Die crack?

franklinresearch

I'm new to coin collecting so bear with me. This coin has two distinct lines going through it. On the obverse side it starts about ten o'clock, left side, and travels through her forehead then turns south through her ear, then a wide curve, through the "8" and ending at the edge of the coin.

On the reverse side of the coin, a thick line starts at the "A" in America, goes left through the eagle's beak, then to the other side of the coin's edge.

Neither line coinsides with the other.

What have I got? Does it make the coin more valuable?

Thanks in advance.

AUandAG

Yes, die crack. Others will opine on value.
bob

johnny9434

Yes

MsMorrisine

drag and drop pictures instead of attaching them like files

epc

Die cracks generally do not add value. I collect Seated half dimes by die marriage and die state. Die cracks are common in these coins. Their presence or absence frequently helps to identify those marriages & states (along with other diagnostics). For a die crack to add value generally, I would think it has to be pretty obvious and not common, and there has to be a market for it. That market can be generated by things like a listing in the Red Book. (I haven't scanned through the RB in a long time, but don't recall specific listings for die cracks.) Other than that, many series of coins have die marriage/state guides and/or websites/organizations dedicated to those series. That can generate interest in collecting this kind of thing. But any such interest may or may not translate to a willingness to pay more.

As for me - I started collecting Large Cents by date and at the time thought the folks collecting LCs by (pretty well documented) marriage/state were nuts. But when I moved into Seated half dimes, I thought it would be fun to search for things that had not yet been well (if at all) documented. I have been willing to pay a little more for things that I didn't have and didn't see often. One time, I saw on ebay a slightly damaged and heavily worn half dime in a very late die state (not involving a crack) I had never seen before, and haven't seen since. I bid about 20x what an earlier state might sell for. The underbidder bid almost 3x what I did! Who knows how much the winner's secret max was. So, sometimes what appears as a bit of a dog can make a seller happy. But that's highly uncommon.

I am no expert in Bust Halves, so I can't say anything about your specific coin. But I'm sure there are others here who can.

franklinresearch

Wow....your knowledge is awesome. I'm not sure why I asked about value because in the four months since I started collecting, I haven't had a single desire to sell anything. I guess I'm in the hoarding stage, as some put it.

I just thought it was cool that both sides of the coin had long running cracks.

Thanks for your input.

COCollector

Gotta love a bust half with die cracks! Gives it character.

Certain die cracks (and other features) can help attribute the coin's die variety. Which helps determine rarity. Which helps determine value. Which helps determine collector interest.

Key Point: Every year, bust half production went thru many dies. That is, when one die became damaged/worn/whatever, it was replaced with another die. And so on and so on, until minting for that year ended.

For example, in 1812, eight obverse dies and nine reverse dies were used. This produced ten distinct die marriages (varieties) for the total mintage of 1,628,059.

Note: Every bust half die has certain unique hand-made features that allow you to attribute the die variety.

In particular, my amateur eye attributes your 1812 bust half to the O-106 Overton die variety. The reverse-side die crack located just left of "America" is unique to this variety. Other features confirm that it's O-106.

On the Overton Rarity scale (R1 to R8), 1812 O-106 is an R3 ("Scarce"). R1 coins are the most common. The rarest in my collection is an R5 ("Rare").

Bottom Line: I know that attributing a bust half can legit feel overwhelming at first. With practice it gets easier. And fun too.

A good place to start: Beginner's Guide to Attributing Capped Bust Half Dollars.

franklinresearch

Excellent suggestion. I'll check Amazon for a copy.

jesbroken

Here are your photo's. Nice die cracks.
Jim

jacrispies

Value of a die crack is congruent to its value, and "cool factor". With a rare issue, value goes up. Super cool, the value has opportunity to be marketed only a little higher.

Here is the 1812 O-106 on a bust half attribution website: http://maibockaddict.com/1812-o-106a-r3-capped-bust-half-dollar.shtml

This 1807 bearded goddess has both scarcity and cool factor, and a high price:

pursuitofliberty

Many Die Cracks! And a very cool Die Marriage and Die State. I would consider it to be one of the more dramatic in the series ... probably in the 20 of all CBH Die Marriage/States.

As has been noted, this is the Overton 106 (O-106) Die Marriage (pairing of Obverse and Reverse Dies) ... and there are a lot of good comments in this thread.

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Your coin is what is also what is known as a "remarriage". The obverse die was first used for the coin known as the O-105, which developed most of the obverse cracks while using a different Reverse Die. This Obverse Die was then paired with a second Reverse Die and developed even more Obverse cracks. The Reverse Die is only known with its own distinctive cracks

Your coin appears to be the Die State 106.5, which is the second to last documented Die State, and is considered to be a r.4? by the BHNC. This is quite apparent as the lower loop of the 8 has a large die chip inside while not displaying a faint crack that eventually develops in the right Obverse Field.

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For more information about Die Marriages, using the Early Half Dollar Die Varieties 1794 - 1836, by Al Overton (or by David Parsley for later Editions) in either the 3rd, 4th or 5th Editions would be recommended. This is the Die Marriage "Bible", so to speak. There are other, more recent books available as well, including a two volume set with very high quality images by Robert Powers.

Additionally, the "Die State Study" by the BHNC can be used as a companion guide to those manuals to understand the progression of the Die States (and cracks) within the Die Marriages. This book is available from David Kahn's website, but should be noted, does NOT contain images. It is titled as the Die State Progressions of the Capped Bust Half Dollar Die Varieties 1807-1836. Yeah. Say that 3 times really fast.

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Anyway ... good luck with your pursuit, wherever that takes you. And feel free to keep sharing here. Glad to have you on board!