JR Newsletter: 28 December 2014 (221)

We have two contributions this week.

Dave Rutherford wrote:

There is another correction to Garrett Ziss's quiz. The number of remarriages in the capped bust series is four. The fourth is 1827 O.124 and 1827 O.135 as reported in the JRJ vol. 24 issue 1.

Dave Rutherford

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Winston Zack wrote on two topics, the first being a response to Jim Matthews concerning a counterfeit 1796 dime:

There are numerous questions which need to be answered in order for numismatists to understand whether they own a 'Contemporary', 'Post-Contemporary' or 'Modern' counterfeit.

1) What is the provenance of the counterfeit (if known)?

2) When was the counterfeit acquired?

3a) What is the weight, specific gravity, and metallurgical composition of the counterfeit?

3b) How does the information in question 3a (above) compare to other like-counterfeits?

4) How does the manufacturing style compare to other known counterfeits (contemporary, post-contemporary, modern)?

5) What historical documentation, if any, is known about this counterfeit?

Answering these six questions can only bring us closer to understanding the contemporary nature, or lack thereof, for pieces like this.

There may also be additional, pertinent questions which should be asked in order to obtain a better conclusion about the counterfeit.

So, Jim, if you can provide answers to most/all the questions about for your 1796 counterfeit dime that would help you in identifying if the piece is contemporary or not.

Personally, I don't recall seeing a counterfeit with a reverse eagle design like the one on your counterfeit before. Then again I don't keep track of the modern, Asian counterfeit 1796 dimes on the market, so it could certainly match one!

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Winston Zack also wrote to ask for some information on bust coin errors:

I was wondering if anyone out there has a list of Bust silver coin errors (double/triple struck, off-center, brockage, etc., but no cuds please) from the half-dime, dime, quarter, half-dollar and dollar series that they would be willing to share with me for a JRJ article I am looking to write. (The Bust Quarter errors are pretty well documented, I think, in the Bust Quarter books, but I will gladly add to that list if possible).

If you have this type of information to share with me and/or are curious to know more about why I'm requesting this information, please feel free to contact me at:  stoneman101(at)gmail.com

Thanks,

Winston

JR Newsletter: 21 December 2014 (220)

Usually, December is a slow month for coins, but this issue of the JR Newsletter tells me it is a great month for news about coins.  Lots of good stuff in here, starting with something from Rich Uhrich.

Rich Uhrich wrote:

Rich Uhrich has announced he is selling for a client an 1838-O half dollar, one of only nine such coins known.  The coin is PCGS Specimen-50 and will be pictured on his website and will be at his table #712 at the FUN show.  A photo is provided for readers of the JR Newsletter.  In hand, the coin is more lustrous than one would conclude from the images.

Rich is also preparing his "Coin Year In Review" newsletter, an annual tradition.  Last year's edition was republished, in part, in Coin World.  The only way to get the newsletter on its issuance date of December 31, 2014, is to sign up on Rich's Newsletter page on his website www.richuhrichcoins.com .  At some time in January, 2015, the newsletter will be published on Rich's website.

Best wishes for wonderful holidays!

Rich

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Barbara Rea wrote:

Washington University in St. Louis and the Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society (EPNNES) have announced plans to create the Newman Numismatic Portal, an online research tool that will become the ultimate go-to resource for the study of coins and currency. A commitment of $2 million from EPNNES will support the project.  More information is at this link:   https://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/27786.aspx

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Brad Karoleff wrote:

The latest issue of the John Reich Journal has gone out and anyone not receiving their issue by Christmas should contact me at bkaroleff@yahoo.com

Also, dues for next year are requested.  There is a renewal form in with the journals.  Please fill it out and return it to Steve Crain at PO Box 1680 Windham ME 04062 (with checks payable to JRCS or John Reich Collectors Society).  Please put your membership number on the form, it is on the mailing label following your name.

The bust dollar census will be the next one published by the society in the Spring issue.  Dollar collectors should send their information to Dave Perkins.  The announcement is in the editor's notes in this issue of the JR Journal.

There will be a JRCS meeting at the upcoming FUN show.  Anyone attending the show is encouraged to come share some time with us.

Happy Holidays,

Brad Karoleff

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Garrett Ziss wrote:

I would like to make a correction to one of the quiz answers published in the most recent John Reich Journal (Vol. 24/ Iss. 3).

