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Just wanted to make a quick thread about the rarity of the 1820 O-104a because the question of its value has come up to me from several different folks outside of this forum over the past several months. Collectors and dealers both need to do their due diligence when buying and selling this die marriage

The marriage in and of itself is considered very "tough" even though it was recently changed from a R4+ to a R3 designation. It always commands a premium when an attractive piece comes to market. However, the focus of my thoughts is the recent delisting of the "a" state by PCGS and the removal of diagnostics by the BHNC in the Die State Progressions of the Capped Bust Half Dollars 1807-1836 in 2022.

The R7 diagnostic criteria was a Die chip forming from the late stage of the die crack in state 104.2, which goes from below the lowest pair of leaves through 50c and to edge above upper arrow point. It was determined to possibly be some sort of PMD or other anomaly but not a result of being a later stage of the die and removed. Picture below from maibockaddict.com.

The next evolution of this discovery was to reconsider its rarity. The latest state of the die, 104.3, is characterized by the additional crack from RI to the tip of the wing. This was determined to be an R5 die state with ~30-60 existing. My Thoughts here are to encourage you to now reconsider its value. R6 and R7 die states rightfully bring strong and even astronomical premiums if the right collectors are on the hunt. They can bring hundreds or thousands of dollars more. This was the case with the 104a as an R7 die state. Coin facts shows a VF20 selling on Heritage for $8,813 and two sales of XF45 examples selling in 2019 and 2025 for $6,300 and $3,600, respectively.

It is my personal opinion that as an R5 die state, the coin should reasonably bring 20-30% more in its latest dies state (104.3) than the earlier states. My reasoning is other R5 die states typically fail to bring higher premiums unless it is an R5 die marriage. There is a lot of nuances to this topic as some die states regardless of rarity gain popularity and become very expensive. So, the value is my opinion only and people are free to pay what they see fit for a coin but be careful when buying and selling these and take my thoughts into consideration as it's not as rare as once thought.

I sent this in and here's what he came up with

Swapping:

Pop 1/0

Trading out this one:

Nice deal for both of us!

@asheland said:

@Copperindian said:
I haven’t posted here in awhile. The latest:

That one is absolutely splendid! 🤗

Reminds me of this one:

Here’s a fake one. My father purchased it in the 70’s. It’s not an Omega but the “I” in Liberty I believe is the clue. It was probably made in Lebanon.

@humanssuck said:
I appreciate everyone's feedback, I'm very much out of my area of knowledege on this. I guess we'll send it in to PCGS and see what they say.

I am 99% sure that the piece is a known counterfeit. We can probably save you the fees and the shipping costs if you reshoot the coin until you get some better pictures, and try to get closeups of the date and the word LIBERTY.

You’ve obviously time-traveled to 1839. What a coin.