Really sweet Unc. 1853 Arrows half dime

rhedden

This is a raw 1853 half dime that I purchased last winter. I believe I paid MS-64 money for it at the time, but it might be better than that. I didn't submit this one to PCGS, but perhaps I should have. This is a dreadfully common half dime, and I probably have 10 more of them in my collection grading Good to AU, even after selling a bunch of extras. Perhaps Mr. HalfDime can fill us in on whether there are any sub-varieties of the 1853 Arrows that are worth searching for.

MrHalfDime

When you consider that 13,210,000 half dimes were minted at the Philadelphia mint for this year alone (that's 15.5% of ALL Liberty Seated half dimes ever minted - from ALL mints!!), it is little wonder that few researchers or collectors have paid them much attention. Walter Breen reported that 78 obverse dies and 80 reverse dies were prepared at the die shop for this year (possibly including the No Arrows dies), so it is at least statistically possible that 6240 die marriages exist for that date alone! I am not suggesting that there are really that many, but if each obverse die were paired with each reverse die, that would be the number of die marriages. Good grief - no wonder they arouse little interest.

Other than the No Arrows varieties from the Mother Mint and the New Orleans Mint for that year, which are widely known rarities, perhaps the only varieties of interest for the year are the "1853/1-O", which is not really an overdate at all, but simply a large die crack that runs up through the right side of the 3 in the date, giving the appearance of a 1, and the so-called "1853/3/2" variety discovered by Al Blythe a few years ago. After careful study of a few examples that have recently surfaced, it appears that it is not an overdate or repunched date after all, but is simply die crumbling around the date numerals. To everyone's surprise, there were 14 examples reported in the most recent LSCC census survey, 2 in mint state and 5 in AU grade. That was many more than was expected.

So as pretty as your coin is, it is anyone's guess which die marriage it is. (I think it might be V-2358 ). Even with the die clashing seen on your coin, it is no more identifiable, as many/most 1853s tend to be clashed, some severely so. I would say to enjoy it and appreciate it, but unless you are willing to do the research to individually identify potentially more than 6000 die marriages for the date, we may never know which die marriage it really is.

relayer

Buff off those arrows and sell it on eBay

rhedden

I think it might be V-2358

Buff off those arrows and sell it on eBay


You guys are too funny.