1820 B-5 Bust Quarter G-T-C : 200 Year Anniversary

1TwoBits · May 1, 2020 3:18PM

For the fifth month of 2020, we can review the final die marriage for 1820 bust quarters. The 1820 Browning 5 variety large size bust quarter is the rarest die marriage for the year. Like the 1820 B-4, PCGS designates the B-5 as a Small 0 variety, and both varieties share the same obverse die with the O recut at the top. The reverse die is also used for the 1820 B-2 and 1821 B-4 die marriages.

In the Rea/Peterson/Karoleff/Kovach book on bust quarters, they note two die states. One with obverse die rust between stars 9 and 10, and a reverse die crack from the rim through the upright of E1 and out the bottom into the field. Reverse die clashing is also noted, along with another die crack from the rim to A2. The second die state is a later one with rim crumbling between stars 3 and 4, and the crack from rim to A2 now extending to the bottom right of the scroll.

In the Tompkins book on bust quarters, he mentions that the Browning 5 die marriage was struck in 1821 after the early die stage of 1821 B-4. To get really detailed, its noted that the obverse dentil count is 125 while the reverse dentil count is 121. The reed edge count is 108. Both books call the variety R-5, and it usually found more easily in lower grades.

Feel free to guess the NGC and PCGS grade on my example below from the Don Frederick collection, which was crossed over. If you wish, you can also guess whether the coin received a CAC sticker or not. Comments are always welcome, and if you have an 1820 B-5, please post a picture of it.

1TwoBits