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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;COCollector, post: 3521353, member: 76108&quot;]Some background:</p><p><br /></p><p><i>&quot;The screwpress that produced these coins was operated manually by two men. Each coin was manually fed into the screwpress and struck one at a time. The obverse and reverse dies were prepared by hand by mint engravers and each die was prepared slightly different from the previous die. When one die became worn or broken, it was replaced by another. Each time a die was replaced, whether it was the obverse or reverse die, it produced another new variety that later would be identified and numbered by Al Overton.</i></p><p><br /></p><p><i>&quot;For each year from 1807 to 1836 of the lettered edge bust half dollars, Al Overton numbered each year’s different varieties starting with number 101. When an obverse or reverse die was replaced, another die variety was produced and it became the next variety, or number 102.&nbsp; When another die became worn or broken, the next variety was produced and it was numbered 103. When a die started to wear, cracks would develop on the dies and this would produce coins with diecracks showing on the coins. <b>These diecracks are very popular among bust half collectors.</b> Some collectors enjoy collecting different stages of die wear for any particular date and variety of bust half. They might collect a particular variety in its early die state which might not have any die cracks and also look for the same variety coin in a later die state which might have a small die crack and then look for the same variety coin in a much later die state which might have more or larger die cracks.&quot; </i></p><p><br /></p><p>More info: <a href="http://www.billscoins.us/index.php/en/talks" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.billscoins.us/index.php/en/talks" rel="nofollow">http://www.billscoins.us/index.php/en/talks</a></p><p><br /></p><p>And if you want to learn how to attribute early half dollars:</p><p><img src="http://www.jakesmp.net/AAA_giffile/CSD/books/Books_047B-5_Ebay.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>Of course, shop around for best price.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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