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Liberty Seated The E-Gobrecht Collectors Club 2010 Volume6,Issue8 TheElectronicNewsletteroftheLIBERTYSEATEDCOLLECTORSCLUB August2010(Whole#67) AuctionNews 2 LSCC Annual Meeting this Month! byJimGray Questionofthe 3 Month In conjunctionwiththeAmericanNumismaticAssociation's World's Fair of Money,theofficers ofthe LibertySeatedCollectors Clubinviteall members, Seatedcoinina 3 guests, and anyonewith aninterest in LibertySeatedcoinagetoparticipate in PCGSRegency holder theClub’s 37thannual meeting. It will beheldon Thursday,August 12,2010at 9AM intheSheratonBostonHotel’s GardnerRoom. TheSheratonconnects AnswerstoLast 4 Month’sQoM directlytotheJohnB.Hynes ConventionCenter andthebourse floor. Alivelyagendais plannedincludingpresentation ofthe2009Ahwash RegionalNews 5 andJames B.PryorResearchawards, reports of clubactivities, andaclubbene- ByGerryFortin fit auction. Copies ofthe latest editionoftheGobrecht Journal Collective Vol- TheBudgetCollec- ume#5will beavailable forinspectionandpurchase. Completemeetingdetails tor:FourthinaSeries 6,8 canbefoundinthe Gobrecht JournalIssue#108 onpage14. ByLenAugsburger QuarteroftheMonth 7,9 Items tobe auctionedincludethefollowing: byGregJohnson 1869LibertySeated  DeluxeleatherhardboundeditionofARegister of LibertySeatedHalf Dol- Dimes;Dr.TimCook lar Varieties, VolumeI,SanFranciscoBranchMintbyBill Bugert,Copy IdentifiesaFifth 10- ShortFlag1Obverse 11 #10of10copies. DiebyGerryFortin  DeluxeleatherhardboundeditionofARegister of LibertySeatedHalf Dol- Thegrosslyunder- rated1843-ODime 12- lar Varieties, VolumeII, CarsonCityBranchMintfeaturingtheCC collec- ByJasonFeldman 13 tionofRandyWiley,byBill Bugert,Copy#10of 10copies. PCGSRegistrySet awardwinners 13  A1967HanoverNumismaticSocietysilvermedal,serial number358, fea- turingthebust ofChristianGobrecht (donatedbyRichUhrichRare U.S. SubscriberCorre- 13 Coins). spondence 1865DoubleDate 14-  ATrial copyofnext year’sGobrecht Journalcoverart - Unique(will not be HalfDollarRevisited 15 used inthefollowing year). byPaulBrill NewHalfDollarDie  ATrial copyofnext year’sGobrecht Journalcoverart - Thecovercoin for MarriageDiscoveries 16 the2010-2011volume. ByBillBugert FreeAdvertisements 17 All proceeds from thesedonateditems will benefit theLSCC Treasury. Clubinformation 18 TheE-GobrechtisatwiceawardwinningelectronicpublicationoftheLibertySeatedCollectorsClub(LSCC). The LSCCisanon-profitorganizationdedicatedtotheattributionsoftheLibertySeatedCoinseries. TheLSCCprovides theinformationcontainedinthisemailnewsletterfromvarioussourcesfreeofchargeasageneralservicetothe membershipandotherswiththisnumismaticinterest. YoudonothavetobeaLSCCmembertobenefitfromthis newsletter;subscriptiontotheE-Gobrechtisavailabletoanyone. Alldisclaimersareineffectasthecompleteness and/oraccuracyoftheinformationcontainedhereincannotbecompletelyverified. Contactinformationisincludedat theend. Page2 The E-Gobrecht Auction News by Jim Gray, LSCC #664 Thesummerdoldrums limited impressive$2,760,whilean1862-S inXF40went relevant sales toonlytheHeri- for$1,035. An1865-S inXF40soldfor$1,093 and tageSummerFunSale. an1866-S inVF20went for$2,070.Anice forthe An1846halfdimein grade1867-S inVF25hammeredfor$2,760, whilea VG8soldfor$863. mundane1868-S inXF40soldfor$632,as didan An1846dimeinVF30 1869-S inVF30. An1870-CC withaG4obverse realized$1,495. Two1874-ccdimes were forsale. andanAG3 reversestill manage$7,475. Aharshly Thefirst hadXFdetails but hadbeenharshlycleaned cleaned1871-CC withVFdetails soaredto$7,187, andhaddamageonthereversenearthedenomina- whilean1872-CC withVGdetails andanobverse