The capped bust has another image to the left of the face, and a "s" lightly imprinted to the right of the 1831. The sitting liberty is an 1877/6 variety. Neither one of these coins were listed on ebay as error coins, and were purchased relatively cheap. If anyone has any information on the values of these coins, and backround of the capped bust having another face on it...i would be very greatful.
"Liberty Seated" or even "seated", not sitting. May I ask what you are seeing that leads you to believe the 77 is the overdate? Being as its rather worn and the date placement appears wrong...
sorry about the "sitting liberty", spell correction did that. I brought both coins to the local coin shop to authenticate. After which he tried to low-ball a price to me....needless to say I passed on the offer. Unfortunately, the only camera I have is on my phone, and is not an SLR camera. I wish that I could take better pictures. I am not sure if it is a computer graphic difference, or if it is a resolution problem due to the upload of the images. I have viewed the images on both my wife's computer, as well as mine. Both computers have the six very visible. I will avoid posting more pics until I get an SLR camera, as it appears to be an issue.
On the '77 overdate, the only one in the CPG shows the upper loop of the 6 directly on top of the last 7. I don't see that on yours. The pic is a little too fuzzy to tell definitely, but I don't think it's 301. The '31 appears to be a clash.
May I ask if this shop authenticated the coin or the variety? As a side note, its always worth remembering that just because someone is a dealer, this does not mean they are experts. Unless the guy specializes in this type (or in varieties), you might as well assume his knowledge is average at best. Don't worry about not having a DSLR. Play around with your phone camera and sooner or later you'll figure out how to take decent photos with it. As I alluded to earlier, and as DTMenace said, the overdate is on the seven and not "behind" it (as with an 1806/5 25C for example). I can see what you're talking about, but believe its an artifact and not an underlying six. Since you have the coin in-hand, here is a link to compare it to: http://www.dickosburn.com/1877-6-liberty-seated-half-dollar-au58.html
I think i have a better picture of just the date. I also downloaded a stock picture and will explain what the coin dealer had said to me: what was said is: "One way to tell if it is an 1877/6 is the bottom of the last 7. See how the bottom is bigger than the bottom of the first 7? The next way to tell...as he had me look through his magnifier...is, see how the mark goes from the inside of the top of the second seven, then sweeps around to the bottom of the seven. that is why the bottom of the second seven is larger than the first seven." I admit that I am an amateur coin collector, and half to rely on opinions from others and coin shops. But, after he pointed out the distinguishing marks, I had tended to believe him since he does this for a living. The offer that he threw at me for the 1877 was $140 dollars. I thought this to be a little low considering the age of the coin, and the fact that he said it was an 1877/6 coin. My intentions are to have it slabbed through NGC as a variety plus coin. I only paid $35.04 for the coin, but figured he was low-balling me anyways.
Spell check got me again...in the first line where it says "half", it should have read "have". I am using a DROID x phone that can have a mind of its own. Sorry.
Some here do this for a living too. I've a buddy who has been a full-time B&M since the 50's yet could not identify an less-than-obvious variety if it slapped him in the face. The point I was trying to make earlier is that just because someone does "this" for a living, it does not make them experts. I don't know the dealer you took this to...maybe he does know what he is talking about (its not for me to judge) but you should always keep an open mind and learn for yourself. If the coin is what you hope, great and good for you. If not, take this as a learning experience and become a better collector for it. This may interest you: http://blog.davidlawrence.com/index.php/seated-half-dollars-1877/ While the book was released before acceptance of the variety, its still interesting to read what is said about it. I have to agree that the larger bottom (2nd seven) appears to be a repunch and not part of an overdate, but to each his own. Being as you have the coin in-hand, be sure to check the date placement (in relation to denticles, etc). Locate other marker and try to match them before submitting.
Will do. And, thank you everyone for your inputs...for it is a learning experience. It used to be that all you had to do to check to see if a coin was real, was to put a magnet to it. Since then, counterfeiters have learned to silver plate pcv to bypass the magnet verification. I have spent the 124.95 enrolling in NGC's premium club, to learn as much as I can about coins. Even so, I believe in what a professor in college had instilled in my brain: "You can never know everything there is about anything." In this teaching, he used a tire as an example. You may know how to engineer a tire, and how to mix the necessary compounds to produce the rubber. But, there is still the microbiology of the inert ingredients that produces the rubber and how the ingredients fuse together on a molecular level...as well as what produces the molecular ingredients, etc.. I am not one to just say "God created it" because of my engineering degree. Right now, I am at the point of pouring the rubber in the mold...when it comes to coin collecting. So, I appreciate the knowledge that everyone is giving me. Thank you all.
Thank you for the info, i did go to the link, and it does seem like a different variety. I will have NGC check on it and post what they say. The coin was purchased from "Great Southern Coins" on ebay. I assume that they are a reputable coin dealer, but we all know what assuming gets us. Did you get a good look at the capped bust? It looks to me as if it was casted on the wrong die. I hope that is the right terminology. Not sure because the only coin i have that is casted on the wrong die is an 1857 flying eagle casted on a 50c die. The capped bust looks like it is just an over-strike. I am familiar with David Lawrence because I have purchased a couple of coins from their store. I just didn't think to do a comparison to one of theirs. I apologize if I come across as abrupt, I have some personal issues going on right now. I have been going on a coin buying frenzy to get my mind off the personal issues.
