mrbrklyn

BTW - great coin. I'm wondering that the photo shows some kind of hair line pattern on the obverse is actually interesting. It is a parabala pattern. Any ideas of its origin?

Ruben

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budgood

The reverse of the reeded edge Capped Bust half dollars reverse die has an Eagle with its claws open over the arrows & branch.
Seated Half Dollars reverse Eagle has closed claws grasping the arrows & branch.Check the last picture to compare.


Because of the reverse , its kinda what this thread is about.
The knowledge behind the dies has been recorded & is a known fact.

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desertgem

Great post and history! Learning is almost as fun as getting a new coin!

Jim

Conder101

Look at the last two pictures in the original post. The one on the left is the open claws (Capped bust half die) notice how the claws of the talons almost point down at the words HALF DOLLAR. Then look at the one on the right That is a closed claws (seated Liberty reverse die) on it the talons are more tightly closed and the claws curve back up around the olive branch. The ope claws is simply called that in comparison to the new reverse with more tightly closed claws.

Because this particlar reverse die, with its identifying die cracks also comes paired with an 1839 O obverse die. The reverse is obviously a capped bust half rev die (Open claws, much larger shield on the eagles breast, larger lettering font that is positioned much closer to the denticals.) and it was obviously well used because of the die cracks. When compared to the 1839 Philadelphia capped bust halves no match was found but when they compared it to the New Orleans 1839 halves they did find a match. And since there would be no reason to send the old New Orleans reverse back to Philadelphia it is a pretty safe assumption that the 1840 Medium letter halves (capped bust rev) were made in New Orleans.

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mrbrklyn

Thanks. So there is no superficial way to know by mint mark, but if you see an 1840 open clawed back on the Seated Half, then you can be pretty sure it was a New Orleans issue. Just one more ignorant question. Where was the mint mark on the 1839 or 1838 bust half?

Ruben

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budgood

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.

http://www.coinfacts.com/half_dollar...dollar_obv.jpg

Attached Images

 

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ksparrow

Very interesting thread, thank you, Budgood!

rzage

Great thread , it's threads like these that make CT so good , thanks .
rzage

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bqcoins

WOW, thanks man. I learned something new and important today, that was truly a fabulous post.

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Conder101

Well if you were to find an open claw 1840 half, and it doesn't have this particular reverse die then no you couldn't tell if it was a New Orleans without comparing it to the 1839 and 39-O capped bust reverses for a match. But since so far there is only one capped bust rev known to have been used on 1840 you would have a new discovery piece and that would be pretty good too.

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mrbrklyn

Lost track of this one? It came in 8th place, 5th Qualifier

Exhibit: 1840 (O) 50C Reverse of 1838 ,A date without a home. http://www.cointalk.com/forum/t45958/#post495442

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mrbrklyn

still a great post

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