1822 B-3 Bust Quarter : 200 Year Anniversary
1TwoBits
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I saved the rarest 1822 variety for last, I didn't forget.
It sort of ties in to next year, too.The 1822 Browning-3 variety was discovered in 2017, and to my knowledge is currently still considered unique. The coin was discovered by a collector in Illinois, certified as AG3, and designated B-3 by NGC. The coin was discovered well after the releases of the two most recent books covering bust quarters.
The interesting attributes of this new variety are that it employs the use of Obverse 1, which is also used for the 1822 B-1, combined with Reverse T. Reverse T, with it's top arrow shaft incomplete and lowest arrow shaft and arrowhead incomplete is also used for the rarest bust quarter date in the series - 1823.
Reverse T is a favorite of mine because it was later repaired by the mint and used as the reverse die for the 1824/2 B-1, 1825 B-1, and 1828 B-2 varieties. The three varieties struck after the 1823 quarter all show a die engraving line coming of the lowest arrowhead.
Has anyone discovered a second example yet?
1TwoBits
1822 B-3 discovery example (photos courtesy of NGC): 
Below is an example of the repaired Reverse T with die line coming off the repaired lower arrowhead:
Comments
It's amazing to me that this was found, so many years later, after so much research and collecting of the series. Very cool. Thanks for sharing. It's hard enough to attribute bust coins in a nice condition let alone discovering a new variety with that little detail left on the coin.
It’ll be interesting to see if another example ever turns up. The broken arrowhead/arrow shaft are extremely obvious pickup points. The Browning book was published in 1925, and thousands of collectors have scrutinized their bust quarters over the years. Additionally, two excellent bust quarter books were published fairly recently. Despite all this, it took 195 years for this coin to be recognized for what it truly is.
This means that 1822 B-3 has to be incredibly rare (and quite possibly unique). Maybe there’s another one hiding in a junk box somewhere…
I’d love to hear the owner’s discovery story. Hopefully he/she comes forward with details someday.