I recently got an 1837 capped bust half dime. It's a filler grade piece for my type set, and this is a single year type - the last year the Bust Half Dimes were made, and the only 90% silver capped bust. I bought it impulsively, and only after I had it at home did I do some research and find out that there are 5 different types. Do we have any resident experts who can explain the difference to me? from http://www.coinfacts.com/half_dimes/capped_bust_half_dimes/1837_half_dime.htm "[SIZE=-1]Varieties (5): LM-1 - Very Common LM-2 - Rare LM-3 - Very Rare LM-4 - Scarce LM-5 - Very Common" 6th variety: Small "5c" The coin facts wiki has pictures of some of the varieties, but I'm not picking up on the differences (other than the small vs big 5c, which the Wiki made very clear - I'm pretty sure my coin is a large 5): [/SIZE]http://www.coinfactswiki.com/wiki/Capped_Bust_Half_Dime_%281829-1837%29[SIZE=-1] [/SIZE] I took some high resolution pictures, but focusing on such a small coin is tricky with my camera (and I would grade this as VG8-F12 so there isn't a lot of detail to focus on). If these are no good, I would be happy to take new photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/georgemo/6109363117/sizes/o/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/georgemo/6109369173/sizes/o/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/georgemo/6109906612/sizes/o/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/georgemo/6109912818/sizes/l/in/photostream/
Best I can do http://rob.com/russ/collection/. I used to use this site to attribute mine. I almost bought a book on them today, but since I no longer have any I skipped it. As it is different die pairs had different characteristics and some are more rare than others. You can look at the placement of E. Pluribus Unum to United States of America. On a bust half it would be the I in pluribus to second t in states - not sure about dimes. Then you can look at date and stars in relation ship to the bust and 5C in relation ship to claws and branch. I used Russ Logans site to attribute the few half dismes I had.
Yes I happen to like half dimes but so far I have not been able to get time with the book to see what I can determine. Don't get your hopes up though because all of your pictures are out of focus and that is going to make attribution a lot more difficult. If no one else come up with anything I should be able to have some time Monday to do some checking.
I've got a few other cameras and a scanner I can play with. I'll try to get something more in focus... Thanks for the link and feedback!
1. Take the coin out of the 2x2. 2. Down-size the image to no more than screen size. 3. Needs a lot better focus (but you know that). Some of the diagnostics require a LOT of image sharpness. 4. Grade appears to be down around VG which could make ID'ing the die marriage impossible; many diagnostics disappear below VF. BTW I'm into Capper Bust Half dimes. From what I can see in your last image I believe it's an LM-1.
I'm also coming up with LM-1. It is definitely a large 5C. It can't be LM-5 because the end of the stem is over the center of the C and not slightly past the right side of the C. That leaves LM-1,2 and 3. 2 and 3 have the same reverse and on it the bases of AM touch. On LM-1 the A and M are well separated. On your coin the A&M are separated. LM-1
