Capped Bust Half Dime Attribution Challenge - Feb 2026
Bikergeek
Posts: 675 ✭✭✭✭✭
Happy mid-February, gang. Little green things are starting to peek up out of the ground and that is always pleasing. Now I hope for no hard Feb freezes.
I haven't done an Attribution Challenge since November but I found the grooviest half dime ever and had to share it. The challenge is to identify the Logan-McCloskey (LM) variety (i.e., die marriage or remarriage) for this half dime.
A die marriage is a unique pairing of one obverse die with one reverse die. Marriages are identified by LM-n where n is the marriage identifier (e.g., LM-11). If one die was "unfaithful" and was paired with another die where it incurred some kind of deterioration (cracks, chips, etc) and then the original pair was reunited, it's recognized as a remarriage. The LM name adds a decimal number: "LM-n.y" shows the number of the remarriage in the y position (e.g., LM-13.2).
My website groovycoins.com may help you attribute this far-out dude: https://groovycoins.com/attribution?year=1831
My hobby website Groovycoins.com, new and improved!
Comments
Time to learn
Nice doubled profile. Very nice color. LM-5 would be my guess.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
Indeed, it looks like LM-5
Collector of Liberty Seated Half Dimes, including die pairs and die states
Yup LM-5
Well, I can't argue with you guys! LM-5 is how I pegged it. I'm trying to document some of the more subtle (but often evocative) pickup points. The book says "On early die states a die line appears from tip of innermost leaf, through left wing and out into field." Apparently it gets lapped away. But while it's there it's a very helpful pickup.
So I put a detailed pic of it in the attribute "Die line from inner pair of leaves thru wing tip toward N (N)" (the N in parens is the reverse name). Click the little blue picture icon to load it, and then hover over it to see a highlight of where the crack is.
If anyone's got questions on where to find particular interesting features like this on any of the Capped Bust half dimes (or dimes now!) lemme know and I'll try to get them onto the site. I'm trying to make this the site that I wish I had access to when I started my collection...
My hobby website Groovycoins.com, new and improved!
Love your site, Sean. This will be so very helpful to anyone interested in these coins.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain