1801 half dime - doubled profile?
rhedden
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Here's an 1801 half dime from my collection that I recently photographed. Thanks to the large photo, I noticed that it seems to have doubling on Liberty's face. Has anyone seen another example like this? This piece was damaged and bent, then straightened, unfortunately, like many of these thin little coins have been.
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Man, those are some tough little coins. I've had one- ever.
Your 1801 half dime is a very nice coin. You may already know that it was once thought that there were just two 'varieties', or die marriages, for the 1801, designated V1 and V2 by Valentine in 1931, but also known by the earlier researchers. It was not until recent years, however, that Jules Reiver and Ed Price determined that V1 and V2 were actually different die states of the same marriage, today designated as LM-2. However, at about the same time (1987) Eric Gutcher discovered a new, previously unknown die marriage for 1801, sharing the same reverse die as the others, but with a previously unknown obverse. This new die marriage is now designated LM-1 (the LM numbers designate the emission sequence, or order that they were minted). The 1801 LM-1 is an R7 die marriage, and extremely rare. In the latest JRCS census survey there were just two examples reported - a VG-8 and my own G-4. And by the way, your coin is not the R7 variety; it is an early die state example of the more common LM-2 (R4).
The doubling seen on the obverse is 'machine' doubling, or 'strike' doubling, and was a result of the striking of this specific coin, and not due to doubling on the die. It is seen quite often on certain dates of the Bust halves, but much less common on the half dimes.
Any 1801 is a rare coin, and yours is certainly a keeper. The complete absence of any obverse die cracks is what determines it as an early die state. This is where I really wish I had a camera to post imnages of my coins, as I have an 1801 from the Ed Price collection that was designated as "the latest die state seen" (Die State H) of the 1801 LM-2, with a severely shattered obverse die, with several cuds. Most 1801's seen, of either the LM-1 or LM-2 marriages, are seen with extensive obverse die cracks.