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Liberty Seated The E-Gobrecht Collectors Club 2008 Volume4,Issue12 TheElectronicNewsletteroftheLIBERTYSEATEDCOLLECTORSCLUB Dec2008(Whole#46) LSCC Meets at Baltimore What’sInsidethisissue? NineteenmembersandguestsattendedtheLSCCRegionalmeetingat AuctionNewsbyJim 2 theBaltimoreConventionCenteronNovember21,2008. LenAugs- Gray burger,theLSCCSecretary/Treasurer,openedthemeetingat9AM. QuestionoftheMonthby 3 BillBugert,theLSCCVicePresident,providedanupdateofLSCC PaulKluth activities. FirstwasanupdateoftheGobrechtJournalissue#103and Nominationsforthe2009 3 thecolorcover. Theattendeescomplimentedthecovercolorphotos LSCCHallofFame anddesiredtocontinueit. Secondly,duringthepastfewmonths,the Answerstolastmonth’s 4 clubofficershavenoticedanunprecedentedabsenceofnewmembers. QuestionoftheMonth Assistanceinrecruitingnewmemberswassolicitedfromtheaudience andBillmentionedhewillworkwithclubdealerstoaddamembership 1854-ODimewithaRim 5 CudbyLynnOurso linktotheirwebsites. ApleaforGobrechtJournalarticlesubmissions fromthemembershipwasdiscussed. Atthecurrentrateofsubmis- FourthKnown1874No 6-7 sions,JohnMcCloskey,theGobrechtJournaleditor,willbeunableto ArrowsDimeDiscovered byGerryFortin maintainthe52-pageformat. BillalsoannouncedtheWiley-Bugerthalf dollarbookisnowon-line[Detailsonpage10ofthisissue.] BaltimoreHalfDime 8 PurchasesbyJason LenmentionedthatproductionproblemswiththeGobrechtJour- Feldman nalCollectiveVolume#5havebeenresolvedandthatitwillbeavailable HalfDimeErrorStudy 9-10 byMarch2009. ThedraftreviewcopieswillbeauctionedatfutureLSCC UpdatebyDennis meetings. Hethenaskedforpersonalrecollectionsandamomentofsi- Hengeveld lenceforJimO’DonnellwhodiedinSeptember2008. HalfDollarBooknowon- 10 Lenconcludedthemeetingwithanexcellentquizwheretheaudi- line encewastestedontheirknowledgeofrecentauctionpricesrealized. SubscriberCorrespon- 11 Everyoneenjoyedthisandtheinformaldiscussionsthattookplaceafter- dence wards. Thankstoallwhoattended! InformationWanted, 11- AvailabilityofPastIssues 12 oftheE-Gobrecht,and Advertisements LSCCInformation 13 LSCCRegionalmeetingattendeesfortheNovember2008BaltimoreConvention TheE-GobrechtisatwiceawardwinningelectronicpublicationoftheLibertySeatedCollectorsClub(LSCC). The LSCCisanon-profitorganizationdedicatedtotheattributionsoftheLibertySeatedCoinseries. TheLSCCprovidestheinfor- mationcontainedinthisemailnewsletterfromvarioussourcesfreeofchargeasageneralservicetothemembershipandothers withthisnumismaticinterest. YoudonothavetobeaLSCCmembertobenefitfromthisnewsletter;subscriptiontotheE- Gobrechtisavailabletoanyone. Alldisclaimersareineffectasthecompletenessand/oraccuracyoftheinformationcontained hereincannotbecompletelyverified. Contactinformationisincludedattheend. Page2 The E-Gobrecht Auction News by Jim Gray TheSuperiorSanta cleaned1859-SdimeinAU-55,whichwasvery ClaraSaledidnothaveany bright,didnotsell,nordidacleanedandcor- coinsofinterest. rodedXF1873-CCdime. Stack’shadtwosalesandinthefirst Anattractive1856-SquarterinMS-61 one,an1874-CCdimeinFr-2,whichwasworn, realized$5,290,whileanoriginalgray1868-S pittedandugly,didnotsell. quarterinXF-40didnotsell. Acleanedandre- tonedVF1870-CCquarterdidnotsell. Inthesecondcatalogue,therewasa beautifullytoned1842-OhalfdimeinMS-66but An1870-CChalfdollarinVF-30realized withaveryflatheadthatdidnotsell,nordida $12,650inspiteofBERbeingmissing. An1871- veryattractive1849-OhalfdimeinAU-55with CChalfinVF-25didnotsell,nordidan1873-CC