Need info on 1826 Bust Half Overton-104

jdimmick

Excuse me for being ignorant when it comes to Bust halves, but a freind has an 1826 Bust Half that is certified ANACS-55 Overton-104.

What is the significance of this overton variety(basically what is the variety) and is thier any premium for this?

thanks

jim d

kamehameha00

From Breen's Encyclopedia:

4665 1826 Plain 2, close date, normal.
Ov. 104-5, 109.

tmot99

Overton gives it an R3 in rarity.

Obv. - Date tall and close 8 1/4mm., plain 2 with needle like point. A die crack from edge near end of bust joins all stars on left.

Rev. - I is centered under left side of T. Base of A2 is slightly lower than base of M. There is a small die defect on lower righ side of stripe 1. A carry over reverse from 1825.

OnlyBuffalos

Al Overton was was a collector-dealer who had among his achievements, the authoring of one of the great numismatic publications, Early Half Dollar Die Varieties 1794-1836. He identified these half dollars as to Overton variety (number) based on the die that was used for the obverse and the die that was used for the reverse. The combination of a particular obverse with a particlar reverse was know as a die marriage and the rarity of each die marriage was assigned a rarity number of R1 through R8 based on the number of coins that were thought to still exist for the die marriage. Today there are around 850 die marriages that have been identified. It was a task that took him over 30 years.

The most desired die marriages generally have a rarity rating of R4 (81 to 200 known) up to R8 (1 to 3 known). Little to no premium is typically associated with a coin that has a rarity of R3 or less.