The answer to question #4 under the dollar section, states that Jules Reiver owned 93/98  Draped Bust dollar die marriages. First of all, after discussions the last few days with Early Dollar Specialist and Dollar Census Keeper, W. David Perkins, it was clarified that Mr. Reiver owned 97 of the 98 Draped Bust dollar die marriages known at that time. A few of his dollars were sold right around the time of his death and they were not captured in my answer. He only lacked 1796 B-3 BB-62, which he believed did not exist. Secondly, I would like to clarify that a new dollar die marriage, 1803 B-8 BB-257, was discovered since the quiz was written, which brings the total number of Draped Bust Dollar die marriages to 99. It was certainly amazing that Jules Reiver had such a complete Draped Bust dollar collection considering all the other coin series he collected.

Garrett

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We also have two replies to Jim Matthews concerning Jim's counterfeit 1796 dime:

Keith Davignon wrote:

A reply to Jim Matthews on the bogus 1796 dime: Jim, have you tried a magnet on the coin? If magnetic, it is most surely a modern Chinese counterfeit. If not magnetic, it may still be modern, but I don’t know of any magnetic (iron alloy) contemporary fakes.

Keith Davignon

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Paul Kluth wrote:

Jim Matthews' request in last week's JR Newsletter for more information concerning his counterfeit 1796 Dime raises some good questions regarding 'contemporary' counterfeits in general across all U.S. series and denominations (in my opinion).  Even though counterfeit coins over the past 200 years are for the most part, both a mystery as to origin and complexity as to manufacturer, it would be helpful for numismatists to have a checklist of sorts that helps to identify whether a fake is of modern origin (and modern Chinese origin) or of contemporary origin that collectors are interested in.

Most of us probably go by visual feel, past knowledge of older known counterfeits, obvious weight, specific gravity/metal  content and the good 'ole ring on a hard surface, but the Chinese fakes out there are so good that it is hard to tell how old the coins really are.  [There must be a 'fake coin cartel' out there ruining the hobby for all.]

Anyway, for the next Whitman Baltimore Show, I'll plan to bring some interesting counterfeits from my own collection across the Bust, Liberty Seated and Barber series to share with Jim and others if interested.  Maybe we could come to an informal consensus on the topic of fakes difficult to determine age (modern vs. contemporary)?

Just an idea...

Paul Kluth

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JR Newsletter: 14 December 2014 (219)

We are fortunate to have two interesting contributions this week.  The first is from Dave Lange:

By now you'll almost certainly know of the newly discovered 1803 dollar variety. I had a chance to examine this coin a few weeks ago, but I didn't say anything about it until ICG had a chance to make its announcement as the discoverers. Below are my own observations that I posted today on the NGC message board:

This week's issue of Coin World includes the announcement of a new die marriage for the 1803 silver dollar. It pairs Reverse B, previously known for one variety of 1803 (BB-255) and a few others dated 1801-02 with a previously unknown obverse die. This new die marriage has been labeled BB-257 by Mark Borckardt, co-author of the Bowers-Borckardt silver dollar encyclopedia. By extension, the equivalent Bolender number would be B-7, as this is the seventh die marriage for 1803.

The discovery was made by Randy Campbell of ICG, and the coin was then shown to me by Skip Fazzari of that company for my examination. I concurred with the conclusion already reached by Mark Borckardt that the obverse die is new to the hobby.

An observation of my own is that the die state of the reverse is identical to that of BB-255, so these die marriages were clearly struck one right after the other. Since the BB-257 marriage is so rare as to have escaped detection until now, that leads me to conclude that this marriage was the last one used for 1803 dollars. Coins of that date were struck into early 1804, until a presidential order terminated their production, along with that of gold eagles. It's very likely that coining with the BB-257 marriage had only just begun when the halt order was received. How many were actually produced with this previously unknown obverse is anyone's guess, but the number had to be very small. 

Regards,

Dave

David W. Lange

Research Director

Numismatic Guaranty Corporation

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Jim Matthews wrote:

Here's a picture of a bit of a conundrum I'm working on. I have a 1796 dime that is a counterfeit. What I'd like to know is just when was this thing made? I'd love it to be a circulated example of a contemporary counterfeit, but I'm afraid it might be of later origin. The second possibility would be an early counterfeit to fool collectors. Given the somewhat primitive nature of the designs and lettering, this is a counterfeit that wouldn't fool many collectors. The third and worst outcome is that this is some kind of early generation of the Chinese counterfeits which are flooding our shores.

The best way to figure this out, is by finding out just what the alloy is that was used to create this coin. I don't have the machinery necessary but will endeavor to get this done soon and write a follow up report.

I'd like to hear other numismatists take on this early counterfeit and if anyone else has seen a similar 1796 dime out there.

