Grading Opinions about a few US Pennies (1800's) - 1853 JB Hyde Merchant Calendar Coin - Hard Times Token HT-5

I recently inherited some coins that had never been properly cataloged or stored, so naturally that is my first goal with some of these. Most of it is coins collected from around the world on a family member's travels throughout the 50's-90's but there were about 30 from the 1800's that caught my eye. I've been able to identify most of them except for the mint date on a few Japanese ones, although I know there is a lot that I don't even know to look for.

I don't plan on selling any even if they're worth anything (until I know what I'm doing maybe) but I would like to find out more about the coins themselves if anyone has any input! I plan on bringing them to a dealer before having some of them professionally graded, but I'm all for hearing the opinions of you guys.

Here are a few.

1801 1 Cent "Draped Bust Cent"


1803 1 Cent "Draped Bust Cent"


1817 1 Cent "Liberty Head / Matron Head" (Type 1)


1834 Hard Times Token - Andrew Jackson for President HT-5


1850 ½ Cent "Braided Hair - Half Cent"


1851 ½ Cent "Braided Hair - Half Cent"


1851 1 Cent "Liberty Head/Braided Hair Cent"


1853 Merchant Calendar Coin - J.B. Hyde

I would suggest not to get them graded just because of the low grades I think the pennies would get. I don’t think they would be worth in it.

Welcome to Numista and congratulations on your inheritance. In my eyes they are all beautiful and they are a irreplaceable part of American history. It is always better to grade with coin in hand but generally speaking based on the photos I see the earliest ones grading at G4 -G8 (01 and 03), the 17 could possibly grade at VG. Naturally, the older they are the harder it is to find them in better condition so don't be discouraged. I would love to own all of them. The 50 and 51 1/2 cent at F or possibly VF20 or 30. While the 51 1 cent I see at F -VF. As far as getting them professionally graded, it is a judgement call as grading can get quite expensive and may or may not be worth the expense. The token and calendar I will reserve judgement on as I know nothing about them. Here are some tools that may help you. Good luck.https://www.pcgs.com/prices/ https://www.pcgs.com/photograde/

Quote: "harryg"​Welcome to Numista and congratulations on your inheritance. In my eyes they are all beautiful and they are a irreplaceable part of American history. It is always better to grade with coin in hand but generally speaking based on the photos I see the earliest ones grading at G4 -G8 (01 and 03), the 17 could possibly grade at VG. Naturally, the older they are the harder it is to find them in better condition so don't be discouraged. I would love to own all of them. The 50 and 51 1/2 cent at F or possibly VF20 or 30. While the 51 1 cent I see at F -VF. As far as getting them professionally graded, it is a judgement call as grading can get quite expensive and may not be worth it. The token and calendar I will reserve judgement on as I know nothing about them. Here are some tools that may help you. Good luck.https://www.pcgs.com/prices/ https://www.pcgs.com/photograde/

​Thank you I appreciate it! Well that's about in line with what my guesses were, so I must be learning. I guess I am new but I've put in probably 20 hours of research on the subject of collecting this week so I'm familiar with a lot of the processes and such now. There's some other pretty cool ones too, I plan on having a few of them graded but more for sentimental reasons though so at least I know I'll be taking the hit and it's not just wishful thinking. Id say that the first few pennies are in some of the worst condition of the lot and those half cents are of the better. I agree though, something about an object that's 200 years old and was used by every day people is so cool to me.

Nice to know people here are civil I was half expecting the typical "why would you waste money grading those" comments. PS the token and calendar were among (if not the) rarest that I received, pretty cool reading about them!

please read this:
https://en.numista.com/numisdoc/how-to-grade-my-coin-58.html

They all appear to have post mint damage of some sort. None are rare varieties. They would probably come back as cleaned/environmental damage. A couple MIGHT straight grade as they are borderline. The calendar coin would not grade due to the graffiti,

Welcome to the forums!

Cheers

Bob

I will try and grade these coins just based on wear state alone, dis regarding any damage or other defects.

1801 - AG 3(Missing full rim and some letters worn - damaged
1803 - Good4, rim knocks
1817 - VG8 - Honest coin, full rim letters and liberty, some detail on wreath
1834 Hard Times - VF25 -30, Weak Strike, otherwise fairly good
1850 - VF20/25 nice coin, light wear on all parts, no lustre but sharp detail
1851 - aEF 38/EF40, A very nice coin, sharp detail and some lustre (Your best coin)
1851 (2nd coins) - aVF18 Almost VF but a bit dull, still a collectable coin.
1853 Calendar - gVF - Weak strike, and interesting piece

Hope this helps and I agree getting professional garding is expensive, damaged coins and defaced ones, will come back with snide remarks like "XF State/ Cleaned" etc. Also professional grading costs lots and realistically your coins are all copper or brass and despite their age are worth in the low to mid 2 figures each. Your 1851 coin is nice, but 1851 was a common year. 1801/03 are more desirable dates, but your coins are very worn.

If you had silver or gold coins in VF or better state from the pre 1878 ($1) and pre 1892 (50c down) I would reccommend it.

I use the Whitman photgrade book for American coins which shows most types of each value from Half Cents through to Double Eagles in every major condition from AG3 through to AU 50. These are cheap and have large photos of coins of each condition level

AG3, G4, VG8, F12, VF20, XF/EF 40 and AU50. For really early coins like Flowing hair coppers and chain cents they show Fr2 as well.