tion yet it still soldfor$6,325. Theotherhad AU scratchonlysoldfor$1,955. An1873closed3in details but was cleaned, nicelyretoned andwas well VG10soldfor$1,265. An1873-CC inG4 but struckwithafewscratches, but didnot sell. cleaned went for$1,840, whileaduplicateinG6hit Thesalecontainedacomprehensive consign- animpressive$4,600. An1878-S inXF45soldfor ment ofmedium andlower gradeSeatedquarters. A $1,380. verynice1842-Osmall dateinVF25hit $2,990. An Anattractive1852-OhalfdollarinXF45sold 1849-OinVG10soldfor $2,070,andanadditional for$1,725,whilean1866-S nomottoinVF25went specimenwithXFdetails but cleanedsoldfor a for$1,150. Anicelytoned1874-CC inXF45hit a strong$6,613. An1851-OinVF20went for$1,495, solid$5,463. whilean1852-OinVF25hit $2,415. Anattractive An1855dollarinAU50 but weakontheup- 1859-S withAUdetails andcleanedbut nicelytoned pereaglesoldfor$4,457, whilean1872-S inAU55 backsoaredto$9,200. An1860-S inF12roseto an but withtwoobversestreaks ekedout $3,220. Upcoming LSCC Meetings August12,2010 World’sFair ofMoney,Boston,MA ANA Convention Thursday,9AM,SheratonBostonHotel(Connectsdirectlyto the ConventionCenter) Gardner Room. (LSCCAnnual meeting) September 24,2010 Long Beach,CACoinand CollectablesExpo Friday,time and locationTBD. (LSCCRegionalmeeting) October 29, 2010 October 2010CoinFest,Stamford,CT Friday,9AM,roomTBD.(LSCCRegional meeting) 2010 Volume 6,Issue 8 (August 2010) Page3 Question of the Month Topicfore-DiscussionbyPaulKluth,LSCC#1994 This month’s question is from Club member, Dennis Garstang. We have an opportunity for a “Seated Category" at Central States Show next year in Chicago if there is enough interest by the membership. Of course, you will not have to be a member of LSCC to exhibit but thought I would start by gauging the level of interest in that group hence a "call for the question.” Comments or questions may be directed to me at [email protected]. If there is a high enough level of interest, I will proceed with the Cen- tral States people to set this up. All responses are welcome! Please consider taking a few moments and sending in your thoughts and opinions. As seen on the PCGS coin forum, here is an interesting 1855 in an old and very rare Regency holder with original sued pouch. It is actually an 1855/4 variety and grades AU50. Has anyone seen another seated coin in a Regency holder? ImagecourtesyofthePCGSU.S.coin forum. Page4 The E-Gobrecht Answer to last Month’s Question What is the most difficult decade of your favorite Seated denomination to collect and why? From Dennis Fortier: Iwill answermyownquestion. Icollect LibertySeatedHalfDollars andlove varieties. Therearetwodecades that standout inmymind. The1870's havethe1878-S keydate as well as the CC years with1870,1874,and1878beingthescarcest dates. 1873has the withandwithout arrows varieties, inadditionthereis onemajorvarietythe1873noarrows open3whichis extremelyrareandpopular. Lastlyoneofmyfavorite issues is thelowmintage1873-S. That saidthe1840's are abonanzaforvarietycollectors andtopmylist for themost challenging decade. Let’s start withthefirst U.S.branchmint coinwithout amintmark: 1840(O)Medium Letters, madewiththe1838Bust reversethis oneis aclassicandhighlysought afterbycollectors. 