1823 Capped Bust Halves - The Troublesome 3's
Four different varieties are seen, but not all from the same working die.
- The "broken 3" (O.101) came from a new 3 punch, and the less than satisfactory result was not touched up as would normally have happened.
- The "patched 3" (O.101a, O.102) was a botched repair attempt to the same die.
- The "ugly 3" (O.110a) was due to a die crack from the rim upward which simply broke away the right side of the numeral.
- The fourth 3 variety -- not a recognized "major" one, the "tampered with 3" (O.106a), was likely due to a simple die chip and not inept tampering.
Here are some examples. A shout out to AU58WALKERS for the patched 3 that arrived today.
Lance.
Broken 3



Patched 3



Ugly 3



Tampered-with 3



Normal 3



Profile doubling

Comments
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Great job, Lance! It's nice to see them all togetther.
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Awesome group Lance !0
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Great stuff, thanks for posting these.
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Great post Lance!!
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Very cool Lance!
Thank you for posting. Another aspect of why this board is so cool.
John0 -
Those CBH"s 0 -
Well done!
Thanks."If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"
My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress0 -
Very nice0
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Nice coins and photos! I wouldn't call any of those 3's lookers either, they all look ugly to me!
10-4,
My Instagram pictures
Erik
My registry sets0 -
Most Excellent....
May I keep the post/pictures for future study?0 -
excellent micro-photography
Frank
BHNC #2030 -
A great post - thanks! Very nice coins, too.
zapzap1111
102 capped bust half dollars - 100 die marriages
BHNC #1980 -
Add my appreciation . Great photography. A real keeper postTrime0
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now heres a post worth keeping for future referance with them pics0
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Very nice presentation. I like your Patched 3 the best, but I would much rather own your Broken 3. Believe it or not, but I had the hardest time finding the Ugly 3.I collect Capped Bust series by variety in PCGS AU/MS grades.0
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A very nice and thorough run-down on the major '23 date varieties. I'm not a Bust Half Dollar collector, but I found the images and info on each date variety to be very interesting. Excellent-looking coins also.
cheers,
'dudeGot Crust....y gold?0 -
Zombie thread alert.
@Ikeigwin Are there any die chain studies that show where in 1823 these weird date dies were used? Robert Scot died in November of 1823, and William Kneass did not replace him until late January of 1824. I have always enjoyed the mental image of the Chief Coiner trying to get one more die he can use by personally dating the "Broken 3" die by using the bottom half of a (literally broken) "3" punch to sink the bottom half of the 3, and then using the top half of a cut-down "2" punch to sink the top half of the 3.
TDProfessional Numismatist, Retired. 55 year member ANA. Former ANA Senior Authenticator. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and ANA Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner of the PNG's 2026 Robert Friedberg Award for "The Enigmatic Lincoln Cents of 1922," Available now from Whitman or Amazon.0 -
Dr Ivan Leaman and Don Gunnet developed an emission order for the Capped Bust Halves and presented their findings at the COAC Conference in 1986. According to them the emission sequence of 1823 is, by Overton numbers:
1823 108
1822 112, 113
1823 109,101,102,110,104,111,107,103,105,106
1824 111
1823 112
1824 112,101,102
1823 113Their study used the die states of the edge dies in conjunction with the obverse and reverse dies to make their determinations.
Hope this helps a little.
Q: When does a collector become a numismatist?
A: The year they spend more on their library than their coin collection.
A numismatist is judged more on the content of their library than the content of their cabinet.1 -
I missed the original posting but wonderful examples and nice educational write up.
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I love the 23s, there are so many different looks to that one digit on the various dies.
Cool group.
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I forgot about one more odd 3...the "tall 3", O.112.
So for the sake of completeness...
Lance.

Coin Photography Services / Everyman Registry set / BHNC #2131 -
Incredibly impressive!! Thanks for sharing.
Successful buys/sales on BST board from NotSure, Nankraut, Yorkshireman, Astrorat, Ikeigwin(2x), Bob13, Outhaul, coinbuf, dpvilla, jayPem, Sean1990, TwoKopeiki, bidask, Downtown1974, drddm, nederveit2, ajann
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I learned something today. Thanks.
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Great post Lance... very informative and excellent pictures.... Worth putting in my computer 'coin library'... Cheers, RickO
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@lkeigwin Have you ever thought about starting an attribution service for Capped Bust Half Dollars comparable to what Messydesk does for Morgan Dollars?
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@cameonut2011 said:
@lkeigwin Have you ever thought about starting an attribution service for Capped Bust Half Dollars comparable to what Messydesk does for Morgan Dollars?LOL. I don't think I'd be very busy.
Bust half attribution isn't really difficult or tricky. Anyone can get the gist of it quickly using skills learned as a toddler. "Which of these is not like the others?"
With experience you learn to be faster at it by picking out distinctive characteristics, like die cracks, an unusual orientation of stars and their points, or a peculiar relationship between legend and scroll letters. Something odd and prominent.
Lance.Coin Photography Services / Everyman Registry set / BHNC #2131 -
Just a public shout out to Lance. He took the time to “educate” me in the basics of attribution. Not as easy as he makes it, lol, but practice makes perfect(sort of).
Successful buys/sales on BST board from NotSure, Nankraut, Yorkshireman, Astrorat, Ikeigwin(2x), Bob13, Outhaul, coinbuf, dpvilla, jayPem, Sean1990, TwoKopeiki, bidask, Downtown1974, drddm, nederveit2, ajann
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