Exhibit: 1840 (O) 50C Reverse of 1838 ,A date without a home.

A hard to come by issue, the 1840 Medium Letters Seated Liberty Half was struck at the New Orleans Mint without a mintmark , using an old open claws reverse die intended & possibly used for 1839 O Capped Bust Reeded Edge Half Dollar.

The John Reich obverse & reverse designed dies & of the Capped Bust Half had been sent to New Orleans in 1839 . The only mint marked Capped Bust halves had the “O” mintmark on the obverses of the coins.
One of the reverse dies in New Orleans was saved for use in 1840.Back then the goverment was a bit more cost concious with the tax payers money & did not like to waste perfetly good dies.The old-style reverse die was paired with the newly designed but 2nd year Seated Liberty obverses.
What came of this new pairing was a new obverse that carried the mint marks on the reverse; but an older reverse die that put the mint marks on the obverse. Thus flip flopping where the mint marks should have been.

The result is refered to as the type III, 1840 (O) with no mintmark.

The noticeable difference is not that it doesn’t have a mintmark since the coins minted in Philadelphia that didnt have a mint mark . But by the size of the Eagle & letters on the reverse.Another way to identify this type is by the reverse having multiple die breaks that are always seen on this type & the open claws of the eagle.

This unique year has halves with the reverse of coinage like that of 1838 & is usually referred to as the reverse of 1838 even though the coins came from 1839 dated dies.

One of my favorite varieties & always a joy to come across.

http://www.coinfacts.com/half_dolla...s/1839_half_dollars/1839o_half_dollar_obv.jpg

 

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Very interesting thread, thank you, Budgood!

 

Great thread , it's threads like these that make CT so good , thanks .
rzage

 

WOW, thanks man. I learned something new and important today, that was truly a fabulous post.

 

Well if you were to find an open claw 1840 half, and it doesn't have this particular reverse die then no you couldn't tell if it was a New Orleans without comparing it to the 1839 and 39-O capped bust reverses for a match. But since so far there is only one capped bust rev known to have been used on 1840 you would have a new discovery piece and that would be pretty good too.

 

Lost track of this one? It came in 8th place, 5th Qualifier

Exhibit: 1840 (O) 50C Reverse of 1838 ,A date without a home. http://www.cointalk.com/forum/t45958/#post495442

Code:

Art   Edu     Nui    FS     Tot              GT
7  	8  	9  	0  	24  		121

	
9 	3 	9 	0 	21 	
	

	
10 	6 	8 	0 	24 	
	

	
8 	9 	9 	0 	26 	
	

	
9 	8 	9 	0 	26 	
	

 

still a great post

 

great education peice