darkfieldsandhighlighteddevices. halfwitharrowsinXF-45withnicegraytoning. An1874-CChalfinAU-55withsomeflatstars An1846dimeinAU-58andanabsolute butnicealbumtoningwentfor$9,200. beautyandformerlyinmycollectionsoldfor $28,750,morethantwicewhatitbroughtinmy An1871-CCDollarinXF-40andstrong salein2004. An1859-SdimeinAU-55,witha forthegrade,nicelytonedinnaturalgrayand littlesoftnessonthebowknotandLiberty’s verysharp,soaredto$14,350. headandadarkareaatthe11thand12thstars Recentauctionshavedisplayedsome stillsoaredtoastrong$17,250. AnXF-45dupli- coinshousedinthenewNGCholder. This catethatwascleanedonlyrealized$1,035, holderhasfourwhitetabsoneachsidethat whileadecent1860-OdimeinAU-53didnot coveraportionoftherimandapparentlyare sell. placedtheretokeepthecoinfrommoving Averyattractive1850-ODollarinMS-62 aboutintheholder. Tomyeye,thesewhitetabs withlovelygrayandbluetoning,andseldom distractfromthebeautyandsymmetryofthe seenthus,didnotmeettheminimum$15,000 coin,particularlycooper,goldandtonedsilver bid. coins. Readercommentsaboutthesenewhold- erswouldbewelcomed. TheBowers&MerenaBaltimoreSale featuredan1845-OdimeinAU-55thatwasvery wellstruckandlightlytonedfor$7,188. A 2008 Volume 4,Issue 12 (December 2008) Page 3 Question of the Month Topicsfore-DiscussionbyPaulKluth Half Dimes * Dimes * 20 Cent Pieces * Quarters * Halves * Dollars Liberty Seated comes in all sizes… What is your favorite denomination to collect and why? Why do you passion- ately collect the Liberty Seated denominations that you do? [Okay,if you are big on secrecy,it is okay to reply using a pen name or anoma- lously this month. You know Bill B.is expecting over 300+ responses this round based on the number of e-subscribers. So let’s break the record forcing the thickest E-Gobrecht issue yet next month.] All responses are welcome! Please give us your thoughts and opinions. Send your reply to the E-Gobrecht editor at [email protected]. Nominations for 2009 Hall of Fame Afterthis year’s memorableceremonywhereJohnMcCloskeyandKam Ahwash werethefirst tobe inductedintothe LSCC’s Hall ofFame,theHall ofFame committeeis pleasedtoannouncethat it is ac- ceptingnominations forthe LibertySeatedCollectorClub’s 2009Hall ofFame. Eligiblenominees include clubmembers whohave madesignificant contributions toexpandingtheliteratureonSeated coinage,who havebuilt animportant collectionof LibertySeatedcoinage,or whohaveservedinaleadershipposition whilecontributingtothe success of LSCC. Please send yournominations totheHall ofFameCommittee Chairman,Jim Gray,[email protected]’s nameandashort narrativeon whyyou feel this individual shouldreceivethis honor. Deadline for2009nominations is December 31, 2008. Page4 The E-Gobrecht Answers to Last Month’s Question Topicsfore-DiscussionbyPaulKluth The Stock Market has fallen off drastically and specific large banks are in trouble. Investments and retirement funds have seen steep declines in value re- cently. Will any Fed bailout actually work? The economic experts are predict- ing“recession” and possible“depression”. What does your Crystal Ball say? What do you think is going to happen to the coin market in general? Are coin values and the price of precious metals going to decline too? Or is this a good time for investing in rare coins,numismatics in general,and precious metals as values are going up? From Keith Scott: Regardingthequestionofcoins versus stocks: Theansweris bothas longas guidelines arefollowed. 1. Avoidcolorizedcoins soldonshop-at-homenetworks. 2. Nevertrust a"full service" BrokerorCompany. 3. Always invest forthe longterm (10+ years). 