We have a few interesting contributions this week.
First, Mike Camp wrote about the title image in last week's
JR Newsletter, asking if there was an image of the entire coin (an 1837 LM-1
half dime). The image of the obverse and
reverse of that coin (not just the close up of the date clashed onto the
reverse) is here:
Click on the image to open/view a larger version
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David Perkins wrote:
For those who missed this, Bryce Brown’s Numismatic
Literature Auctions Second Mail Bid Sale of Important Numismatic Literature
March 5, 2016 had an extremely hard to find copy of a book on 1794 Dollars by
Martin A. Logies. Many of you know
Bryce as he handles sales of the back issues of the John Reich Journal for
JRCS. This rare book on 1794 Dollars was
sold as Lot 354, and was cataloged as follows:
Presentation Copy of
Logies’ Dollars of 1794
354 Logies, Martin A. THE
FLOWING HAIR SILVER DOLLARS OF 1794: AN HISTORICAL AND POPULATION CENSUS STUDY. Cardinal
Collection Educational Foundation, CA, 2004, first edition. Original pictorial
card covers, 4to. 203 pages, illustrated. New. An important and meticulous
research study of this fantastic first year of dollar coinage and the coins
that are known to exist. This is a prerelease issue that was distributed and
inscribed by Martin. Rarely available in ANY form. ($150)
The book hammered at
$385.00, and with the 15% Buyer’s Premium it realized $442.75!
This has always been a difficult, if not impossible book to
find. Bryce is correct when he stated,
“Rarely available in ANY form.” I’ve tried to find copies for friends over the
years, and have been unsuccessful.
I also have a copy of the Third Edition of this book, which
is hardbound. I was not aware of a
second edition having been published. If
anyone has a copy of the second edition I’d appreciate confirmation of this and
would like to learn the date of publication.
I assume the original cost of this book was $100.00. I gave Martin a $100 bill for my copy of this
book at a coin show, possibly the 2002 ANA
(?). I purchased the Third Edition from
Martin at the 2010 Boston ANA for another
$100 bill. I’ve never seen the any of
these books advertised for sale by Martin Logies or the Cardinal
Foundation.
W. David Perkins
Centennial, CO
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Jim Matthews wrote:
Discovery of a new
specimen of 1801 LM-1 half dime
Recently a partner and I purchased a raw 1801 LM-1 half dime
from a dealer who had correctly attributed this rarity and, having studied the
coin, we are now ready to place it on the market at the Baltimore Coin
Convention at the end of this month. At a glance, this rare die pairing jumps
out at anyone who has seen a picture of this variety, as there is always a
dramatic horizontal die crack through the upper portion of the date and curving
up the bust tip on the right to the rim--forming a retained cud. All known
examples have this die crack, although it is possible an early die state exists
without the crack, none have yet been discovered. The obverse die was likely
misaligned with the reverse, causing an early and dramatic crack. Although raw,
the coin was unusually wholesome for an early half dime. There were no bends in
the planchet, and the surfaces are free from any physical damage as well as
being smooth and having no environmental damage.
Flowing Hair and Draped Bust half dimes have a well-earned
reputation for being hard to find nice, in any grade, that is well known among
experienced collectors. I had conversations in the 1970s with Bowers and
Ruddy's numismatist John Murbach, where he recalled working with Jim Ruddy on
the original "Photograde" book that the Draped Bust, Small Eagle and
Draped Bust, Heraldic Eagle half dimes were nearly impossible to find
representative examples of for this ground breaking reference. So many of the
known coins were bent with uneven wear, or damaged in some manner that
considerable effort had to be expended for months to locate representative
examples of each grade. Today, with better photography and auction archives
that we not available 40+ years ago, such a task would be considerably easier
as known higher grade coins are generally well known and documented.
Half Dime collecting has long been a passion of
numismatists. Harold P. Newlin published the first book on this series in 1883.
For years, the standard reference work titled "The United States Half
Dimes" had been the original pamphlet by Daniel W. Valentine published by
the ANS as Monograph #48 in 1931. This
pamphlet was reprinted in 1975 by Quarterman with updates and new discoveries
then known. The half dimes of 1801 were always available, although the vast
majority known are in low grades. The Valentine reference noted two varieties,
V-1 and V-2. There was no picture of the V-2 variety in his book, but he noted
that "Obv. Similar to no. 1, but die breaks under bust at 1 and 8 of date
which almost obliterates these two figures. Rev. Same as No. 1."
Noted specialists in the series Ed Price and Jules Reiver
began to study the V-1 and V-2 coins and discovered that the obverse dies
of these two varieties were incredibly similar in the locations of the letters
and stars. After purchasing a considerable number of 1801 half dimes between
them and exhaustively studying and comparing examples determined that the V-1
and V-2 were struck with the same obverse die, which had been radically re-engraved
to remove extensive die cracks and damage on the right side, and coinage
continued, then this amazing die broke on the left side. Their study was
reported in the "John Reich Journal" Volume 11, Issue 3.
In 1986 Dr. Eric Gutscher purchased an 1801 half dime from
Stack's in an auction, where it was noted to be a V-2 example. The coin had a
horizontal die crack through the entire date to the bust, which seemed to fit
the description used by Valentine--"die break under bust at 1 and 8 of
date which almost obliterates these two figures." Without another example to reference and no
photograph, this would seem a reasonable attribution. However, when Dr.
Gutscher sent his new coin to Jules Reiver it was clearly something different
than the coin Jules considered to be V-2. In 1987 Jules Reiver wrote an article
in the "John Reich Journal" Volume 2, Issue 1 describing this new die
variety.
