1820 B-2 Bust Quarter G-T-G : 200 Year Anniversary
1TwoBits
Posts: 464 ✭✭✭✭
For the February anniversary, there is the 1820 Browning 2 variety large size bust quarter. PCGS designates this as a Large 0 variety.
The 1820 Browning 2 variety is commonly found and called an R-2 in both the Rea/Peterson/Karoleff/Kovach book on bust quarters, as well as the Tompkins book. There is only one die stage noted, obverse and reverse dies perfect. The obverse die is also used for the 1820 B-1, while the reverse die is shared with the 1820 B-5 and 1821 B-4. There is a reverse die anomaly of die lines connecting a lower olive leaf to the dentils below it. The Norweb example of this variety is called a one sided proof, with the obverse being struck from a polished die.
Feel free to guess the PCGS grade on my example below, which has an interesting tone to it. Comments are always welcome, and if you have an 1820 B-2, please post a picture of it.
1TwoBits
Comments
AU58? I don’t have either of the two large 0 die marriages, but I do intend to get one to accompany my medium 0 (B-3) and small 0 (B-5).
AU55-58.....Nice old quarter... Looks good for 200 years....None of us will look that good at that age...
Heck, I don't look that good now.... 
Cheers, RickO
MS60
I guess AU55.
Here is mine:
AU58 perhaps
I grade it “wow”!
I think AU 58 is appropriate, but a low MS grade wouldn’t surprise me, with that eye appeal.
58.
Beautiful coin! I'll guess AU55.
AU58?
I always find it amazing just how many of these actually still exist. I wonder if the coin's beautiful classic look caused a significant number of these to have been preserved for 200 years in such incredible condition!
Splendid coin 59
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
Here's my duty-worn 1820 B2
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
Don't have a B-2 myself but those are all nice examples.
Proof Buffalo Registry Set
Capped Bust Quarters Registry Set
Proof Walking Liberty Halves Registry Set
I had that question too, and did an analysis of bust quarters available online to try to estimate their survival rate. My analysis yielded a roughly 2.3% survival rate for the 1815-1828 subseries. I’ll never know for sure how accurate that number actually is, but the survival rate is almost certainly in the single digits, and likely below 5% (in my opinion).
Real nice!
Thanks for the comments and for posting your examples. Everybody is right there with the grade. PCGS AU58, and it did get a CAC sticker when I sent it in. @NSP I read your interesting article in the John Reich Journal.
1TwoBits
I’m glad to hear someone found them interesting! It was a very good learning experience for me, and it definitely made my attribution skills better.