These picture is by Bill Noyes.

Jim Matthews

JR Newsletter: 7 December 2014 (218)

We have three contributions this week. 

First, from Alan Bricker:

Responding to the recent inquiries regarding the existence of a Bust Dime VIM

by Jules Reiver, I can affirm that at one time Jules did consider doing an early

dime VIM and he asked me about possibly joining with him on such a project.

However, following the 1984 release of the JR dime reference, we felt that doing

an early dime VIM was not a priority relative to other denominations which were

lacking availability of up-to-date reference material.

Therefore, although we had dime variety notes, no early dime VIM was published.

Alan Bricker

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Next, Jim Matthews shared a recent "treasure-hunting" adventure:

Here's what I did on a rainy Friday afternoon in Virginia. Attending the Weyer's Cave Show not too far from home, a dealer friend of mine who purchases low grade examples of coins to supply museums with real coins for novices to buy had a large selection of early silver coins held aside for me. These real but worn coins are sold to museums instead of those dreaded "copy" coins that appear in deal after deal that do nothing but confuse the gullible. I went through this group quickly, all low grade (the best was maybe VG with damage), most were Fair-2 or AG-3, several were virtually worn smooth on the reverse. The group included about 100 Capped Bust half dimes, and probably 400-500 Capped Bust dimes. The better grade coins were sold to other sources long before this heap was assembled. I flipped and studied as quickly as possible, looking for easy to find varieties. Nothing of great interest appeared that I recognized. I did buy 5 1820 dimes, a couple of 1821 dimes, one 1824/2, a trio of 1825s and two 1827s. A few others that interested me, including one 1834 with the trio of reverse cuds and an 1830 with a countermark with the date 1856. I did not see any 1829 Curl Base 2 coins, or any 1822s hanging around in the mound of history.

Its not often one gets to wade through what is undoubtedly a more or less virgin hoard of coins. These come from non-numismatic sources and likely represent coins that were in circulation in the 1850s and later given their extremely worn condition. I apologize for the attached lousy iPhone photo, but like the coins, it gets the general idea across. Treasure hunting is alive and well in Shenandoah Valley today.

Jim Matthews

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Finally, Sheridan Downey wrote with an update for his planned FUN mail bid sale:

The Lot List for Mail Bid Sale No. 40 that I sent last week had a few omissions and errors, notably a failure to list the coins with CAC stickers.  A revised version is attached.  Your readers should note that all coins are graded by PCGS unless otherwise noted.  The sale closes during the FUN show, Thursday evening Jan. 8 at 6:30 PM EST.  Lance Keigwin's photos of the coins are now available are my web site, www.sheridanscoins.com.  I continue to encourage collectors to preview lots by overnight mail.  I'm working on the catalog now and hope to have it in the mail before Christmas.  It will also be posted on my web site.

 

