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1832 50c
Manorcourtman
Posts: 8,497 ✭✭✭✭✭
Is this variety really an R.3? Seems like a tougher variety based on pop reports? Any thoughts? Stuck in Orlando without my Bustie books and I can't find much about it, thanks for enlightening me!
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1832 O-105a is an R3 by die marriage and an R4 by die state. These are based on the census reports from the Bust Half Nut Club.
Pop reports are not very useful for determining die marriage rarities and even worse for die state rarities. The only way die marriages (and die states) get reported in the Pop reports is if the submitter asks (and pays) PCGS to attribute. As such, the information reflects a biased subset of data in the Pop reports.
See http://www.doubledimes.com for a free online reference for US twenty-cent pieces
Take pop reports for what they are- the actual coins the TPG company has graded. No more, no less unless you want to estimate crackouts.
Just because a coin shows a low pop doesn't mean there aren't thousands out in the wild that have not been submitted.
In the case of die marriages, if the customer does not pay the additional fee for attributions the coin goes into the "generic" listing for that coin. PCGS may have graded numerous other 1832 O105a's but without the attribution selection they would have just been listed under 1832 small letters reverse.
DO NOT rely on any TPG population report to determine the rarity of an early US coin by die marriage. They have been throughly researched by the specialty clubs and have been assigned rarity ratings based on decades of research and refinements.
Hope this helps a little.
Have fun with your collection and consider joining the John Reich Collectors Society for more information. JRCS.org.
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.
The best source I've found for up to date rarity ratings for all early half dollars 1794 -1839 (including the Capped Bust Half Dollars) is Steve Herrman's Auction & Mail Bid Prices Realized for Rarity 3+ to Rarity 8 Die Varieties. The latest edition was published Spring 2017. I get this publication both in hard copy and as an online version that I keep on my laptop for when I travel or attend coin shows. If anyone is attending the ANA and would like to see this Herrman report you can stop by my Table #435 and I will be glad to show it to you.
@astrorat is correct in the rarity ratings, R-3 as a die marriage and R-4 as a die state.
W. David Perkins Numismatics - http://www.davidperkinsrarecoins.com/ - 25+ Years ANA, ANS, NLG, NBS, LM JRCS, LSCC, EAC, TAMS, LM CWTS, CSNS, FUN