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Newly discovered 1795 Plug half dollar
BIGAL2749
Posts: 742 ✭✭✭✭
In Stacks' Nov. auction, lot 20056 is a newly discovered 1795 plug half which makes it the fourth known.
Information at the bottom of the listing has two O-130s but there is only one which was the first discovered in 1997 and featured on the front page of Coin World on Sept. 8th, 1997
That O-130 was the second to be graded at PCGS and at the time a third was known (which I believe is the O-111 mentioned in Thompkins' book) that had problems and would not grade at PCGS. That was before "genuine" slabs were offered.
Of the four known (three slabbed and one raw) two are small heads O-126, O-128 and the other two large heads O-130 and O-111. Unusually in that there are four different varieties and even though I don't have Thompkins book I would guess they were struck close to the same time and early when the mint was experimenting with the method to adjust planchet weight.
Lot 20056 (not mine)
http://www.stacksbowers.com/BrowseAuctions/LotDetail/tabid/227/AuctionID/6110/Lot/20056/Default.aspx
Information at the bottom of the listing has two O-130s but there is only one which was the first discovered in 1997 and featured on the front page of Coin World on Sept. 8th, 1997
That O-130 was the second to be graded at PCGS and at the time a third was known (which I believe is the O-111 mentioned in Thompkins' book) that had problems and would not grade at PCGS. That was before "genuine" slabs were offered.
Of the four known (three slabbed and one raw) two are small heads O-126, O-128 and the other two large heads O-130 and O-111. Unusually in that there are four different varieties and even though I don't have Thompkins book I would guess they were struck close to the same time and early when the mint was experimenting with the method to adjust planchet weight.
Lot 20056 (not mine)
http://www.stacksbowers.com/BrowseAuctions/LotDetail/tabid/227/AuctionID/6110/Lot/20056/Default.aspx
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Very historic pieces. This is a great sounding new discovery.
Is there any more information on who discovered this and where it came from?
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
Why does the auction list it as R5+ if it is only 1 of 4 known?
That is the rarity rating for the die marriage not the silver plugged examples.
QN
Go to Early United States Coins - to order the New "Early United States Half Dollar Vol. 1 / 1794-1807" book or the 1st new Bust Quarter book!
In Stacks' Nov. auction, lot 20056 is a newly discovered 1795 plug half which makes it the fourth known.
Information at the bottom of the listing has two O-130s but there is only one which was the first discovered in 1997 and featured on the front page of Coin World on Sept. 8th, 1997
That O-130 was the second to be graded at PCGS and at the time a third was known (which I believe is the O-111 mentioned in Thompkins' book) that had problems and would not grade at PCGS. That was before "genuine" slabs were offered.
Of the four known (three slabbed and one raw) two are small heads O-126, O-128 and the other two large heads O-130 and O-111. Unusually in that there are four different varieties and even though I don't have Thompkins book I would guess they were struck close to the same time and early when the mint was experimenting with the method to adjust planchet weight.
There are actually two different T-8 (O-130) examples known and are delineated by the auction listing and in my book.
As the die marriages in my book are listed in the order that they were actually struck, there is evidence that these examples were done at different times, not at the same time. However, ALL of the 1795 half dollars were struck within a 6 month time frame.
For some additional background information...
The T-22 (O-126) example cited by Stacks was discovered at the November 1999 Baltimore show.
The T-8 (O-130) Discovered by Jonathan Kern was placed with a collector via Sheridan Downey at the 1998 Portland ANA.
The other T-8 (O-130) was also discovered in 1997 and was purchased from a Bowers & Merena FPL.
There are rumors of more examples, but none have been verified at this point.
QN
Go to Early United States Coins - to order the New "Early United States Half Dollar Vol. 1 / 1794-1807" book or the 1st new Bust Quarter book!
Sorry, but don't know any of the story behind the coin. Wish I did.
Keyman64, They just list the rarity of the die combination used to strike the planchet. Agree with you that the coin should be a R-8
Small heads are much rarer than the large head.
There are only 8 known 1941 DDO FS-101 Mercury Dimes.
Makes no sense to me at all. Poor marketing skills in my opinion. You can't just take a portion of the coin and post
its rarity based on that. You have to take ALL OF THE COIN'S ATTRIBUTES and then determine rarity.
