Sean Kelly wrote about the upcoming sale of an 1835 LM-12 half dime. Your editor added a couple things to his opening paragraph. Sean did a great job illustrating the known information about this rare die marriage and encourages anyone with additional information to please contribute too!
We in the capped bust half dime community are talking about the 1835 LM-12 half dime in PCGS MS65 that graces the cover of Volume 34 of our JR Journal. It’s an interesting coin: high grade, original, rare. The LM-12 variety was discovered in 2007 by Edgar Souders, but Richard Meaney knew of this MS65 coin’s existence before this coin’s existence was announced publicly, as his research spotted it in the 1999 Walter Childs catalog from Bowers & Merena. As I write this, its upcoming sale at Heritage Auctions is less than a week away. The new owner of the coin will no doubt be proud of their acquisition! Richard knows of a handful of other people who knew about this particular coin long before it was announced. Most had learned about it from seeing it in the Childs catalog. Richard recalls searching for it for years and considering the effort fruitless, so he told a prominent dealer about the coin's existence in hopes that the dealer would find it!
A great thing about the JRCS is that its members value the accumulation of knowledge just as they value the acquisition of coins. As I am an avid collector of the capped bust half dimes, who happens to also be the JRCS’ newest census keeper for them, I thought I’d share some insights into the 1835 LM-12. I invite anyone with additional information to email me!
I believe the current population, informed by the JRCS March 2023 census and contacts in the community, consists of these nine coins, as shown in the linked pdf: Linked PDF Click here!
