The Best Early Half Dime I Have Ever Seen for the Grade ... It's a 1797 16 star variety ..
BillJones
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Here is the best early half dime that I have ever seen for the grade. It is a 1797 16 star obverse. It is listed in Logan and McCloskey as LM-2, and in Valentine as V-4.
The “old time” grade for this piece is Fine-15. Today it is in a VF-20 holder. The remarkable thing about this piece is that it has no damage whatsoever. Many of these tiny, early have been bent, scratched or nicked up. This just has honest wear, and it’s not been dipped or scrubbed.
The 1797 half dimes are the only early U.S. coins that had 13, 15 and 16 star varieties all in the same year. At the beginning of 1796 there were 15 states in the Union. When Tennessee was admitted a star was added to the obverse making a total of 16. Finally at the end of the year, the powers at be at the mint finally determined that there was no room for additional stars and went back to 13 stars in honor of the original states.
There are two varieties of the 16 star half dime. They share a common obverse, but different reverses. While the varieties books point out differences in the berries on the wreath, I look at the eagle. LM-2 has what I call the “short eagle” (at the left) while LM-3 has the “tall eagle.” (to the right) The short eagle is almost never well struck. He almost always has the sharpness of a coin in VG, even on a Mint State piece. The tall eagle fared much better and can be sharp on a high grade example.
This coin has an R-4 rating (75 to 200), and I have no doubt that no more than that estimate do exist. I'd say that the number is between 125 and 150 examples in all grades. You seldom see these coins offered in today’s market.
The “old time” grade for this piece is Fine-15. Today it is in a VF-20 holder. The remarkable thing about this piece is that it has no damage whatsoever. Many of these tiny, early have been bent, scratched or nicked up. This just has honest wear, and it’s not been dipped or scrubbed.
The 1797 half dimes are the only early U.S. coins that had 13, 15 and 16 star varieties all in the same year. At the beginning of 1796 there were 15 states in the Union. When Tennessee was admitted a star was added to the obverse making a total of 16. Finally at the end of the year, the powers at be at the mint finally determined that there was no room for additional stars and went back to 13 stars in honor of the original states.
There are two varieties of the 16 star half dime. They share a common obverse, but different reverses. While the varieties books point out differences in the berries on the wreath, I look at the eagle. LM-2 has what I call the “short eagle” (at the left) while LM-3 has the “tall eagle.” (to the right) The short eagle is almost never well struck. He almost always has the sharpness of a coin in VG, even on a Mint State piece. The tall eagle fared much better and can be sharp on a high grade example.
This coin has an R-4 rating (75 to 200), and I have no doubt that no more than that estimate do exist. I'd say that the number is between 125 and 150 examples in all grades. You seldom see these coins offered in today’s market.
Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
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Great coins. I always wanted to own something from the 1700's. I just think it is cool to have a coin with a "17" as the first part of the date. Really historic piece! Thanks for sharing!
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
******
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
<< <i>One thing about early 18th century die making, you will note that the "7" on this coin is larger than the other three digits. That indicates that the die was made with the date 179_. The 1797 15 star coin, which was the first variety to be produced had a small "7" that almost matched the for "7." The 1797 13 star coins, which were made at the end of the year, have to large matching "7"s that are much larger than the two other digits in the date. >>
It's very possible that the 16 star Obverses were ordered made, and had the "179" punched in, but may not have had the other 7 punched in until later in it's life (Most likely because of unsurities if it would be used for that year or the next), when it was time to be used... in the interim, it's possible the Small-7 punch broke or was replaced, and was replaced with a large 7. Then that large 7 was used to punch the 13-star dies later in the year...
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Also if they left the date off, that might have forced the mint employees to heat up (anneal) dies again to prepare them to add the four digits. Doing that ran the risk of having the die crack in processing. My guess is that that single digit was added “cold turkey” without the production of reheating the dies.
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
roadrunner
If your friend's coin is in an old PCGS, it might be undergraded. The services did not see a lot of early coins at first, and were not prepared to adjust their grading standards for them. As a result the grades were sometimes pretty conservative. Sadly today that is usually no longer true. The services now tend to go the other way.
I love your 1797 16 stars. The one in my collection has a deep reverse scratch, obverse damage, possible AT, and who knows what else. However, I am happy to even have one. I will join you in posting some early H10C coins as soon as I figure out how to photograph mine clearly. Here's a blurry photo of a nice 1796 that is damage free.
The total populations of these coins number in hundreds for most varieties and quite about less than that for several of them. The most common early half dime by date is the 1795 of which there are a few thousand. That tells you something about how tough this series is.
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Please continue to show us all of your early coins.
Tom
<< <i>Nice coin! I enjoyed hearing about the differing number of stars. If I ever get one I'd like one with more than 13 stars. >>
That's good Carl because the 1797 half dime with 13 stars is almost a rarity. Only about one or two of them a year show up in major auctions. The 15 star variety is the most 1797 half dime, and the most common variety of the Draped Bust, Small Eagle type.
I will post picures all of the early half dimes in my collection as time permits.