Hi all, I've been off the radar for awhile and have been in a dry buying spell for awhile. I recently picked up an 1832 H10 with some nice color/skin and sent it off to robec for some stunning pictures. I just received them and noticed that the "M" on the reverse in "AMERICA" is missing a bar -- is this considered PMD, strike-through, or a variety (i.e.: die marriage)? I looked up all the die marriages listed in the Capped Bust Half Dime website (http://www.everythinghalfdimes.com) and couldn't find any that was missing the bar in "M". The closest I came to matching was LM-3, which exhibited both the repunched Star #12 and reverse Arrowhead touching the final "A" in "AMERICA." Pictures posted below -- any help is much appreciated! Thanks! -CB My coin: LM-3 Example from website:
The missing bar on the M is due to extensive lapping (grinding and polishing) of the die. Your coin is an LM-3 but this does occur on other die marriages. If you have any interest in collecting Bust Half Dimes or even early coinage in general, please get Federal Half Dimes 1792-1837 by Logan and McCloskey, contains almost everything you need to know about Capped Bust Half Dimes. BTW, gorgeous coin!
Edit: Forgot to add, the missing third stroke in the M does not always appear on LM-3, which is why you couldn't find it on the website, so it shouldn't be used in attributing this coin, it is actually the latest reverse die state for this marriage.
Thanks for the information! Glad to know what that was. After perusing through the different die marriages I'm starting to like variety-by-die-marriage searching...I can understand why you are a Capped Bust "fanatic"!
I was doing Capped Bust half dimes by die marriage (yes, I have the Logan/McCloskey book). But that collection is currently on the back burner. All my numismatic budget (and then some) is going into my highest interest sets: -- type set with only ten 1790's coins missing (and I can only afford at most 3 of them) -- IHC's in MS-63 or better (5 to go) -- silver Roosies in MS-66 FT (2 to go) -- Red Book listed Braided Hair cents in VF or better (8 to go)
I like Capped Bust Halves myself. Can't begin to express the horror I felt when I learned that back when they were the coin of the realm they were often counterfeited and enough contemporary counterfeits survived to modern times that there is actually a collector's society (UK) devoted to collecting and cataloging the 200 year old counterfeits. 23 different ones for the 1832 alone. Anyhoo, be wary of new variations.
