Featured Large Capped Bust Quarters

Congrats on the date set! Going for the varieties now?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Haha, maybe... I can always use that as an excuse to buy more of them! I wouldn't be surprised if I do end up with at least the Redbook varieties (since that would only require a couple more).

 

I’ve gotten a few more large capped bust quarters since I posted this, but today my rarest die marriage (up to this point) arrived in the mail today! Here is PCGS’s TrueView image of the quarter (it’s graded G04):



This is the small 0 variety (which I personally believe is tougher than the large and medium 0 varieties), and it is also the rarest die marriage for the date: 1820 B-5. This marriage is rated as R5, which corresponds to about 50 coins. As I stated almost two years ago, 1820 B-4 and B-5 (the two small 0 marriages) were made in 1821, as evidenced by die crack progression on the reverse. The reverse die was first used to strike 1820 B-2 and 1821 B-4. The reverse die developed a crack through the E in United while being used to strike 1821 B-4. By the time it was used for 1820 B-5, a new crack had developed right of the first A in America (which is visible on this coin!).

Somehow I got this for a price that wasn’t too inflated in a recent Heritage auction. I actually got it for about 33% less than it sold for about a year ago!

 

great thread, NSP, full of useful information and really nice bust quarters. I only have one or 2 in my collection, let me see what I can dig up.

 

Very nice examples! The 1818 is B-8. The key pickup point (for me at least) is the claw-like anomaly that touches the bottom berry on the reverse.

The 1821 is B-4, and it shares its reverse die with my 1820 B-5! This is just a wild guess, but yours could be just a few weeks or months older than mine.

 

I can’t remember which # this one is, not one of the rare ones as I recall. I love these- the contrast look is very prevalent in this type too.

 

It is B-3... same obverse die as the B-4, but a different reverse die.

 

Thanks!

 

It’s been a bit, but there is a new arrival! The newest addition to my bust quarter collection is this 1828 B-2. 1828 B-2 is roughly tied with 1828 B-3 for the title of scarcest 1828 die marriage, but 1828 B-3 is far more popular due to the 25/50 engraving error on its reverse. 1828 B-2 is the only 1828 die marriage with a square base 2 in “25 C.”, but since this variety isn’t listed in publications like the Red Book, it doesn’t attract nearly as much attention as the 1828 B-3. Because of this, I believe that 1828 B-2 is one of the more underrated die marriages for this series.



The reverse die is interesting because it was used to strike a total of five die marriages before the small size quarters debuted. Oddly enough, all five die marriages are at least somewhat tough to acquire, ranging from scarce to unique. The five die marriages are as follows:

• 1822 B-3 (R8; currently unique)
• 1823/2 B-1 (R5+)
• 1824/2 B-1 (R3)
• 1825/4/2 B-1 (R5)
• 1828 B-2 (R4+)

When the reverse die was originally prepared, the upper arrow shaft and lower arrowhead were incomplete due to damage sustained by the eagle punch used to prepare reverse dies. These defects are present on 1822 B-3 and 1823/2 B-1. Prior to striking 1824/2 B-1, the die was touched up and the arrows were reengraved. A die gouge was imparted during this process at the bottom edge of the lower arrow. This gouge can be seen on 1824/2 B-1, 1825/4/2 B-1, and 1828 B-2 (including my newly acquired example).

This coin is an eye appealing VG10 example graded by PCGS with a green CAC sticker. Nearly all of the spots and lines in the picture are nicks and scratches on the holder (including the “spot” on Liberty’s cheek) and not the coin. The coin is remarkably nice considering how much it circulated!

 

Beautiful coin- congrats!

 

Very nice and scarce. Beautiful! Congratulations on the new addition.

I have not added any large size CBQ's either to my collection for a long time, not for lack of wanting.

I was curious about your comment concerning the rarity and demand of 1828 B-2 compared with 1828 B-3: Heritage lists B-2 as R4+ (17 examples listed), and B-3 as R-5 (42 examples listed). As you mentioned, they are similar in terms of rarity, yet demand (and prices realised) are very different. You see situations like this all across numismatics, in Early Coppers as well which is more my focus, i.e, similar rarities yet very different demand and price structures. Just one of those things I guess.

 

Perfect for the grade!