Sheridan

LOT LIST -- MAIL BID SALE NO. 40 Closing Thurs. Jan. 8, 2015 6:30 PM EST
PART 1 - SELECTIONS FROM THE COLLECTION OF KEITH DAVIGNON -- LOTS 1- 24
LOT	DATE/VARIETY/RARITY	PCGS GRADE
1	1808 O.109a R.3	AU 58 CAC
2	1810 O.102a R.1	XF 40 OGH CAC
3	1811 Sm.8 O.105a R.2	AU 58 OGH
4	1811 Sm. 8 O.107 R.4	AU 58
5	1811 Sm.8 O.113 R.5	AU 53
6	1813 O.108 R.3	AU 58 CAC
7	1818 O.109 R.1	AU 58 CAC
8	1824/1 O.102 R.5+	AU 53 CAC
9	1827 O.136 R.4	AU 58 CAC
10	1827 O.142 R.3	MS 61 CAC
11	1827 O.143 R.3	AU 55 CAC
12	1829 O.105a R.1	MS 62
13	1830 Sm.0 O.107a R.2	MS 63
14	1831 O.109 R.1	MS 63
15	1832 O.110 R.1	AU 58 OGH CAC
16	1832 O.116 R.3	AU 58 CAC
17	1832 O.121 R.3	AU 58 OGH CAC
18	1833 O.106 R.2	MS 62
19	1834 SDSL O.111 R.1	AU 58 OGH
20	1835 O.105 R.1	AU 58
21	1836 O.101 R.1	AU 58
22	1836 O.102 R.3	AU 55 CAC
23	1836/1336 O.108a R.2	AU 58 CAC
24	1836 O.122 R.2	AU 58 CAC
PART 2 - PROPERTIES OF VARIOUS CONSIGNORS - LOTS 25 TO 79
LOT	DATE/VARIETY/RARITY	PCGS GRADE
25	1807 50/20 Rev. O.112 R.1	AU 58 CAC
26	1808/7 O.101 R.1	AU 50
27	1808 O.110a  R.4+	VF 35
28	1809 O.103 R.1	AU 50 CAC
29	1809 O.109a III Edge R.2	AU 50
30	1809 O.111 R.4?	AU 50
31	1810 O.102a R.2	XF 45 CAC
32	1811/10 O.101 R.1	AU 53
33	1811/10 O.101 R.1	XF 45
34	1811 Sm.8 O.113 R.5	VF 35
35	1812/1 Large 8 O.101 R.5-	VF 25 CAC
36	1812/1 Small 8 O.102 R.2	XF 45
37	1812 O.106 R.3	NGC AU 58
38	1813 O.102 R.4	NGC AU 58
39	1813 O.103 R.2	AU 53
40	1813 O.105 R.1	AU 50
LOT	DATE/VARIETY/RARITY	PCGS GRADE
41	1813 O.108a R.2	AU 50
42	1814/3 O.101a R.2	AU 53
43	1814 O.106a R.4+	NGC MS 62
44	1818/7 Sm.8 O.102 R.2	AU 50
45	1818 Pincher 8's O.108 R.1	AU 50 CAC
46	1818 O.109 R.1	XF 45 CAC
47	1819/8 Lg.9 O.102 R.2	AU 50
48	1819 O.115 R.3	AU 50
49	1820/19 Sq. Base 2 O.101a R.3	AU 50
50	1820/19 Curl Base 2 O.102 R.1	AU 53
51	1820 Lg. Dt., Sq.2 w/ Knob O.105 R.1	AU 50
52	1820 Lg. Dt., Sq.2 No Knob O.108 R.2	AU 53
53	1821 O.101a R.1	AU 55 OGH
54	1822/1 O.101 R.1	AU 55
55	1822 O.109 R.2	MS 62 CAC
56	1823 Broken 3 O.101 R.3	XF 40
57	1823 Patched 3 O.101a R.1	XF 45
58	1823 Patched 3 O.102 R.4	Raw XF 45
59	1823 O.103 R.2	AU 55 CAC
60	1823 O.104 R.3	AU 55
61	1823 O.104"a" R.5?	AU 50
62	1823 O.106a R.2	AU 55
63	1824/1 O.101a R.2	AU 50
64	1826 O.102 R.1	AU 58 CAC
65	1826 O.119 R.4	AU 58 CAC
66	1827/6 O.102 R.1	AU 50
67	1827 O.109 R. 4-	AU 50
68	1827 O.136 R.4	NGC AU 58
69	1828 Sq. Base 2, Sm.8's O.110 R.2	AU 55 CAC
70	1829/7 O.101 R.1	AU 53
71	1829 O.103 R.1	AU 58
72	1829 O.105 R.1	AU 53
73	1831 O.103 R.1	AU 55 CAC
74	1832 O.103 R.1	AU 55 OGH
75	1832 O.116 R.3	AU 53 CAC
76	1832 O.118 R.1	AU 55 CAC
77	1832 No Tail Feathers O.120 R.3	AU 58 CAC
78	1834 Lg. Dt. & Ltrs. O.103 R.2	AU 50 CAC
79	1834 Lg. Dt., Sm. Ltrs. O.105 R.1	NGC AU 55
80	1834 Lg. Dt., Sm. Ltrs. O.106 R.1	AU 58
81	1836 O.105 R.4-	AU 53
82	1836/1336 O.108a R.2	AU 55
PART 3 - A SELECT GROUP OF BUST DIMES AND QUARTERS -- LOTS 83- 91
LOT	DATE/VARIETY/RARITY	PCGS GRADE
83	1811/09 10¢ JR-1 R.3	VF 35
84	1814 Lg. Date 10¢ JR-4 R.2	XF 40 CAC
85	1821 Lg. Date 10¢ JR-1 R.2	NGC AU 58
86	1828 Lg. Date 10¢ JR-2 R.3	XF 45 CAC
87	1833 10¢ JR-1 R.3	AU 55 CAC
LOT	DATE/VARIETY/RARITY	PCGS GRADE
88	1834 Lg.4 10¢ JR-5 R.1	AU 50 CAC
89	1836 10¢ JR-3 R.3	AU 55 CAC
90	1806/5 25¢ B.1 R.2	VF 30 CAC
91	1828 25¢ B.4 R.3	XF 45 CAC