1841-O half dollar dies
Blackhawk
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I recently got a circ. 1841-O half dollar with some interesting reverse dies cracks - not the baseball reverse. Looking at the coins in the Heritage archive to see if I could find one to match it to, I was somewhat surprised by the number of different reverse dies used in the fairly small mintage of these coins...the mintmark is punched in numerous positions. Does anyone have any idea about how many coins that each die was used for in that era? Could the dies for this date have had problems with the metal that caused early failure?
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Comments
By the 1840s the quality of the dies had improved, but there were without a doubt a fair number of defective dies that didn’t last that long. In addition the Philadelphia mint produced all of the dies for the entire mint system, and quite often Philly would send their worst dies to the branch mints. New Orleans also had a rep from producing lower grade coins, which may have been due in part to less than optimal die preparation (basining).
This is a long way of saying that I don’t know the answer, but at least I could give you a few clues.
MINTAGE: 401,000
PROOFS: None.
VARIETIES:
* Authors’ Research Effort: extensive
* Number of Die Marriages Documented: 11
* Number of Head Dies Identified: 7
* Number of Tail Dies Identified: 8
* Number of Collar Reed Counts Identified: 2 (145, 146)
* Standard Diameter or Diameter Range: 1.180 to 1.198 inches
* Number of Major Varieties: 2
* WB-101. LARGE MINTMARK. (6 TAIL DIES)
Nine marriages using 6 tail dies (with minor mintmark placement variations) and head dies have been documented. One of these tail dies is in transitional with 1842-O small date but in a later die state and therefore struck after the 1842-O. (Breen-4757)
* WB-102. MEDIUM MINTMARK. (2 TAIL DIES)
Both tail dies are paired with the same obverse. One tail with a heavy baseball die crack pattern similar to the seams on a baseball is very rare. (Breen-4756)
COMMENTS:
* All reverse dies are cracked in later dies states, some very severely. Of the two different reed counts seen, the most common is 145. Planchets have been seen with imbedded bits of iron (as in 1840-0) attesting to the minting problems experienced in the early years of operation.
...and also for the joke RWB. No need to delete it, I like that kind of stuff.