1841lowermintageof300,000 1841-OBaseball DieCrack(only40known) 1842Small Date/ SmallLetters Rev(onlya fewknown) 1842-OSmall Date/ Small Letters (onlyahandful known) 1844-ODoubleDatePossiblythebest knownvarietyoftheseries 1846Horizontal 6verypopularwithcollectors 1846-OTall Datescarce andverypopular 1847/6oneoftherarest varieties oftheseries (only30-40known) 1849DramaticDouble Dateanother great rarity(only20-30known) Estimates from DickOsburn’s " Analysis ofRarityandPopulationEstimates for LibertySeated HalfDollars"and consultations withBill Bugert. From Charles Sullivan: Icollect Seatedhalves. The1870's is byfarthehardest decade, withseven very challengingCarson Cityissues hardtofindinattractiveconditionwithout skippingthemortgagepayment forafewmonths. In answertoreaderinquiries: "Howmanyseated quarters, halves, anddollars arestill trulyoriginal withno harsh cleaning,dipping, andresultinghairlines?" [Ihave] Threeobservations here: 1.Thelargerthedenomination,thelargertheunprotectedareas onobverse andreverse,andthus hairlines becomemoredistracting. This phenomenonhas twosideeffects: laymen want tocleanthe coin andserious collectors want toavoidit. 2.Historically,theless wearthe coinhad,themorelikelysome fool felt theneedtomakethecoin "bright andshiny" again. Perhaps 10%ofSeated quarters, halves, anddollars withVF-Unc.wearlevels haveescaped cleaning. Theironyis that 90%of today's collectors consideratrulyoriginal Seated cointo beugly. Jim Graydelights intellingus aparticularcoinsoldforsmall moneyat theauction"dueto ugly toning."WeimarWhiteconstantlyspreads the gospel of"toningis wear." 3.Atrulyoriginal Seated coinwithVForbetterwear,nosigns ofcleaning, andwithout dark, streaky,orsplotchytoning,is graderarebydefinition. Myadvice? If youseesuchananimal at thelocal bourseoreBayat type-coinmoney,buyit! Save it for yourchildren. 2010 Volume 6,Issue 8 (August 2010) Page5 Regional News by Gerry Fortin, LSCC #1054 Dear fellow LSCC members, numismaticclubs suchas EarlyAmericanCoppers I’m suremanyLSCC arealreadyengaged. members arelookingforwardto theBostonANAshow whichis Summer FUNShow Report just afewdays away. Thereis noquestionofmypersonal relief andhappiness to SincetheJulyRegional News report,the haveworkedout abusiness situationthat allows a SummerFUNshowinOrlando,Florida was held. returntotheUS onAugust 6andconventionatten- Jason Feldman,SouthRegional Director,scheduled dance. ThesummerANAshowis typicallythe an- an LSCC regional meetingduringtheshow andalso nual highlight fornumismatists as theyseriouslypur- provided LSCC publicityat acomplimentarydisplay suetheirhobbyfor aweekandenjoythesocial gath- table. Jason reportedthe followingconcerningthe eringopportunities that theannual ANAconvention SummerFUN: offers. “Noneofthetypical LSCC members werein The LSCC annual meetingis scheduledfor attendanceandtheSummerFunshowitselfwas ThursdayAugust 12at 9:00am. Pleasecheckthe quiet,withdealers mostlydoingwholesalebusiness. LSCC websiteatwww.lsccweb.orgformeeting Emphasis onattractingYoungNumismatists (YN) room locationorthelast pageofthis newsletter. The was successful as Ihadhoped. Therewas positive clubofficers areplanningalivelyagenda withpres- responsetothe LSCC displays at the complimentary entations anddiscussiononnewinitiatives foren- tablewithseveral individuals expressinginterest in hancingclubmember experience. Inparticular,the joiningtheclub. Adozenseatedcoins were given LSCC websitewill receivemuchneededattention awayalongwithtwo LibertySeatedDimeVarieties sincetheclubhas the abilityto expandcontent and web-bookCDROMs and sixGobrecht Journalsto features at will. Aproposal foraddinga condition interestedparties. census set publicationmoduletobewebsitewill be airedfor clubmember feedback andsupport. Condi- Ourtablelocationwas less thanoptimum in tioncensus set reportingcouldbeaccomplished thebackcornerofthehall but wewereinproximity throughanopenregistryforrawandcertifiedcoins totheotherclubtables. Overall, Ifelt the LSCC re- across all seateddenominations. Members