Experts of Liberty Seated Half Dollar Re: 1840 (O) Reverse of 1838

LJenkins11

Reading up on the 1840 (O) Reverse of 1838 Liberty Seated Half Dollar and I all I read is that the two die pairings, WB-4 and WB-12, were struck using unused 1839 reverse dies at the New Orleans Branch Mint, not 1838. Is there any other documentation I should reference? Why are these not labeled as 1840 (O) Reverse of 1839 instead? If this is a known 1839-O die, which Capped Bust Half Dollar Overton was used? What am I missing?

I have referenced
William Bugerts "A Register of Liberty Seated Half Dollar Varieties Volume III New Orleans Branch Mint 1840-O to 1853-O NA"

PCGS Coinfacts.

My 1840 (O) WB-12 indicated by the 1 in the date as re-punched and the lower arrow feathers on the reverse are very weak due to over polishing.

Southcounty

Most likely to avoid confusion with the regular 1839 reverse for seated halves, probably should have originally referenced it as bust half reverse to be more accurate. Short hand labels for PCGS at the time I suppose.

The WB-12 is a much more difficult die marriage than the WB-4, Heritage didn't distinguish this in their auction and I was surprised by that fact, but not by the fact that this coin went for a premium over other WB-4 examples, although now everyone will want that premium on their WB-4 examples when it is only warranted for WB-12. I bid as well looking to upgrade my WB-12 example, congrats on a nice score.

lkeigwin

There were two different style reverse dies used to strike bust halves in 1839. The common one (type 3 with "HALF DOL."), and the extremely rare "small letters" one which shared the design of the soon-to-be seated half.

As such, calling the seated liberty half "1840 (O) Reverse of 1839" would not be definitive. But saying it has the type 3 CBH 1838 reverse is.

My guess.
Lance.

edit - Overton didn't report on the reeded edge halves. Dick Graham wrote an excellent book on them, "A Registry of Die Varieties of Reeded Edge Half Dollars 1836 - 1839". New Orleans used just three reverse dies for their 1838 and 1839 halves. None match the 1840 (O) Reverse of 1838 as far as I can tell. Not sure what to think of that.

CaptHenway

Yes, when two different styles are used in a transitional year, it is standard to use the preceding and following years to describe the designs to avoid confusion. For example, 1939 Jefferson nickels come with a Reverse of 1938 and a Reverse of 1940, even though both were used in 1939. If you just said "Reverse of 1939" nobody would know which one you were referring to.

chesterb

The style of the reverse die was of the 1838 reverse. It's just to emphasize the style. If they used 1839 then it wouldn't be specific what reverse they were referring to.

Like Southcountry, I bid on the coin also! Congrats.