Jim Matthews wrote:
I'm just back from the Gettysburg coin show. The show was active and fairly well attended. I met several dealers that were new to me and saw the usual familiar faces that attend these regional shows. For me the show had two amazing finds, a friend of mine had texted me that he had secured an example of the 1829 JR-4 with the reverse cud at ER and faintly a retained cud above NITE, the coin is well circulated but does have full rims, and the cud over ER appears advanced despite the wear on the coin. I purchased an example of this full cud from the Larry Blackwelder Collection back in 1993 or so and I don't recall seeing another example (picture attached of the Blackwelder coin). This is an exciting coin for us cud specialists!
I'm just back from the Gettysburg coin show. The show was active and fairly well attended. I met several dealers that were new to me and saw the usual familiar faces that attend these regional shows. For me the show had two amazing finds, a friend of mine had texted me that he had secured an example of the 1829 JR-4 with the reverse cud at ER and faintly a retained cud above NITE, the coin is well circulated but does have full rims, and the cud over ER appears advanced despite the wear on the coin. I purchased an example of this full cud from the Larry Blackwelder Collection back in 1993 or so and I don't recall seeing another example (picture attached of the Blackwelder coin). This is an exciting coin for us cud specialists!
Then, as if this singular
purchase wasn't enough I was talking with New York dealer Tom Keenan and he had
brought along several amazing finds from his own personal collection. He showed
me a couple of fairly common cuds which are always fun to purchase, an 1836 LM-1.2
half dime with the cud at TED--long a favorite of mine as this variety and
remarriage is one of the first cuds I purchased many years ago from Stack's.
The cud is fully developed and the third star on the obverse is virtually
gone—an indication of a very late striking with the cud well advanced
(important evidence of die state on lower grade coins like this) Along with the
half dime he had a decent example of a Capped Bust dime of the 1831 JR-5 with
the cud above UNI.
However, the incredible find
from Tom was a coin he had purchased "many years ago", that being an
example of the Capped Bust dime 1831 JR-6 with the full obverse cud at stars 2
and 3. I was able to secure all these coins and these made my show quite
memorable. In the last twenty plus years I've only seen 3 examples of the 1831
JR-6 with the obverse cud! Perhaps a few more exist, but I doubt if there are
more than a handful. Once again, it pays to look and search, as you never know
when that wondrous gem will appear!
Jim Matthews
------
Len Augsburger wrote:
The Bust coinage from the Independence Hall collection has been
posted on the Newman Portal at: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/imagecollection/510357
The Independence Hall collection was contributed to the City of
Philadelphia by Frank H. Stewart, who built it as part of his investigation
into the first Mint history. Stewart referred to it as the “Old Mint
Collection.” Eventually the National Park Service inherited the collection and
today it resides at Independence Hall, though none of it is exhibited. If any
JRCSers would like to help with attributions, we will post them. Thanks
to Dave Perkins for assisting with the silver dollars. Jeremy Katz did the
photography, and it is excellent.
Regards,
Len
