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Exhibit: 1840 (O) 50C Reverse of 1838 ,A date without a home.
A hard to come by issue, the 1840 Medium Letters Seated Liberty Half was struck at the New Orleans Mint without a mintmark , using an old open claws reverse die intended & possibly used for 1839 O Capped Bust Reeded Edge Half Dollar.
The John Reich obverse & reverse designed dies & of the Capped Bust Half had been sent to New Orleans in 1839 . The only mint marked Capped Bust halves had the “O” mintmark on the obverses of the coins.
One of the reverse dies in New Orleans was saved for use in 1840.Back then the goverment was a bit more cost concious with the tax payers money & did not like to waste perfetly good dies.The old-style reverse die was paired with the newly designed but 2nd year Seated Liberty obverses.
What came of this new pairing was a new obverse that carried the mint marks on the reverse; but an older reverse die that put the mint marks on the obverse. Thus flip flopping where the mint marks should have been.
The result is refered to as the type III, 1840 (O) with no mintmark.
The noticeable difference is not that it doesn’t have a mintmark since the coins minted in Philadelphia that didnt have a mint mark . But by the size of the Eagle & letters on the reverse.Another way to identify this type is by the reverse having multiple die breaks that are always seen on this type & the open claws of the eagle.
This unique year has halves with the reverse of coinage like that of 1838 & is usually referred to as the reverse of 1838 even though the coins came from 1839 dated dies.
One of my favorite varieties & always a joy to come across.
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Last edited by budgood; 01-07-2009 at 11:22 PM.
Reason: Spelling
Award winner, CoinTalk Thread of the Week Of The Week 02, January, 2009
Very interesting!! I learned something today. Thanks. (And I voted for this thread.)
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ANA LM-3799; OHNS LM-59; SUSCC R-4005. All coins stored in bank safe deposit box.
Ahhhh, Budgood pulls yet another trick from his sleeve.
Nice one Jason !!
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Boy - I must have really been sleep walking when I missed this. Great Thread. The data on the dies is very facinating. Thanks for adding this!
BTW - Grear Shot. Camera and Software?
Ruben
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"The tremendous problem we face is that we are becoming sharecroppers to our own cultural heritage -- we need the ability to participate in our own society." Coin Talk Museum Exhibits http://www.mrbrklyn.com/coins.html
I have a couple of questions on this coin. First, what exactly is a "open claws reverse die". Why is it called "Open Claws". My second question seems obvious to me, but must have a similarly obvious answer. How does anyone know when looking at a 1840 without a mint mark that the coin wasn't from Philidelphia?
Ruben
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