Looking around at the possibilities got confusing. What is the latest edition? I want to add it to my library. I just got a 1795 Flowing Hair half in F-12. It's marked O-115 on the slab (NGC). I assume that's a rather common variety.
I have a third edition copy Dave (1990). I don't know when the fourth was published, but it may be the latest. It's an R-5 in my reference, but my information is pretty old and may have changed by now. --- Bruce
Fourth is the latest edition but many bust half people prefer the third edition. And I show the 95 O-115 as an R-5 as well. Good luck finding a copy of Overton, they are starting to get scarce to rare. All I can locate online at the moment are two copies of the second edition and it is nowhere near as good as the third and fourth editions. (And those two copies are overpriced.)
Although we will adjust rarity factors based on new information, in this case most likely from the Bust half Nut Club, we still mark this particular variety as R.5. I'm not that familiar with the 4th edition, but the 3rd works just fine for me. There exists another book that is intended strictly to make variety identification much easier and quicker; I don't know the specifics, and it's been a while since I've tried to use it.
Thanks for the info. Turns out I made a mistake on my want list. I had forgotten to remove the Flowing Hair half. I already had a 1795 in (VF-20). I'll have to post some images of my current coin since the Overton variety isn't on the slab label. I'm in the process of exchanging the half I wrongly bought with the dealer I bought it from for a 1795 Flowing Hair dollar in F-15 (plus a chunk more of money). So is there a definitive book for early silver dollars?
The other reference for Overton's is Glenn Peterson's "The Ultimate Guide to Attributing Bust Half Dollars" Excellent reference. The latest Overton, By Don Parsley is the 4th Edition Kanga: A dup? I'm interested/
I'd love to see some pictures if you get a chance. If you are still looking to get an early half dollar book, I'd get either the third or fourth edition (I use the fourth, but am always on the lookout for a nice copy of the third) and if you want to attribute them faster after that, get Glenn Peterson's book which mainly uses the T-I position and a neat chart at the being of each year, so you don't have to flip through all the pages. For the dollars, don't quote me on this as I don't collect them, but I believe they are attributed by Bolender variety and the book written by him would be, "Early United States Silver Dollars".
I've got the latest Early Half Dollar varieties. First printing of the fourth edition... 2005. It lists the O-115 1795 as a rarity 5 as well.
Latest book on the early dollars is a revision of the Bolender book written by Jules Reiver. The title is The United States Early Silver Dollars 1794 to 1803 There are some used copies on Amazon at around $40. New copies are $47.00 looked around at a few other places, the used copies are running from $37 and up, the price at Amazon is the best I have seen for a new copy. I have both books and the Reiver book is better in my opinion.
