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1839-O Half Dime, Large O / FS-501
ms70
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Interesting variety as apparently a reverse "O" die that was used for 1838 remained in service into early 1839.
Special thanks to Gerry Fortin for helping me acquire it and absolutely fabulous service!
G06
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
8
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Cool variety and a great-looking coin too!
The 1839-O V-1 Large O is a classic rarity in the Liberty Seated Half Dime series.
I've counted 16 examples known to me, with 7 sold in the past 10 years.
They almost always sell for over $1000 these days, even in low grades.
It was unknown in mint state until recently.
Gerry Fortin has sold 3-5 of these in recent years (a couple of photos are missing from his early sales, so I can't ID those).
The Large O punch was used on the 1838-O, but the 1839-O has a different reverse die.
The mint mark position is different.
Blythe said in his 1992 book "Reverse of 1838-O", but we believe he just meant the punch size, not the reverse die.
However, the 1839-O V-1 reverse die was used later on the 1840-O V-8.
My 1839-o guide should be coming out in the next few weeks. I just have to add a few more detail photos to it.
I'll be very much looking forward to seeing it!
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
Here's a comparison of the mint mark positions and nearby die cracks on the Large O reverses in 1838, 1839, and 1840.
I left out 1838-O V-2, which is an earlier die state of the 1838-O V-1 reverse, and 1840-O V-11 which we are studying.
It should be fairly clear that there are 3 reverse dies here, with the 2 middle coins sharing the same reverse die.
Great diagram. So it's actually (at this point) a reverse die that remained in service from '39 into '40. The die crack is working as a great diagnostic being it appears right at the "O".
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
MrHalfDime and I had a discussion about me potentially expanding from just the capped bust series to the seated series. I knew I would not be able to afford collecting the way he did ("Collect Them All"), and thought maybe owning one coin would be a good way to do it. Steve told me that if I was going to own one Seated Liberty Half Dime, the 1839-O V-1 would be the one he would choose.
You could never own just one.
After owning a G-4 and a G-6, @MrHalfDime bought Bill Harmon's EF-40 after the 2005 Heritage auction.
It was the second finest known at that time.
In his database Note, he wrote:
That had to be a big commitment while building a reference collection of every different die marriage / die state Liberty Seated and Bust Half Dime he could find. So he really wanted that coin very much.
that reminds me! The story is even better. I am pretty sure how it went down:
Dick AND Steve were bidding on that coin at the Harmon auction. Somehow, either through an intermediary or Steve (from Maine) calling Dick (on his cell phone at the auction on the floor) and Dick told Steve to stop bidding ...Dick was bidding for the purpose of selling the coin to Steve! At least that's how I remember it. So Steve instantly stopped bidding and awaited a call from Dick once he won the coin. Steve cost himself a little bit of money since he did not realize that Dick was there doing a (secret) favor for Steve. I think I have this right, someone else can correct me if it was different from my memories.
It's up on my page now:
https://sites.google.com/view/clintcummins/half-dime-attribution-guide
There is a "Top 100" list there now, too.
That's a huge amount of information! I'm going to have to put aside some time to really enjoy taking it in. Thank you Clint!
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.