In 1999, the now-standard reference book on this series was
published entitled, "Federal Half Dimes 1792 – 1837," by Russell J.
Logan and John W. McCloskey. Excellent photographs and descriptions have now
been available to numismatists for years, and the popularity of this series
continues to grow. In this reference, the old Valentine-1 and Valentine-2
varieties (struck by the same reworked die pair) became known as LM-2, with
notes and photographs of the extraordinary die deterioration that occurred
during the production of this variety. The variety discovered by Eric Gutscher became
known as the LM-1 die pairing.
In the nearly 30 years since the discovery of the 1801 LM-1
only a handful have turned up, and this variety remains a solid R-7 with only 6
or so known. Collectors have searched far and wide to locate examples of this die
pairing without success. With the continued growth of third party grading,
there are now two examples that have been certified without problems between
PCGS and NGC (both are PCGS). One is PCGS Fine-12, and now this coin as AG-3.
The technically finest has VF details but minor surface roughness and is
considered to have environmental damage by PCGS. Thus the census of the 1801
LM-1 would be as follows:
1). Discovery specimen, Stack's 6/86:761 VF details,
environmental damage, sold by W. David Perkins in 2015 to an advanced half dime
specialist
2). PCGS F-12, held in another advanced half dime collection
for many years
3). Plate Coin Logan/McCloskey reference, VF details, but
with dents on obverse and reverse
4). PCGS AG-3, this new specimen that turned up last year.
Obverse is VG or so, reverse just enough wear to the tops of some letters in
the legend to make it AG-3.
5). A specimen that has damage and in low grade, not seen,
sold privately from another advanced half dime specialist
6). Poor-1, an unattributed specimen sold about 20 years ago
in a Heritage bullet sale, obverse clearly recognizable with the die crack,
reverse slick from wear. Not seen
At this time, it is believed that the 1801 LM-1 die marriage
is the rarest of the series, topping out the rarity of the 1800 LM-2 and LM-4
varieties, which are both low R-7 at this point with 10 to 12 specimens known
of each.
I can be contacted at 540-335-3288 or by email at bustdollar(at)yahoo.com
Keep on searching as these rarities still turn up now and
then!
Jim Matthews
Click on the image to open/view a larger version
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Nathan Markowitz wrote:
This is a reminder that we will be having a silver die marriage display at the 2016 EAC show in Charlotte NC at the Westin
hotel Thursday April 7. On behalf of EAC, John Kraljevich as
convention chair and myself as educational chair cordially encourage all
JRCS members to attend the show. There is no charge for the show which
begins with a reception Thursday evening and continues with educational seminars and a bourse through Sunday afternoon April 10.
We
have 1819 B4 quarter and bust silver counterstamps as display tables.
Please contact me at cascades1787(at)yahoo.com if you wish to have a die
marriage table for a different denomination. You don't
need high grade coins…just need to bring some examples to display. If you've been to one of these conventions
Nathan
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Len Augsburger wrote:
The Newman Numismatic
Portal is Live
Newman Numismatic Portal Announces Opening of Numismatic
Research Site
March 6, 2016
– The Newman Numismatic Portal (NNP) is now live and open to the general public
at
NewmanPortal.org.
Funded by the Eric P. Newman Numismatic
Education Society (EPNNES), NNP is administered through Washington
University in St.
Louis, and aims to provide the most comprehensive
numismatic resources available on the Internet.
“I have long wanted to make the literature and images of numismatics,
particularly American numismatics, available to everyone on a free and forever
basis,” said Eric P. Newman, president of EPNNES. “Today’s digital
technologies, combined with the funds recently assembled from auctions of some
of our foundation’s holdings, now make this possible.”
The Newman Portal project launched scanning operations at
Washington University Libraries in July, 2015, and at the American Numismatic
Society in November, 2015. Both
locations are equipped with scanning equipment supplied in partnership with
Internet Archive, as well as personnel to perform scanning on a full-time
basis. Over 3,000 documents, representing
more than 100,000 pages, have been completed to date. The documents represent a mix of auction
catalogs, periodicals, reference books, and archival material. Most of this material is unique to the Newman
Portal and has not been previously scanned.
In addition to the libraries of Eric P. Newman and the
American Numismatic Society, a number of contributors including private
collectors Dan Hamelberg, Bill Burd, and Joel Orosz have loaned material to the
Newman Portal for scanning.
The Newman
Portal has further partnered with over a dozen specialty and regional
organizations to provide access to back issues of club journals.
A full list of available publications may be
found in the periodical section of the Newman Portal at
http://www.NewmanPortal.org/library/periodicals.
The Portal further includes reference content structured for
optimal usage within the context of online access. Resources such as Pete Smith American
Numismatic Biographies and Albert Frey’s dictionary from the American Journal
of Numismatics have been broken down into separate entries and appear
individually in search results. The U.S.
coin encyclopedia contains over 2 million auctions prices realized. A Lucene-based search engine allows users to
search across all content, from the scans hosted by Internet Archive to the
reference material within the site itself.
While ongoing scanning operations continue to build the
“virtual library” of the Newman Portal, the long term goal of NNP is to
increase collector collaboration and foster knowledge sharing through
crowdsourcing and other initiatives. The
Smithsonian Institute has recently demonstrated the promise of crowdsourcing in
cataloging thousands of national bank currency proofs. The Newman Portal has announced its first such
project, creating a transcription of Franklin Peale’s Report (1835), a
fundamental document related to 19th century American coining technology. With today’s electronic resources, the power
of the community can accomplish tasks beyond individuals or small teams, and
the Newman Portal will enable this within the numismatic research space.