could ex- ceivedsufficient exposureincludingthosepeople hibit theircollections andvieforpublicstandingas a whodidnot knowthere was even aclubforseated conditioncensus set. Therearethoughts of LSCC coinage. In addition,theLSCC clubtableandre- awards forleadingsets toencourageclubmember gional meetingwill receivefurther exposureinthe involvement. In additiontotheconditioncensus upcomingFUNTopics. Insummary,themeeting set/websiteproposal, Ialso plantodiscuss myANA was alittledisappointingas was theshowretail busi- SummerSeminarexperienceand conversations with ness but theexposureintheshowprogram andthe KenBressett,whois well knownas theRedbook upcomingissueof FunTopics is anotherpositive editor. Kenhas askedthe LSCC tobecome anactive stepfor LSCC publicity. Iam quiteconfident of a consultant andtosupport updates of LibertySeated muchstrongerturnout at theJanuary2011 FUN coinagedescriptions, pricings and majorvarieties in showandplanningis alreadyunderway.” theRedbook. Currently, Kenindicates that helacks astrongconsultant forseatedcoinagewhileother (Continuedonpage8) Page6 The E-Gobrecht The Budget Collector: Seated Deals & Steals Under a Hundred Dollars FourthinaSeries By Len Augsburger, LSCC #1271 This month’s bargainbinentryoriginates onceagainfrom eBay,themarketplacethat seems toneverend. This purchasewas reportedtomebyawell-knowncherrypickerwithinthe LSCC,whoseems tohavean extraordinaryknack fornot onlyfindingtheextraordinary,but also forpayinglittleornothinginreturn. Wehaveherean1841-O small-Oclosedbudreversedime,“polishedalittle”accordingtothebuyer,and purchased forslightlyless thantwoquid(English pounds),whichcomes out toabout threedollars Ameri- can. What thebuyerpaidforshippingis unrecorded,andprobablyexceededthecost oftheitem itself. Whythepayment inforeign currencyyouask? It turns out this item waspurchasedon eBay.ie,the Irish equivalent ofthepopularauctionsite. It turns out eBaymaintains a wholenumberofinternational venues, suchas eBay.de forGermany,eBay.frfor France,andso on. Quitefrequently,onecanfindUnited States coins listedonthesesites, andchances arethat thesellerwon’t beintimatelyacquaintedwiththe moreesoteric LibertySeatedvarieties. I’veseen US coinageforsaleinmytravels toEurope,but thetypi- cal offeringis araw goldcoinwithahighprice. Suchapurchasecanturn out tobeaquiteexpensivemis- take. Payingtwoquidfora LibertySeateddime, however,maywell beworththegamble. OureBaybidderpurchasedtheitem from aseller inWestcliff-in-Sea,aseasideresort onthe coast ofEngland,situatedabout 34miles east of London. Howthecointraveled across theAtlanticis anyone’s guess. Theoldadageabout “coins talking” comes tomind,andonecouldengageinall mannerofspecula- tionhere,but all wehave is thecoinitself,so let us seewhat it cantell us. (Continuedonpage8) 2010 Volume 6,Issue 8 (August 2010) Page7 Quarter of the Month By Greg Johnson, LSCC #1460 The1857-Oquarteris a very lowest datepositionseen onaseatedquarter. The interestingissueforvarietycol- datenearlytouches thedenticles as showninimage lectors. Thetotal of10diepair- oftheobverse. ings catalogedinTheComplete Encyclopediaof UnitedStates LibertySeatedQuarters repre- sents enoughdistinct coins to present a challenge,but not so manyas tomakea completediemarriageset unattainable. Threeofthe diepairings appeartobe veryrare,includingtheelu- siveobversewith“18”inthedenticles. Threeofthe diepairings are commonwithinthecontext ofO- mint seatedquarters. This monthwewill lookat the 1857-O“lowdate”variety, comprisingtwoofthe diepairings inthemiddle groupthat is neithercom- monnorextremelyrare. Imageof1857-OReverseB(above): Mintmarkleft