Hello everyone coin collector, I looking for 1840-o half dime and I notice some mintmark "0" small letter and other some large letter. I not know which one rare or hard find Thank you for stop look Tim
I dont believe there is a O difference in the 1840-o half dime. The only thing different would be a "Drapery" & "No Drapery" version as well with "Stars" & "No Stars".
From Brian Greer's Complete Guide to Liberty Seated Half Dimes (1992): "V-5 (Valentine was another early series researcher) with small round O and V-7 with small round O and a different large letters reverse than that used on the V-5. Discovered by W. Harmon. "V-5 has a full head, shield and toe: also a bold date and some weakness in he dentils. The pendant lines up slightly right of the upright of the 4, and the shield points to the top of the I. Also the obverse die shows some evidence of rust. Late die states of the reverse will show mushy letters in UNITED and AMERICA. The mintmark measures 0.8 millimeters, tilts slightly left, and lines up directly under the left standard of the M in DIME. Lower portion of ribbon is weak with cracks off of ribbon ends. "The new V-7 combines the obverse of the V-5 with a different large letters reverse. Die cracks on the reverse run from the rim through the left edge of the U in UNITED to a leaf and from the edge through I in AMERICA to a bid." There is no mention of different-size O mintmarks, just "small round O." It is nonetheless possible that some rev. dies may have had the mintmark punched in more heavily/lightly than others, which might make them look larger or smaller. (The addition of a mintmark via a punch tool was a manual operation, done at the Philadelphia Mint die shop. The dies were then shipped to the branch mints.) He also cites Harmon's article on the 1840-O in The Gobrecht Journal Collective Vol. 3, 1990, pp. 119-122. Good luck!
I don't know anything about half dimes, but the mintage of the 1840-O "No Drapery" was 695,000 and the mintage of the 1840-O "Drapery" was 240,000. Chris
Ah, OK, here we go: I forgot to look at Greer's entry for the No Drapery. That is the Large O variety "scarce in all grades." "V-1 Large Round O. "Also Large O V-7 An 1840-O No Drapery obverse muled to the 1839-O large O, reverse of 1838-O. The discovery piece has a bisecting die crack on the reverse which begins at the rim and crosses though the O in OF ... One known to date" Greer also lists a 1840-O No Drapery Medium O "scarce in all grades": "V-2 Medium oval O" "The Medium O exhibits a strong strike with full head, toe and shield. Obverse dentils are fully defined. This variety has defective stars 3 and 9, and all stars are boldly punched as is the date. All aspects of the reverse are strongly struck. The mintmark measures 0.9 millimeters, tilts a little right, and is positioned just left of the center of the bow. There is evidence of die clashing. Also, there are many die cracks on late die state specimens." His [1992; they may have changed now] rarity ratings range from R-5 to R-6 in Good-Mint State for these Large O and Medium O No Drapery coins, vs. "very scarce" for the 1840-O No Drapery V-3 through V-4a varieties. Finally, he lists an 1840-O No Drapery Small O rev. variety, V-6, as R-6, "1840-O Small O, Open Buds, Transitional Die" In other words, the little olive buds on the wreath near ONE DIME have open buds, little creases in them. The differences in the three mintmark sizes are clear from the photos. This is the book you really should try to buy (along with Valentine) if you are studying this series. The Large O mintmark is clearly centered between the bottom of the M (in DIME) and the top of the bow beneath. The Medium O is a bit closer to the left (facing) loop of the bow, and there is more space above the O than below it. The No Drapery Small O is about centered between the M and bow, is noticeably smaller than on the No Drapery coins. Hope this helps, again!
As a Seated Dime& Half Dime collector he the best link I know of on the web www.seateddimevarieties.com www.seateddimevarieties.com/date_mintmark/top100.htm
Hi Jello, good to hear from you. Yes, the www.seateddimevarieties.com site maintained by Gerry Fortin is a great reference. Unfortunately, the question was about half dimes, and I don't know of anything comparable on the web for that. But I am not a specialist in that series--as my answers show--mostly a proficient typist!
I can relate. I am at my best from 12 am-3 am Pacific Time. Unfortunately, I live in the Southeast U.S. :rolling:
The 1840-O half dime is more rare with drapery on the elbow of liberty's left arm. 240,000 with drapery compared to 695,000 without drapery. As far as the mint mark there's nothing about large or small O mm.
True but the matter was confused a bit when he started quoting from a book by Greer. Greer did not write a book on half dimes, he wrote on seated dimes. The half dime book was by Blythe But since he was using V numbers I assume he just got the authors name wrong.
