When I was a younger man I once had an idea to want to collect a set of US Capped Bust half dollars. It's a very manageable task because in low grades they aren't horribly expensive and they are very cool. Plus you get that great connection to the past holding one of these in you hand. The only problem is I tried collecting in a little higher grade which was more expensive, I quickly realized I wasn't a rich man and started into the more reasonable grades. I never did finish the collection missing some of the more difficult dates and varieties. It's also pretty much impossible to collect all the mintage varieties from different production dies. The coin today is an example of why this can be a problem.
The Capped Bust design was created by John Reich and modified by William Kneass so it could be used on the five cent, ten cent, quarter, and half dollar coins. In the half dollar the design was used from 1807 until 1839. An interesting fact about these is the dies were heavily used making many strikes look very weak almost looking circulated which can make proper grading difficult.
This coin I picked up many long years ago, but still a beautiful coin:
Pictures are mine
About this coin:
Mint: Philadelphia
Mintage: 3,075,200 (all varieties)
Composition: 89.2% silver/ 10.8% copper
Weight: 13.5 grams
Diameter: 32.5 mm
Edge: Lettered
Design: John Reich
In 1828 there were several variants produced of the half dollar. This mainly had to due to differences in the dates and letter size. Mine is a square 2 with small 8's and large letters. The pictures below from PCGS might help you see the differences.
There were also variants with curled base 2's with and a knob on the two or no knob,
These are from 1820 but show the same issue.
pictures: PCGS
This just gives you an idea how difficult it can be to collect all the different variants produced by the Philadelphia mint in just 1828. This wasn't the only year it happened so a truly complete collection with all dates and variants would be near impossible unless you are sitting on top of sacks of cash. Sadly I'm not...
I hope you found this interesting, numismatics is different from stacking because of many factors of which I've only discussed couple today. It's a very fun hobby buy can be a huge challenge finding all the coins to complete your collection. Please feel free to leave any questions or comments below and thanks for stopping by!
And please remember that collecting coins and stacking gold/silver is a great hobby but definitely not for everyone. You can lose money and you have to research before you make any purchase. Before you spend your hard earned money always do your due diligence by researching what you are buying. I am not a financial advisor and this isn't financial advice, I'm just a guy who loves coins and gold/silver stacking!
References:
PCGS
https://www.pcgs.com/prices/detail/capped-bust-half-dollar/120/most-active
Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capped_Bust
Capped Bust Half Dollar:
https://cappedbusthalfdollar.org/capped-bust-half-dollar-mintages/