4. Research yourinvestments (thencross fingers). I'venoticedNumismatists always havemassivereferencematerial whilestockinvestors havelittle more thanrumors and greedon whichtobasedecisions. SolidCompanies and Industries areusuallyasafe bet. Acoinofhigher grade, rarity, andEYEAPPEALwill beasafebet. Coinvalues will never gotozeroand therewill always bean additional benefit forhobbyactivities, investment potential,andareallycool secu- rityblanket. From Dick Osburn: Inspiteofastockmarket that’s gonesouth andeconomicnews that continues toget worseandworse,the coinmarket seems tobeholdingupremarkablywell. Ifanythingthereseems tobea flowofadditional moneyintocoins that might otherwisebe goingintostocks andrelatedinvestments. Peoplearelosingtheirjobs, andthat has tobenegativeforcoins, but I’dsaythat right nowtheoverall trend is neutral. Idon’t expect thewildupwardmovement tocontinueinthenearterm,but Ialso don’t expect thecoinmarket toturndownward. It maybea goodtimetofill someholesthat have goneunfilledinpast years. Ihaven’t beentoashow inthepast 3weeks, so Idon’t haveanydatapoints there,but ourbusiness onthewebsitehas continuedtobeverystrong. Inthepast 4weeks, we’vehadtwoofourbiggest weeks ever. Andthe orders continuetocomein,evenduringwhat is typicallyaslowtimeforthemarket. The demandis still out thereinspiteoftheeconomy. 2008 Volume 4,Issue 12 (December 2008) Page 5 1854-O Dime with a Rim Cud By Lynn Ourso Picturedisan1854-OdimethatIpurchased ierandarimcudhasdeveloped.Thisisthelat- around7yearsagoinacoinshopinLafayette estdiestateofthisvarietythatIhaveseen. I Louisiana. Thecoinwasinaboxwithmanymis- wishedIhadrememberedIhadthiscoinwhile cellaneoustypecoins. Thisonehadexcep- Gerrywasdevelopinghisbook. tionalqualityandwasproblemfree. Iremem- Around6monthsagoIsentthiscointoPGCS beredthenthatithadanicerimcudonthere- andtheygradeditAU-55exceptincorrectlydat- verse.AfterexaminingthecoinbasedonBrian ingtheholder1853-O. Iwasplanningtophoto Greer’sbookonLibertySeatedDimesIwas thecoinintheholderbutthesoftplasticthat abletoattributeitasaG-102. GerryFortinhas holdsthecoinhidtherimcud. IaskedPCGSat givenitanF-104designationinhisE-book. ashowiftheywouldputitinacorrectholder Mycoinisalaterdiestatethanthecoinpic- butremoveabitoftheplastictoshowtherim turedinGerry’sbook. Comparingthephotos cud;theyrefused(theywouldcorrectthedate). myobversediehasmoredistinctivediecracks Icrackedthecoinoutandtookthephotosthat atthetoeofMs.Libertyandfromtherimtoward accompanythisarticle. thelegbelowstar#13. Theleftbaseofthe1in Nowthatitiscurrentlyhardtolocatenice thedatehasbeenjustaboutpolishedoff. An- LibertySeatedcoins,hereisanothervariety otherinterestcrackhasdevelopedfromthetop withalatediestatethatdimecollectorswill ofMs.Liberty’snosetotherim. Gerrydoesn’t surelylookfor. Unfortunatelyformostcollec- mentionthisinhisdescription;however,itmay tors,thisisn’taPhillyorSanFranciscocoin,so betherebutjustverylightorthin. Thereverse beforeanyoneasks,IcollectNewOrleansLib- isalsoalatediestatewiththecrackGerryde- ertySeatedcoinsandit’snotforsale(however, scribesfromtherimtotheOinOFbeingheav- $50Kmightdoit). LOL. Page 6 The E-Gobrecht Fourth Known 1874 F-106 No Arrows Seated Dime is Discovered byGerryFortin E-Gobrechtreaders maydesireto knowthat anunnamed collector recentlypur- chased thefourth known exampleof theextremelyrare 1874 F-106NoArrows seated dimevariety. Thecollector contacted me inmid-November 2008toreportthe acquisition after checking theTop 100Varietieslink atthewww.seateddimevarieties.comwebsite. Needless