This coin with silver plug is not R5+ and it seems to be a grave error to say R5+ in the same sentence with this coin.
If it was my coin consigned to the auction house, I would not be a happy camper with the listing.
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
In Stacks' Nov. auction, lot 20056 is a newly discovered 1795 plug half which makes it the fourth known.
Information at the bottom of the listing has two O-130s but there is only one which was the first discovered in 1997 and featured on the front page of Coin World on Sept. 8th, 1997
That O-130 was the second to be graded at PCGS and at the time a third was known (which I believe is the O-111 mentioned in Thompkins' book) that had problems and would not grade at PCGS. That was before "genuine" slabs were offered.
Of the four known (three slabbed and one raw) two are small heads O-126, O-128 and the other two large heads O-130 and O-111. Unusually in that there are four different varieties and even though I don't have Thompkins book I would guess they were struck close to the same time and early when the mint was experimenting with the method to adjust planchet weight.
There are actually two different T-8 (O-130) examples known and are delineated by the auction listing and in my book.
As the die marriages in my book are listed in the order that they were actually struck, there is evidence that these examples were done at different times, not at the same time. However, ALL of the 1795 half dollars were struck within a 6 month time frame.
For some additional background information...
The T-22 (O-126) example cited by Stacks was discovered at the November 1999 Baltimore show.
The T-8 (O-130) Discovered by Jonathan Kern was placed with a collector via Sheridan Downey at the 1998 Portland ANA.
The other T-8 (O-130) was also discovered in 1997 and was purchased from a Bowers & Merena FPL.
There are rumors of more examples, but none have been verified at this point.
QN
I stand corrected, I noticed the listing described the Kern coin as being a different coin than the Downey coin and knew that was incorrect.
I assumed (classic mistake) it was a "double entry" and only one T8 existed.
Any other information on the T-19 (O-111) mentioned in your book?
In Stacks' Nov. auction, lot 20056 is a newly discovered 1795 plug half which makes it the fourth known.
Information at the bottom of the listing has two O-130s but there is only one which was the first discovered in 1997 and featured on the front page of Coin World on Sept. 8th, 1997
That O-130 was the second to be graded at PCGS and at the time a third was known (which I believe is the O-111 mentioned in Thompkins' book) that had problems and would not grade at PCGS. That was before "genuine" slabs were offered.
Of the four known (three slabbed and one raw) two are small heads O-126, O-128 and the other two large heads O-130 and O-111. Unusually in that there are four different varieties and even though I don't have Thompkins book I would guess they were struck close to the same time and early when the mint was experimenting with the method to adjust planchet weight.
There are actually two different T-8 (O-130) examples known and are delineated by the auction listing and in my book.
As the die marriages in my book are listed in the order that they were actually struck, there is evidence that these examples were done at different times, not at the same time. However, ALL of the 1795 half dollars were struck within a 6 month time frame.
For some additional background information...
The T-22 (O-126) example cited by Stacks was discovered at the November 1999 Baltimore show.
The T-8 (O-130) Discovered by Jonathan Kern was placed with a collector via Sheridan Downey at the 1998 Portland ANA.
The other T-8 (O-130) was also discovered in 1997 and was purchased from a Bowers & Merena FPL.
There are rumors of more examples, but none have been verified at this point.
QN
I stand corrected, I noticed the listing described the Kern coin as being a different coin than the Downey coin and knew that was incorrect.
I assumed (classic mistake) it was a "double entry" and only one T8 existed.
Any other information on the T-19 (O-111) mentioned in your book?
I never had the chance to examine the coin in hand to verify it was actually a silver plugged example, but do know the collector who owned it at one point and he is convinced that it was.
QN
Go to Early United States Coins - to order the New "Early United States Half Dollar Vol. 1 / 1794-1807" book or the 1st new Bust Quarter book!
Calling this R5+ is like calling a 1941 DDO FS-101 Mercury Dime an R-1 because the 1941 Mercury Dime is common.
There are only 8 known 1941 DDO FS-101 Mercury Dimes.
Sheesh.....I wish I hadn't sold my MS66FB example. NOW you tell me!
https://imdb.com/name/nm1835107/