1850-O Small O? Half Dime Variety

I was going through some of my old coins and I came across this 1850-O half dime with what appears to be a very small reverse "O". It seems much smaller than another 1850-O coin that I have and I'm having a little bit of trouble finding the reference for this one. I was going to send it out for grading but I'm not sure if they will pick up on this variety. Hope someone can help me out with it.

 

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According to Breens Encyclopedia , the 1850-O with small thin O is rare , but then to Breen everything is scarce . It also said these may be from '48 dies or even '44 dies and were severely rusted .

 

Judging by the size of the mintmark and that it is low and to the left of center, it looks like a V-4. Let me pull out my Valentine book and see if there are any other possibilities.

Edit: Looking at the book, I think it is a V-4. Diagnostics are that the 1 almost touches the base on the obverse. He referred to it as "slender lettering", but the NGC VarietyPlus looks a lot like your and refers to that as a V-4, as well.

Link here:
https://www.ngccoin.com/coin-varieties/seated-liberty-half-dimes/1850-o-small-o-h10c-5088

Cross referencing that back to the picture in the lookup in the Valentine book, it does look very close. Any chance of closer pictures of both the date and how the O relates to the bow and "DIME"?

NGC refers to it as "rare for this date", so Breen might not have been too far off, in this case.

 

There's also a medium O .

 

There is, and that came after the Valentine book, I think. If I recall correctly, the medium O's were mostly on center, weren't, they? No clue where my Blythe book is, but I think that one hits on the mediums. I'll see if I can dig that one out, tonight.

 

Definitely the V-4 Small O variety, a real sleeper within a sleeper date, within a sleeper series. This would be a thousand dollar coin if there were as many collectors of Half Dimes as there were of Morgans.

Mint mark location and the high date slanting downward to the right confirm the variety, although the MM size is diagnostic in itself. Of Seated Half Dimes, 1850-O has the single smallest number of offerings of any year/mint at the PCGS Auction Results; few have survived.

I believe NGC but not PCGS attribute this one.

 

Actually, Medium-O is listed as a V-3, from what Blythe says. The picture in the Valentine book definitely shows it as being centered, and possibly low. My money is on a V-4, still.

I am fairly new to this series, so I would love for someone more knowledgeable to confirm. I've got a stack of these (series, not the date) to attribute, myself.

Edit: And SuperDave definitely lives up to the name!

 

As a half dime collector Super Dave is spot on with his statement . And yes as a H-10 collector as well as varieties I'm drooling at this point. Nice coin congrats.

 

At least in VF or above, I think 1849-O and 1850-O are the Key Dates for the series.

 

Awesome coin.

 

Watch out this series has a way of drawing you into it...It truly has a lot to offer a collector more bang for the buck.

 

I say so also ....however most of the early 40 ' and 50's are hard to come by....... especially in better condition .
At most shows you see 56,57, 5 8's. Some Civil war dates .
I passed on a 58 o last Sunday and should of picked it up.
Mint marked coins are like hens teeth ,and if you find a vf or better jump on it.....

 

I also like the bust half dimes.....a short series but again finding them in the variety as well as in acceptable condition is quite a task. And can get costly .....this is another series if you find a nice coin at a a good price jump on it.....even though you don't collect them as it could be a good flipper. The 1835 has 4 varieties as to date size and 5 size. These are also coins with some high R values.That makes your find worth even more to a collector of such.

 

That is precisely what attracted me to it. It is reasonably affordable, even at higher grades. I started with the dimes, expanded to the half-dimes, and recently just expanded to the quarters.

I have started to pick up some of those, as well. Only have three so far: a 1832, 1833, and 1835. The first one is AU and the second two are XF. Again, reasonably affordable. I did get those at an absolute steal, though. Think I paid $100 for the first, and $80 each, for the second two. For my 1835, I know that it is a Small Date/Large 5C, but I've not tried to determine variety yet.

 

Thanks to all who responded. Much appreciated. That NGC variety site was what I was looking for. I collected these in the '70s thru the late '80s and really haven't looked at them since. At first glance it appears I have most of the double/overdate/large date varieties shown but interestingly one that they don't grade is the one that took me a while to find, the 1862 uphill date (excuse the bad pic, there's heavy toning on it).

 

The more the merrier, just as long as everyone waits until we are ready to sell.

 

Hoping SuperDave can answer this for me: I'm going to send the 1850-O small O out for grading but would like to send others at the same time. Which of the varieties that NGC grades would be worth submitting? I know some of the later date varieties are pretty common but how about 1848 large date, the 1849 RPD or overdate types or 1858/1858 or 1858 over inverted?

 

That depends on your criteria for "worth submitting." If it's purely financial justification - I'd understand that, of course - go out and find real-world auction results from similar sales by comparison to the non-variety types in the same grade. A good indicator of rarity (hence worthiness for an attributed slab) is scarcity of sales records at all - in the case of this coin, I was only able to find two prior sales in my search of the "usual suspects" sites.

And don't rely on me.

I'm not a Half Dime guy. I'm a generalist, with a specialization in research, and I went out and learned what I posted here specifically for that post. So I hesitate to comment specifically on your question, because I'll have to go out and research more on your behalf. Instead, I'll nudge you in the direction of the research yourself.

 

There are two 1849 RPD 001 the 1849/19/9 & the 002 1849 /19 my references show about an even value .
There's also a 1848 mpd where the digits are in the rock. Two more that to me that be a better value are the 1858 inverted date in ms 63 $1100.00+/- , the 1858/1858 RPD 001 carries a nice premium ,
also the 72 DDR

I will add this to the above....I know quite a few dealers here where I live. As I work some coin shows. Their inventory of half dime doesn't move as other coins would or do.
As a H-10 collector They always keep me updated to new finds for their inventory .
These coins as others are not "Hot" items even the varieties .
I would heed the words above and research the variety and sales of such. As you may be better off selling them raw then having them graded . Again that's a personal choice. But if you're talking vf - XF coins don't waste the time and money IMHO .