tosay, the individualwasexcited withthepurchase and agreed toshare his discovery with theLibertySeated collecting community. LuckilyIwasin theUnited Statesand the collector immediatelysending along thedimeviaFedExfor review and va- rietyconfirmation. Below areimagesof the 1874NoArrows dimeincomparison totheF-106web- bookplatecoin. The newlydiscovered specimensgradesAU55withfaint wear on Lib- erty’sbreasts and obviouslywasdipped atsomepointintime. Theobverseand reverse fieldsareprooflikeasistheF-106platecoin. Thedimeis well struckthroughoutwith strong head detailsand bold shield banner and horizontaland verticalshield lines. Fourth Known 1874 No Arrows F-106 (Continuedonpage7) 2008 Volume 4,Issue 12 (December 2008) Page 7 (Continuedfrompage6) 1874 No Arrows F-106 –Gerry Fortin Collection Keydiagnosticfor thisvarietyinclude faintoutlines for theleftand rightarrowsfol- lowed bynoticeable repunching on the 1 and 8digits. Inaddition, the 7and 4digitsare unmistakablyweak for the variety. Due toits highgray,thenewspecimeneasily displays allof theprimarydiagnostics. Sincethe formalpublication ofthe 1874NoArrowsvariety as partoftheSeated DimeTop 100VarietySetin 2004, atotal offour specimensareknown at this time. As with any major variety,publicationsand awarenessdueraisetheprobabilityofadditional piecesbeing located. Listing ofKnown 1874 NoArrowsF-106dimes as ofNovember 2008 1. JamesSwarek- Low gradeexample asreported byBrianGreer inhisSeated Dime guidebook(1991) 2. GerryFortin- ANACS AU58and web-bookplate coin(2003) 3. KenShield- VF35 withlightcentraltoning turning darker near theperipheries(2005) 4. Unnamed collector- Theabove specimengrading AU55(2008) Page 8 The E-Gobrecht Baltimore Show Half Dime Purchases ByJasonFeldman Hereare afewhalfdimes Ipurchased at theNovember 2008Baltimore coin show. Ithinkthe 1872is adoubledie, not sure onthat. The1843 has aneatreversedie crack thatdoes not matchthebooksbutI hear therewasanother onefound. 1858 isthe short pole. Idon'tknow howrare thesearebutIamhoping someonewill. 2008 Volume 4,Issue 12 (December 2008) Page 9 Liberty Seated Half Dime Error Study Update By Dennis Hengeveld Thisarticleis meant togiveanupdateon errorscertainlyturn out tobeone therarest one ofmycurrentprojects, cataloging Lib- ofallSeated denominations. Ihave notyet ertySeated HalfDimeerrorsand determin- beenresearching theother denominations, ing therarityofindividualpieces. Istarted butbythe amountof errorsencountered for with thisproject inJanuary2008 and have theSeated Silver Dollars,they areequally runasmall add ineachissue oftheE- asrare. Seated Dimesseem tobethe most Gobrecht.Unfortunately, thishasnotyet commondenominationin errors,although led tomanyreports oferrors. stillveryrarecompared tomodernseries. Errorsareamuchoverlooked area of AllthreeUS MintsthatstruckSeated numismatics. Most error collections arefo- HalfDimes(Philadelphia,New Orleansand cused on20th centurycoinagebecauseof SanFrancisco)have reported errorsso far. the excessiverarity ofmany typesof19th Therelative mintagesofeveryissue seem century errors. Asfor dedicated Seated tohavesomeinfluenceonthenumber of er- collectors,errors aremostly anarea that rorsreported for a certainMint. Most er- occasionallygetsincluded incollection,but rorsarecirculated withonlya few examples normallynotwith muchofafocus. thatgradeMintState. Thismeans that most ofthesecoinswentfirstintogeneralcircu- lationbeforeanerror wasdiscovered and Sofar,37LibertySeated HalfDimes the coinwaspulled fromcirculation. havebeenreported