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Is this a new 1863-S $20 variety?
Baylor8670
Posts: 54 ✭✭✭
First time poster so bear with me. The first pic from Doug Winter shows a regular date placement. Second pic from Heritage shows the date obviously shifted right a little bit.
I've only seen the MPD shifted date on some but not all Small S varieties but that's based on a small sample size.
I did not see where either NGC or PCGS recognize this variety. If it is a new variety, who would be the best person to contact about it?
Edit: changed MPD to shifted.
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A first step might be to contact Doug Winter and ask if he or anyone else is cataloging die marriages for this date.
What's your goal for this variety? If it's just documentation and recognition, you could publish it (either yourself, or with someone who is already studying this date).
If it's getting the variety attributed by the main TPG's, I don't know. Neither PCGS or NGC are currently attributing die marriages for this date, so they may not be too interested. If you had data to show that it was a major rarity relative to the other die marriages, it's possible that you might generate more interest.
Welcome!
I would venture to say that Doug would probably be the best person to ask about this. He didn't mention the MPD shifted date in his book and that might be why its not recognized.
https://www.doubleeaglebook.com/type-one-liberty-head-double-eagles-online-book/type-one-liberty-head-double-eagles-date-by-date/1863-2
The first plate coin he has actually has the same MPD shifted date, so maybe he thought it wasnt a notable variety? I've glanced at the HA archives for a few minutes and found 4-5 of them as well.
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Also, I would not call it an MPD. The date is shifted, yes, but not misplaced.
Thanks, Ike.
I emailed Doug in October and he seemed to agree but I wasn't sure where to go from there (I'm not a long-time collector).
No real goals except pointing it out to see if it's worthwhile enough for recognition. I wouldn't know anything about publishing it, partnering with someone else or gathering data about its rarity.
The 1863-S I own has a medium S with a centered date so I have no vested interest just numismatic interest.
You're welcome. If someone is working on a complete catalog of die marriages for the Type 1 Liberty Head double eagles, then your variety would certainly be worth recognizing in that context. I think Doug would know better than anyone if that is the case.
If not, the question of whether it's worthwhile probably comes down to collector interest more than anything else. There isn't necessarily strong interest in collecting every series by die marriage. But a very rare die marriage could generate interest even in a series that is not normally collected by die marriage. That said, I just took a look myself, as well, and @DeplorableDan is correct that this particular die marriage isn't rare.
Before the U.S. Mint transitioned to dated hubs circa 1907-1908, date positions naturally varied from die to die. A few have achieved collector recognition, but most have not. Because of the cost per coin I doubt that many collectors will ever feel the need to own one of each
Thats a really nice 63 imo