 

When I wrote my initial post about my large capped bust quarters back in 2017, I noted that the collection was tentatively complete since I didn’t have an 1824/2, the attainable key date for the series (1823/2 and 1827/3/2 are not attainable, so I have elected to ignore them). Well, today is the day that changes! I’m happy to say that I now have an 1824/2 bust quarter in my collection!



Nobody knows for certain how many quarters were struck bearing the date 1824/2, but Steve Tompkins asserts that the 16,000 coins delivered on December 31, 1823 likely constitute the entire mintage of 1824/2 quarters. Supposedly the mint’s practice at the time was to use the following year’s dies starting after Christmas, so there is probably a one week window in which this coin was struck.

Only one die marriage has been identified for this date (Browning-1, R3). The obverse features an overdate with the 4 punched over a 2. It’s thought that the flurry of overdates in the mid 1820s is due to the mint trying to use outdated dies as much as possible following the death of Chief Engraver Robert Scot in 1823. The reverse was reused from 1822 B-3 and 1823/2 B-1 (except on the 1824/2, the arrowheads and arrow shafts have been fully engraved). A diagnostic die scratch can be seen at the lower edge of the bottom-most arrowhead. This reverse die would go on to strike 1825 B-1 and 1828 B-2. Interestingly enough, the five die marriages struck from this reverse die are all tough to acquire, ranging from scarce (1824/2 B-1) to unique (1822 B-3).


The die scratch on the lower edge of the bottom arrow can be clearly seen in this picture.

This particular coin is a very nice, original, eye appealing example graded G04 by PCGS with a green CAC sticker. Many of the low grade 1824/2 quarters have been messed with somehow (cleaned, damaged, scratched, etc.), so this one is out of the ordinary. It was definitely worth saving up my money and waiting to buy a nice example like this coin!

 

Great posts!

Here is the one coin I have for type. I bought this from JJ Teaparty many years ago back when all coins were raw. NGC graded this one AU-58. The quarters from this era and many times scarcer than the half dollars in all grades.

 

That’s a very nice 1828 quarter! Its die marriage is B-1, in case you weren’t already aware. You are definitely correct that bust quarters are much tougher to collect than bust half dollars.

 

@NSP, I have really enjoyed your posts and your CBQ collection. I'm trying to decide now which I want for a date set among the CB denominations: half-dime, dime or quarter. There are pluses and minuses to each. Anyway, here is my only large diameter CBQ for my type set. Got it last January at FUN. My notation "DS-1/1" indicates that the die state for obverse and reverse are "1", perfect dies.

 

Very informative post and a great addition to your CBQ collection!

 

The newest addition to my bust quarter collection arrived today: an 1825/4/2 Browning-1. The B-1 is by far the rarest die marriage for this date (out of three), and is listed in the Redbook as “1825/2” (in other words, it has the Redbook variety appeal going for it). Its rarity rating is R5, which corresponds to 30 to 75 examples (I think it’s definitely closer to 75 than 30). The coin is graded G06 by PCGS.



All 1825 quarters are overdates, and they have been called many different things over the years. I’ve seen the various overdates described as 1825/2, 1825/3, 1825/4, 1825/4/2, 1825/4/(2), and 1825/4/3. Only two obverse dies were used to strike 1825 quarters, and it turns out that both of them are in fact 1825/4/2 (per the Tompkins bust quarter book). Both dies were left over from 1822 and were overdated to 1824/2, but then were never used. Once 1825 rolled around, they were overdated again to 1825/4/2, hardened, and pressed into service.

The obverse die was engraved by Robert Scot in 1822, and many of the obverse denticles are very crudely engraved (i.e., they’re angled and of different heights) on account of Scot’s advanced age. The numerals in the date are also spaced noticeably wider than those on the other 1825/4/2 die.

The reverse die is shared with four other die marriages: 1822 B-3, 1823/2 B-1, 1824/2 B-1, and 1828 B-2. I own three of the five die marriages, but I don’t expect to own the other two any time soon, since the 1822 B-3 is unique and the 1823/2 B-1 is the rarest US quarter date intended for circulation.

At this point, it’s pretty clear that I’m sliding down the slippery slope of die marriage collecting. It’s interesting to see how my collecting goals with this series have developed over the years. I certainly didn’t anticipate getting pulled in like this!

 

A wholesome addition to your collection, NSP. I like it a lot.

 

I admire your example of this very scarce coin, as well as your dedication to this series.
In fact, If I didn't like Large Cents and Early dimes so much, I would follow the same path as you with large size capped bust quarters.