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ALAN WEINBERG ON THE RAY ROUSE HALF CENT COLLECTIONAlan V. Weinberg submitted this note about an upcoming Half Cent sale. -Editor
At the Long Beach show just concluded, Bob Grellman and Chris McCawley announced (in conjunction with Ira & Larry Goldberg of Beverly Hills) the acquisition of the Ray Rouse collection of half
cents 1793-1857 for auction at the Sept 14 Long Beach coin show. The coins were on exhibit in 2 cases and available for hands-on examination at the show.Aside from the fact that each coin had an impressive pedigree including one superb 1794 C-1a ex-Brobston , original pedigree auction envelopes will be available for many of them. While the collection was no Walt Husak large cent collection with its many finest knowns and non-collectible varieties, the uniform attractiveness of the "raw" half cents on exhibit and available for fingertip examination was visually and uniformily impressive. I do not impress easily, having attended too many shows and major auctions over the past 50+ years but I found myself drooling a bit. Planchet color and delightful non-porous glossy surfaces and high but still-affordable grade seemed to be a goal consignor Ray Rouse strived for. Excellent color fliers picturing perhaps 3 dozen auction highlights were distributed at Long Beach and they alone were enough to stir the blood. A beautiful run of 1793's, an eye-opening VF 1796 NO pole, a really nice 1802 rev 1800 and a run of very attractive 1794's are just a sampling. I found myself going back several times to the two bourse cases holding the raw half cents. But here's the kicker. The coins will be sold RAW, graded by EAC standards by Bob Grellman with nary a whiff of slabs or slab grading! I love it! You'll be able to see the rims, toss the coins in the light to appreciate the surfaces, and trust in the grading ! Almost unprecedented today ! Bob Grellman will start cataloguing almost immediately and now the coins are "off the market" for examination until cataloguing is complete. Just as well. They'll need a light oiling and brushing before being put out again for examination. One dolt already left his big greasy fresh fingerprint on a 1794. Easily brushed off but you just wonder why some collectors cannot properly handle raw coins when coins aren't slabbed. Gad! This sale will be something to anticipate ...and save for. Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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