Stack's to Offer an 1835 LM-12 Half Dime in June: Images Now Posted!

Jim Matthews of Stack's announced that in June of this year Stack's will offer an 1835 LM-12 half dime at auction.  Jim described the coin as VF-30, cleaned, but more or less average for a circulated 1835 half dime.  He hopes to be able to send scans of the coin so that they can be posted here. The auction will be Stack's June Baltimore auction.

This is huge news, since there were only two known examples of the 1835 LM-12 half dime prior to discovery of this piece.  No doubt the coin will attract some healthy attention at the Stack's auction.  The coin is in the Stack's 15-16 June 2010 auction in Baltimore, MD.

Editor's Update:  Price realized (with buyer's premium) was $6,900!
July 24 editor's note:  PCGS graded the coin VF-35 and put the attribution on the label as "LM-12, Small Date, Large 5C"

You can click on the images in order to view a larger version.  Photo credit goes to Stack's and Bob Krajewski.

Frederick Collection of Capped Bust Half Dollars to be Auctioned at CSNS Show

The Donald R. Frederick collection of Capped Bust half dollars will be auctioned by Heritage at Central States (starting April 28). There are about 480 bust halves in the collection, some of which are probably the finest known for the variety. Don owned 443 of the 450 varieties attributed to Overton.

 

In addition, there are important groups of other early US silver coinage:

 

Bust quarters

Bust dimes

Bust half dimes

Silver three cents

 

Don was one of the earliest members of the Bust Half Nut Club, and loved the Bust half dollars. Most of his wonderful collection was acquired prior to 1995. Don passed away on January 8, 2010.

 

editor's note:  Thanks to Steve Herrman for this information!

Latest Issue of JR Journal has been Mailed!

Issue 20/2 of the John Reich Journal has been mailed.  If you are a current, paid member of JRCS who received issue 20/1 and do not receive the newest issue 20/2 by the first of February, please contact the editor of the JR Journal at this email address:  jrcs19 (at) roadrunner.com (note, please replace the (at) with the @ symbol when sending an email.  I've made the email address this way in an effort to reduce spam emails received by people who share their email addresses. 

Question on obverse and reverse rims for Capped Bust coinage that are smooth without segments

This question came to me from a reader and I have published it here so that maybe someone with knowledge on the subject can comment:

Edgar Souders' article "Capped Bust Half-Dollar Secrets: Broken Legend and Number Punches" in the recent JR Journal was an absolute joy to read.  A very impressive study!   A question I have is related to Edgar's article and a Contemporary Counterfeit Capped Bust Half Collector Club website (http://cccbhcc.com/Collectors_Corner.html) recent Collector's Corner addition entitled "Mint Error or Contemporary Counterfeit?" that is distantly related.  Has there been any JR study on the obverse and reverse rims for Capped Bust coinage that are smooth without segments?

Mis-Labeled "STATESOF" Dime on Ebay

Rick A wrote in to share information about an misattributed STATESOFAMERICA dime being sold on ebay.  Here's what he wrote:

eBay has a 1820 bust dime, item 290389126110, graded by PCGS as XF45 StatesOfAmerica that ends 1-17-2010. However, it is mislabled!!! It is NOT the JR1 SofA variety. It is a common variety.
I notified the seller giving him the JR1 attributes and suggested he returns it to whom ever he purchased it from if he paid a preimum. He has not responded and continues with the auction. I was going to bid strongly as I need one and I didn't acquire anything in the recent Heritage Fun Auction. Looking at it more closely, particularly the reverse which is easily distinglishable, I noticed it was not the JR1. Buyer Beware.

Link to item:  ebay dime

New Condition Census 1832 LM-14 Half Dime?

This coin is in a PCGS MS-64 holder.  Brand-new (to me) today.  According to the most recent JRCS survey, finest known (and only mint state example reported in the survey) was an MS-63.  Logan and McCloskey reported an AU-58 in a Bowers and Merena auction.  So I'm thinking this is the new number one.  The slab has some scratches on it.  For a much bigger image, click on the picture!

 

Can You Figure Out the Year of This Bust Dime?

Steve sent in another dime for our sleuth work.  He doesn't know the date of this coin and hopes a sharp-eyed reader might be able to decipher the year or possible years that this coin could have been minted. If you click on the image, it should cause your internet browser to open up a much-larger version of the image.