astobe error coins. Theseinclude multipleoff-center strikes (mostcommontype oferror althoughvery Onefactthatstood outtomewiththe rarewhenmore than 20% off-center), afew coinscurrentlyfound isthat approximately broadstruckpieces and severalstrike- 80% ofallcoinsreported weredated inthe throughs. There werealsoseveral other 1850’s,especially the1856-1858dates. I errorsreported,one examplebeing amir- have come up with twopossible explana- ror brockagereverseof thepre 1860type. tionswhichwillbehighlighted inthe main article,planned tobepublished in early 2009in theGobrechtJournal. Itmustbe noted that Ihavedecided toonlyinclude errorsunique to acertain coin (each error isuniqueinitsownway). A complete check of previousissues ThismeansI haveexcluded rotated dies, as oftheGobrechtJournalslisted in thecol- thesewill occur for everystrikeofadiepair lectivejournalsand MintError Newshas until thepositions of thedies were cor- onlybroughttolight afew morepieces. Not rected. muchinformationhasbeenpublished on theseerror coins,and muchresearchstill hastobedone. Itisstilltoo early to giveanyreliable conclusions on therelativerarityofthese pieces. However,so far Seated HalfDime (Continuedonpage10) Page 10 The E-Gobrecht scansof thelotswould bereallyhelpful. All (Continuedfrompage9) your help isgreatly appreciated to make a Ifyouownor know ofanySeated Half reliablearticleon therarity ofthesenumis- Dimeerrorspleaseletmeknow. For any maticmistakes of theUS mint. reliableconclusions tobemadeIneed to have alistwhich can bedeemed tobeclose DennisHengeveld tocomplete. Unfortunately Idonothave muchaccesstoold auction catalogs, soif LSCCMember#2112 youhave anywithmajor (or minor)error [email protected] collections inthempleaseletme know. A listofwhatcoinsweresold and eventually The Complete Guide to Liberty Seated Half Dollars Now available on-line - for free!! [Editor:ThroughthegenerouseffortsofJohnFeigenbaumandDavidLawrenceRare Coins,theWiley-Bugerthalfdollarbookisavailableontheinternetwithfreeaccess!See theannouncementbelow.ManythankstoJohnandhisstaffformakingthispossible.] PRESSRELEASE Thursday,November14,2008 DLRC Announces project Stella: a new Blog & Library Web SiteFree Access for Coin Collectors to Valuable Research and Reference Books StellaCoinNews.com VirginiaBeach,VA—JohnFeigenbaum,PresidentofDavidLawrenceRareCoinsandDominionGradingService,announced todaytheunveilingofanewwebsitecalledStellaCoinNews(www.stellacoinnews.com)whichwillprovidedailyBlogsbynumis- maticleaders,aswellasfreeaccesstoDLRCPresspublications. AccordingtoFeigenbaum,"WehopeStellawillbecomearegularstoppingpointforcollectorswhoarelookingformoreinforma- tiononcurrenteventswithinthecoincommunity,aswellasreferencematerialthattheypreviouslycouldonlyfindinbooks. Inourfirstmonthofoperations,wehavepublishedtworarebooksfromourcatalog.ThefirstwasDavidLawrence‘sanecdotal storiestitled, TalesfromtheBourse.Thesecond,moreambitiouseffortisTheCompleteGuideto LibertySeatedHalfDollarsbyRandyWileyandBillBugert.Thisamazingbookremainstheonly standardreferencetodievarietiesofthisseriesandithasbeenlargelyunavailableforover5years. We‘veheardoffolkshavingtopayasmuchas$200foracopy.Nowyoucangetallof it…online…FREE.Anothermajorbenefitisuserscancommentonallaspectsofthebookwithup- datedinformation,andtheauthorsthemselvescanaugmentdataovertime." FutureplansforStellaincludeasmanyas10moreDLRCPresstitlesandwehopetogetotherau- thorstocontributetheirbooksaswell.AspublishersoftheStellasite,weencourageasmuchpartici- pationaspossibletomakethisacommunityforum.