ofthecrotchandtouchingthefeather The1857-Olowdatevarietyconsists of coins struckfrom asingleobversedie(Briggs’6) pairedwithtworeversedies (Briggs’ B andC). The varietyis anobvious one that canbe easilyattributed without magnification. This particulardiehas the lowest datepositionofanyofthelargedateseated quarters. Whenthelogotype was decreasedinsize Imageof1857-OReverseC (above): laterintheseries, it becamepossibletolocatedates Mintmarkcenteredinthe crotch evenfurtherfrom the rockthanonthe1857-Oob- verse6,but uptothat timethis dierepresents the (Continuedonpage9) Page8 The E-Gobrecht TheBudgetCollector(Continuedfrompage6) wouldhaveit,ourbuyer stumbledontothemore scarceofthetwo,that beingthesmall-Ovariety. Thebuyerwas workingoffsomenot very Thesmall Omintmarkappears as anearlyperfect goodpictures (as seen). Whilenot crisp, theimage circlewhilethelarge Ois oval-shaped. Whilethe ofthereverseis still quitetelling. First,thediewear varietyis not yet recognizedintheRedBook,it is is quiteobvious, and,as it turns out,acharacteristic well knownamongserious collectors ofseateddimes ofthis particularvariety. GerryFortinstates ofthe andhighlyprized. Anumberofthese appearonthe 1841-OF-102, “Well circulatedexamples ofthis va- websites oftheusual dealers ofseatedcoinage, rietycanbe found…showingexcessivewearinthe all listedat four-figureprices. Not abad returnfor centerofthereversedue toadiebulge.” It’s asafe oureagle-eyed eBayhunter. bet ourbuyerwas well awareofthis diagnostic. Secondly,the closedbud (situatedjust totheright of ThismonththeANAis inBoston,August NinUNITEDonthe reverse)is fairlyclear,and 10-14. This a great opportunitytoscopeout dealer thereis noevident split at thetipofthebudas one inventories forunattributedbargains, andwhile you wouldseeontheopenbud. might not findthenext closedbudreversedime, you will definitelyfindalot a coins tolookthroughand Thevarietyis significant as atransitional fellowcollectors toshare yourstories with. The issue,as it reusedthe1840-Oreversedie. The1841- LSCC Annual Meetingis onThursday,August 12th, Oclosedbudcomes intwoflavors, witheither a at 9AM intheGardnerRoom oftheSheratonHotel, largeorsmall mintmark. Fortinidentifies two1841- connectedtotheConventionCenter. Hopetosee Odiepairs withtheclosedbudreverse,thefirst with youthere! thelargeO andthesecondwiththesmall O. As luck (Continuedfrompage5) Also inoursights is theOctober29,2010 UpcomingRegional Meetings regional meetinginStamford,Connecticut incon- junctionwiththeCoinFest show. Moreinformation Thenext regional meetingis scheduledfor will beforthcomingfrom Dennis Fortier,East Re- September24at the LongBeach,Californiashow. gional Director,intheSeptemberandOctoberE- CraigEberhart,West Regional Director and Iare Gobrechtissues. currentlybrainstormingapproaches toincreasepub- licityandtoprovidemeetingattendees withanin- sightful experience. 2010 Volume 6,Issue 8 (August 2010) Page9 QuarteroftheMonth(Continuedfrompage7) ent examples ofthe1857-Oquartersince1/1/1999 (whentheybeganarchivingphotos). Atotal of44 Reverses BandC areidentifiedbymintmark coins wereinproblem free grades and11morewith positions withreverseB havingamintmarkleft of significant problems notedwereoffered. Only6of thecrotchandtouchingthefeather,whilereverse C the55coins featuredthe lowdateobversedieillus- has amintmarkcentered inthecrotchapproximately tratedabove. Twoofthe 6lowdatequarters had ob- equallydistant from featherandolivebranch. verse6paired withreverseBandtheremaining4 werepairedwithreverse C. Theonlyproblem free The1857-Oas adate andmintmarkis a 6Bexamplewas inaSEGS holdergraded XF45 and