I have been putting together a Type Set based on the Red Book. For Seated Liberty Quarters, the Red Book and PCGS lists are different, any thoughts as to what to follow? RED BOOK: Seated Liberty Quarter Type 1, No Motto (1838-1853, 1856-1865) Seated Liberty Quarter Type 2, Arrows & Rays (1853) Seated Liberty Quarter Type 3, Arrows, No Rays (1854-1855) Seated Liberty Quarter Type 4, Motto (1866-1873, 1875-1891) Seated Liberty Quarter Type 5, Arrows at Date (1873-1874) Seated Liberty Quarter Type 6, With Motto, Arrows at Date (1873-1874) PCGS: Liberty Seated Quarter Type 1, No Drapery (1838-1840) Liberty Seated Quarter Type 2, No Motto (1840-1865) Liberty Seated Quarter Type 3, Arrows & Rays (1853) Liberty Seated Quarter Type 4, No Motto, Arrows at Date (1854-1855) Liberty Seated Quarter Type 5, With Motto (1866-1891) Liberty Seated Quarter Type 6, With Motto, Arrows at Date (1873-1874) HELP?
I like the PCGS list better. It is a cleaner presentation of the date ranges, even if the Red Book is technically more accurate. The PCGS list also breaks out the important subtype, No Drapery, that the Red Book does not separate.
I consider 1838-1840 to be a separate type. But I also consider the no motto coins from 1840 to 1852 to be separate from the no motto coins from 1856 to 1865. Same goes for the break in 1873. Any excuse to add more coins. James
It's not like there is a single, authoritative reference that's going to decide. I guess you could check NGC's coin explorer for a referee... You have to pick one reference and follow it. Both the Red Book and PCGS' Coin Facts are good references.
The most interesting and innovating and complete enjoyable collections that I have seen over the years, all have one aspect in common....no adherence and no restrictions established by 3PGs or 4PGs, or singular Red Book or otherwise "Guides". Their collections are what I would classify as all are welcome. The collections of 2 members on CT are examples. They can respond if they want to.
The old Whitman type album that I started with had No Drapery 1838-40 With Drapery 1841-52 Arrows and Rays / weight reduced 1853 Arrows no rays 1854-55 No Motto reduced weight 1856-65 With motto reduced weight 1866-1873 Arrows at date / increased weight 1873-74 No arrows increased weight 1875-91
This is what I use. Based upon Redbook with a couple of additions. The only one I don't have is the 1853, Variety 1 without arrows or rays. I've included the date/mm, Briggs attribution and the grade of my examples. All are slabbed PCGS or NGC. My view of a type set is whatever you want to exclude or include. Unless you're going for a Dansco or a registry set, in which case you're constrained. Var. 1, No Drapery, 1838-1840 1839 Briggs 2-A/R-4 AU-53 Var. 1, With Drapery, 1838-1853 1840 O Briggs 1-B/R-3 AU-58 Var. 1 No Arrows, No Rays LS, Var. 2, Arrows at Date, Rays Around Eagle, 1853 1853 Unk/R1 AU-55 LS, Var. 3, Arrows, No Rev.Rays, 1854-1855 1854 1-A/R1 AU-58 LS, Var. 1 Res w/Wgt.Std. of Var,2, 1856-1865 1861 6-E/R4 MS-61 Lib. Seat., Var. 4, Motto Above Eagle, 1866-1873 1868 2-B/R-6*/R-2 PR-65 CAC Lib. Seat., Var. 5, Arrows at Date, 1873-1874 1873 AU-55 LS, Var. 4 Resumed w/Wgt.Std. of Var, 5, 1875-1891 1876 S 3-B/R4 MS-64
the red book dates really fast so in my opinion the PCGS list would hold more of the current and up to the date values.
There are 5 things that vary on the Seated Liberty Quarter. I think most agree on this fact. 1. No Motto/Motto 2. No Drapery/Drapery 3. Weight (6.68g, 6.22g, 6.25g) 4. Arrows/No arrows 5. Rays/No Rays So how many combinations ("types") of these are there? I get the same 8 "types" that @Conder101 listed above [although he doesn't list the 1840-O with drapery]. Needless to say...the 1853-O Arrows & Rays is my favorite
As @johnmilton states, Type 5 and 6 are the same. In fact the Red book only has 5 Variety's defined. So your list should read... Seated Liberty Quarter Type 1, No Motto (1838-1853, 1856-1865) Seated Liberty Quarter Type 2, Arrows & Rays (1853) Seated Liberty Quarter Type 3, Arrows, No Rays (1854-1855) Seated Liberty Quarter Type 4, Motto (1866-1873, 1875-1891) Seated Liberty Quarter Type 5, Arrows at Date (1873-1874) In fact, if you take the approach I took above and remove two variables ---- "Drapery/No Drapery" and "Weight" ---- you end up with the Red Book's 5 types.
@CoinCorgi, "weight" does not seem to be a type. The silver coins after 1853, with the exception of the silver dollar, which did not change, did way less than the pieces before 1853. They are still viewed as the "No Motto" type coins. And the coins after 1873 weight a little more than the piece before 1873. it's still not a type. Here is a type set of Liberty Seated Quarters as I see it. No Drapery With Drapery 1853 Arrows and Rays Arrows With Motto 1873-4 Arrows
So, if you just take the weight variable out of my approach, you end up with the 6 types you prefer. So choose your variables differently, you can get any number of types you want!!! My DANSCO 7070 Type Set from the '70s had these "Types"...
I have never seen a type coin album or lists, like the one for the NGC registry, which includes weight as a type.