My severely overdipped 1800 LIBEKTY half dime
rhedden
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Here's an 1800 LIBEKTY variety half dime that I bought last year as part of a date set of early half dimes. This one has been dipped to death and beyond. It has the look of a coin that was heavily toned, and was damaged by dipping off the tarnish. It was probably slightly corroded prior to the dipping, too. It was sitting in a Wayte Raymond album for the past 45 years, and the only re-toning it developed was a small, ugly black stain on the left hand side of the obverse. So I did something that is usually ill-advised- I dipped it again! The coin was already so bright white that I had nothing to lose, and the black stain mostly went away, so I'll call my re-dipping a success. This is a scarce coin, so I'm happy to own it despite its overly shiny surfaces. Anyone care to attribute its die marriage?
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Heritage is selling an NGC XF 1800 LM-3/V-2 for $4K and change.
EDIT: Just checked DLRC. Their example is the same die marriage as Heritage's.
What Barndog is refering to, and what I alluded to in a PM to you the other day, is that there is a 'new' die marriage for the 1800 "LIBEKTY" half dime, discovered by Ed Price while assembling his spectacular collection of early half dimes. It was always believed that there was just one die marriage for the 1800 "LIBEKTY", so named for the broken R in LIBERTY. Ed, who studied his coins very closely, and looked at both sides of a coin before rendering an attribution (there is a lesson here for all of us) discovered that the blundered obverse die, with the broken R, was paired with TWO different reverse dies - one reverse for the old Valentine V2 LIBEKTY variety, and a second reverse die that had not been seen before. This new die marriage, discovered in 1994, is still listed as an R7, and has proven to be extremely rare. In the latest JRCS half dime census, to be published this month, there were just two specimens reported - a VF-20 formerly in the Price collection and my own F-15 example.
The diagnostics for the LM-4/V4, in addition to the "LIBEKTY" obverse, are two key points on the reverse. The first, which Barndog correctly pointed out, are the tips of the arrowheads for the three uppermost arrows form a straight, horizontal line. This will usually be visible even on a low grade specimen. Also, there is a doubled dentil above E2 (E in STATES). Your coin, unfortunately, does noty appear to be an example of the LM-4/V4. but is an LM-3/V2, which is an R4 marriage.
Do you know the known or suspected total existing population of the LIBEKTY H10¢, both varieties...? This is the 2nd most interesting H10¢ in my book
Check it out and join if you like. There's always room for one more.
John Reich Collectors Society
The 1800 LIBEKTY half dime (LM-3/V2 - the original die marriage) is an R4, implying a total population of 76 - 200 pieces. In the latest JRCS Bust half dime census, there were only two examples reported, an EF-40 and my own VF-20. This is misleading, however, because we had a rather small response to the census, due in part to several members' collections having been recently dispersed at auction or private sale. The condition census in the previous JRCS census (Dec 2001) was:
(50, 40, 40, 30, 30, 30)
The example from the Jules Reiver collection is an NGC VF-35, which is one of the VF-30 examples in the CC above.
I'm not sure if this helps answer your question. The LIBEKTY variety is always of interest mostly because there is always the possibility that it might be the LM-4/V4, R7, but it is readily available, as can be seen by the Heritage and DLRC pieces currently offered. It would not be worth a premium over generic price, as it is one of the more common die marriages for the date, although hardly common.
It's one of only 3 non-Capped Bust or Seated Half Dimes that I hope to own one day. The easiest of the three to acquire by far