scarcecointhat becomes veryscarce andrareinal- soldas part of LarryBriggs’ referencecollectionin most uncirculatedandmint stategrades, respec- 1999. Theother6Bcoin was anXFdetails piece tively. Overthepast few years, thelowdatedie withreversedamagesold as part oftheJules Reiver pairings havebeenavailableperiodicallyinlowto collectionin2006. The 4examples ofdiepair6C in medium circulated grades, but veryseldom seenin theHeritage archiveincludeanF12 cleanedcoin high grade. PopulationdataforNGC andPCGS in- holderedbySEGS andsoldas part of LarryBriggs’ dicatethat thetwoservices have graded atotal of referencecollectionin1999inonelot withfiveother 121examples inall grades, 33ofthosearemint state seatedquarters includingthe6Bcoinmentioned coins, and58areinthe AUgrades. LarryBriggs,in above. Interestingly,ofthethree remaining6C coins TheCompleteEncyclopediaof UnitedStates Liberty all wereproblem freeandtwoweremint state–one SeatedQuarters,states that the1857-Ois R6(13-30 anNGC MS64andtheotheraPCGS MS62. It does known)inmint stateandR4(76-250known)in appearthat,eveninlowergrades, the6C diepairis XF/AU. moreavailablethan6B. Thehighest graded6B coin seenhas beenanXF45. AdetailedexaminationoftheHeritageauc- tionarchiveshows that theyhaveoffered55differ- All photos courtesyofHeritage.com. Don’t forget to attend the LSCC Annual meeting at the ANA in Boston See details on pages 2 or 18. Page10 The E-Gobrecht 1869 Liberty Seated Dimes; Dr. Tim Cook Identifies a Fifth Short Flag 1 Obverse Die by Gerry Fortin, LSCC #1054 The1869 LibertySeated dimedate,withamintageof256,000,remains apersonal favoritedueto theusageoftwodifferent datepunchstyles andtheextremedifficultywithlocatingAUorbetterexamples foroneofthe datepunch types. Concerningthe1869obversedies withinTheDefinitiveResourcefor Lib- ertySeatedDimeVariety Collectors,Ilist thedate punchstyles as Short Flag1 and LongFlag1sincethe flagonthe1digit is quitedissimilarbetweenthetwo. Toprovideappropriatebackground,followingare images oftheindividual datepunchstyles. Acomparison ofthedigit styles withintheShort Flag1and LongFlag1punches clearlyindicates that all fourdigits aredifferent.Notabledifferences betweenthetwodate punches, besides the flaglengths onthe1digit,arethesizevariations inthelower oval ofthe6digits andtheupperloopofthe9digits. The digits onthe LongFlag1 punchappeartobethinnerandmoredelicatethan ontheShort Flag1punch. WithinTheCompleteGuidetoLibertySeatedDimes,BrianGreerlists Short Flag11869dimes as R5+inEF/AUandR7in Mint Statewhilethe LongFlag1varietyis shownas R5inEF/AUandR6- in Mint State. Aftermanyyears ofseeking1869dimes andtheelusiveShort Flag1varietyinAUor better formyreference collection, Ibelievethat aShort Flag1inproblem freeAUis anR6+rarityand a Mint Stateexamplecouldbeas difficult as R7+. Simplysaid, LongFlag11869 dimes dominatetheAU orbet- tergrades whenavailable. Proofs aremorecommonthanbusiness strikes. ThroughJune2010, IhadlocatedanddocumentedfourseparateShort Flagobversedies until Dr. Tim Cooksent alongan 1869dimewithanobversethat didnot matchthosepreviouslylisted. Iwas quite surprisedtosee afifthShort Flag1obversediesurface afterextensivecheckingofall 1869Short Flag1 dimes that crossedmypath. OnTim’s discoverycoin,thedatepunchis bold,especiallyat thetopflagof the1digit. Thedatehas aslight upwardslopewiththe1digit evenlyspacedbetweenthebaseanddenti- cles. Thefirst S inSTATES is partial as compared tofullybrokenS onotherShort Flag1obversedies. The reversealso exhibits alongdielinethroughthe D inDIME. IgradedDr. Cook’s dimeas EF45andwas pleasedtoincludethis new1869F-107listingintheweb-book. (Continuedonpage11)