Lafayette Varieties

alefzero

PCGS is now attributing Lafayette dollar varieties. There are five of them (a sixth is very suspect). Here is my order.

Here is a snapshot showing the relative populations of the varieties in the SSDC Registry.

They are each differentiated by their reverses (A, B, C, D, E), notably by the position of the olive branch. The 1-A and 1-B share an obverse, characterized by the A of DOLLAR punched slightly low.

They differ as the 1-A has the lowest leaf more bulbous and pointing at the 1 in the date.

The 1-B, which is the most common variety, has a thin leaf pointing between the 1 and 9. It also often exhibits noticeable die polish in that area.

The 2-C leaf is over the right side of the 9, but is sometimes hard to differentiate from the D reverse of 3-D. The obverse is quite clear. there is notable double punching of the last S of STATES and the last A of AMERICA.

The 3-D has that leaf pointing a little to the left of that of the 2-C, about the center of the 9. But the clear pick up is that the dot between OF and AMERICA on the obverse if closer to the A than to the O.

The prize is the 4-E. Its branch is the furthest to the left, with that last lower leaf pointing to the left of the entire date

There was cited a 1-C variety. I have examined a few candidates for it. The 1 and 2 obverses are distinct on a number of points, the denticle position of the right star as an example. All of them ultimately were 2-C with wear or striking issues, with no dropped A/DOLLAR.

There are presently only 5 known examples of the 4-E.

PCGS MS64 - last sold at the 2017 FUN Heritage sale. I missed bidding it and it went for common money then, an obscene bargain IMHO.
ANACS MS60 - my other piece
ICG MS60 Details - Sold in the Heritage Long Beach auction in 2009. It was previously a DGS AU58 Details. DGS was the Dominion Grading Service, a short-lived revival of PCI by David Lawrence.
PCGS MS60 Details - The Duvall discovery piece. Originally ANACS MS60 Details. Sold by Heritage in 2007 under ANACS. It appeared at Great Collections in March 2017, I seem to recall, as PCGS.
PCGS AU50 - my other piece (in the above order), was raw, then ANACS AU50, and now PCGS AU50

The 1-A and 4-E are worth looking out for. I would expect them to receive significant premium prices in the future, as this knowledge becomes better known.

VAMworld has the varieties listed at https://vamworld.com/wiki/Lafayette_Dollars and @messydesk does attribute them too in his VARslab service. ANACS, of course, also attributes them. They attribute just about everything. ICG probably too. (I forget if their 4-E was AOH.)

A couple articles:

https://www.numismaticnews.net/archive/second-lafayette-dollar-variety-found

https://www.coinnews.net/2008/09/18/dgs-authenticates-grades-rare-lafayette-dollar-variety-4355/

Morgan White

Great post, thanks.

DNADave

Nice pics. I’m going to take a look at mine a see what I have.

messydesk

I imagine a huge number of the 14,000 coins that were melted in 1945 were 4-E.

lermish

@Morgan White said:
Great post, thanks.

+1

John- you're running out of dollar types! What coin is next?

alefzero

@lermish said:

@Morgan White said:
Great post, thanks.

+1

John- you're running out of dollar types! What coin is next?

I am pretty much done. The next FUN is my last major show.

BTW, I really tried to find die varieties and states of the BU Hawaiian dollar and found nothing. Those can come marvelously toned too.

lermish

@alefzero said:

@lermish said:

@Morgan White said:
Great post, thanks.

+1

John- you're running out of dollar types! What coin is next?

I am pretty much done. The next FUN is my last major show.

BTW, I really tried to find die varieties and states of the BU Hawaiian dollar and found nothing. Those can come marvelously toned too.

I'm sorry that you're hanging it up, you've taught me a lot, but I'll see you there.

jesbroken

Thank you for the information, have stored it for future ref.
Jim

jesbroken

PM posted.
Jim

1946Hamm

Here is what I have. I wish I had one of the 4-E but I don't.
Nice article on the varieties.