There is a tendency among Early date collectors to emphasize obverses and then mention reverses; I would like to take the opposite approach. Each Stemless reverse is matched with two or three obverse so they account for many more varieties than the four and a half reverses. I call the 1801 half because it is only missing one stem, so is it really stemless? Stemless Reverse 1 Sheldon Reverse 1796 BB and 1797 Reverse T: This is Die State I of 1796 NC-7. The obverse does not have the obverse crack the other NC-7 has though the reverse is insufficiently strong enough to see if the die clashes of later die states are there. I can't even see die clashes that on that coin either. This is a Die State II of 1796 NC-7. This coin was listed as NC-6 by Sheldon in EAC in 1948, but de-listed in Penny Whimsey in 1958. When a second example of the die showed up overstruck on a cut down planchet used for a half cent, the die was confirmed. The Die State I showed up when purchased unattributed by Rod Burress and was sold to Dan Holmes. It is the only one of the three available as a Cent with the discovery coin in ANS and the other now being a Half Cent. The next appearance of this Stemless Reverse die appears on a single pairing in 1807 with Obverse 9 and is the 1797 NC-8. This is the 1797 NC-8. It is unique. The last obverse pairing for this die is the S-143 which was R5+ in 2000, but seems more likely to be R5 or R5- now. This is the 1797 NC-143.
