I Like And Collect Bust Halfs And My Question Is ? The Coin Book Of Bust Halfs By Al C. Overton. Example The 1801 Bust Half The Book Says The Total Minted For That Year Was 30,289 Coins. Then Underneth It Has The Varieties ( 101 R4 ) And (102 R5 ) The (r) Being The Rariety Of The Coin Expressed In How Many Coins There Are In That Die Marriage. A Total Of At Most 280 Coins For Both Die Marriages Combined. My Question Is This. There Are 30,009 Coins Unaccounted For. Where Are They Or Are They ? Because These Are The Only Die Marriages That Are Listed. How Can I Find Out
Hmmm, in the recent book put out by Don Parsley it shows that the varieties O-101 is an R-3 and the O-102 is an R-4. The only two varieties for the year minted by one obverse die and two reverse dies. There is no mention of the number struck in either variety. The book I'm using is considered by many to be the standard, United States Early Half Dollar Die Varieties 1794-1836. Take Care Ben
Jim: You had me on this one, but here goes: First, R-1 does not mean that only one piece is known, it refers to the relative rarity of the die marriage. Overton uses the standard rarity rating, which is as follows: a R-1 = 1,000 or more pieces known Common R-2 = 500 to 1,000 pieces known slightly uncommon R-3 = 201 to 500 Pieces known, scarce R-4 = 81 to 200 pieces known, very scarce R-5 = 31 to 80pieces known, Rare R-6 = 13 to 30 pieces known, Very Rare R-7 = 4 to 12 known, Extremely Rare R-8 Unique or nearly so, Unique or nearly so. I hope that this helps. Rememebr, these are estimates.
The (r) Is The Raraiety Of The Coin ( R1 Being Comon Over 1,000 Coins In That Rareity) (r4 Means Verry Scarce Their Only Being 81 To 200 Coins In That Die Marriage Etc Down To R8 Wich Only 1t03 Coins In That Marriage)
Bust Half Mintage The Other Fran Frank I Know The R Rating The 1801 Half Dollar Reads That There Where 30,289 Minted Coins Then The Overton Book Gives You 2 Varities (101 R4 Wich Says There Is Only Aprox 81 To 200 Of These Die Coin Marriages And 102 R5 Reads Ther Could Be A Max Of 81 Of This Marriage) So This Tells Me That There Is Only At The Most 280 Coins Left Out Of 30,289. For I Dont See Any R1 To Make It Common N And Bring It Up To The Mintage Professed. Am I Rite In My Logic.
Unreported or lost to history. You'll see many other's like this as well, the 1807 and 1815 are kinda in the same boat as well. Take Care Ben
I thought I would post this just so ya'll could see all of the R Ratings... Fuld rarity scale for token coins: GEORGE FULD RARITY SCALE FOR TOKEN COINS RARITY ESTIMATED NUMBER IN EXISTENCE R - 1 Greater than 5000 (Relatively Common) R - 2 2001 to 5000 R - 3 501 to 2000 R - 4 201 to 500 R - 5 76 to 200 R - 6 21 to 75 R - 7 11 to 20 R - 8 5 to 10 R - 9 2 to 4 R - 10 1 Only The Sheldon Scale R-1 Common R-2 Not So Common R-3 Scarce R-4 Very Scarce (population est at 76-200) R-5 Rare (31-75) R-6 Very Rare (13-30) R-7 Extremely rare (4-12) R-8 Unique or Nearly So (1,2 or 3) The Universal Rarity Scale by Q. David Bowers URS-0 None known URS-1 1 known, unique URS-2 2 known URS-3 3 or 4 known URS-4 5 to 8 known URS-5 9 to 16 known URS-6 17 to 32 known URS-7 33 to 64 known URS-8 65 to 125 known URS-9 126 to 250 known URS-10 251 to 500 known URS-11 501 to 1,000 known URS-12 1,001 to 2,000 known URS-13 2,001 to 4,000 known URS-14 4,001 to 8,000 known URS-15 8,001 to 16,000 known URS-16 16,001 to 32,000 known URS-17 32,001 to 65,000 known URS-18 65,001 to 125,000 known URS-19 125,001 to 250,000 known URS-20 250,001 to 500,000 known From the degrees of Rarity as defined in Scholten in Coins of the Dutch Overseas Territories Scholten Description C Common N Normal S Scarce R Rare RR Very Rare RRR Extremely Rare RRRR Of the utmost rarity Michael Marsh in his book The Gold Sovereign expands the last rarity. Marsh Description R4 15 to 25 examples known R5 9 to 14 examples known R6 4 to 8 examples known R7 Highest rarity known Andrew Pollock in his book US Patterns uses the rarity as, Marsh Description R1 over 1250 examples known R2 500 to 1250 examples known R3 201 to 500 examples known R4 76 to 200 examples known R5 31 to 75 examples known R6 13 to 30 examples known R7 4 to 12 Highest rarity known R8 2 or 3 examples known Overton (and bust half collectors as a whole) use the Sheldon Rarity System where: R1 is common (1000+ pieces known) R2 is Slightly uncommon (501-1000 pieces known) R3 is Scarce (201-500 pieces known) R4 is Very Scarce (81-200 pieces known) R5 is Rare (31-80 pieces known) R6 is Very Rare (13-30 pieces known) R7 is Extremely Rare (4-12 pieces known) R8 is Unique or nearly so (1-3 pieces known) English Rarity Scale - from The English Silver Coinage from 1649 by Seaby & Rayner. R7 - only 1 or 2 examples known R6 - 3 - 4 R5 - 5 - 10 R4 - 11 - 20 R3 - Extremely Rare R2 - Very Rare R - Rare S - Scarce N - Normal, neither scarce nor common C - Common C2 - Very Common C3 - Extremely Common R-1 Common R-2 Not So Common R-3 Scarce R-4 Very Scarce (population est at 76-200) R-5 Rare (31-75) R-6 Very Rare (13-30) R-7 Extremely rare (4-12) R-8 Unique or Nearly So (1,2 or 3) Hard Times tokens rarity scale R1 - common R2 - less common R3 - Scarce R4 - estimated 76-200 specimens survive R5 - estimated 31-75 specimens survive R6 - estimated 13-30 specimens survive R7 - estimated 4-12 specimens survive R8 - estimated 2 or 3 specimens survive R9 - Unique (only one known) Speedy
Well I have it all saved on my computer and when I find a new one I just add it to the list and hit save---then when this type of topic comes up I always post it that way others can see and save the list if they want too. Speedy
