original publication of reference click here

 In 1991, Compugrade was introduced to the public, but within a fews months, they closed their doors to the public. A few submissions went through but the technology and the Numismatic Community wasn’t ready yet. It’s been a long time since any serious attempts have been made in grading or authenticating coins using computer technology.

In 1991, most people didn’t trust computers and didn’t know much, if anything, about them, but that has changed dramatically over the last few years; and Smart Phones have  helped bolster our trust in technology that gives us our powerful computers.

Applications for Smart Phones have broke the mold in what a little hand held computer can do. Touch screens, bar code scanners, navigation, paying bills, directions, calculations, Internet searches, even telling the phone what to do, and much, much more can be accomplished via a computer that fits inside your hand.

It’s a just a fact that technology has advanced, at super speed, since 1991 so that even one single smart phone has many more abilities than any technology Compugrade had at it’s disposal. I hear people say the human factor can’t be eliminated by in grading of coins, besides “How can a computer determine eye appeal?”.

Ah, but computers can or eventually will be able to scan coins with great eye appeal (toned or white), then be able to identify this eye appeal in other coins they scan in the future, and will be able to accomplish much more than some can even realize.

PCGS have come the closest to using this technology for grading and authenticating coins, but only use it in their Secure Plus Program, that scans and saves a coin’s various markers, so it can be identified if it ever returns to PCGS, for reholder, regrade or even a raw submission, after being cracked out of its original holder by a thief, if such would happen.

If you have more information you would like to share on this subject send inquiries to help@coinauctionshelp.com

*PCGS (Professional Coin Grading Service, NGC (Numismatic Guarantee Corporation [ANA's official grading/authentication service]), ANACS (American Numismatic Association Certification Service), ICG (Independent Coin Grading Service).

 More information on TPGS (Third Party Coin Grading Services)