Newest additions. Once again all comments and grade opinions are welcome. The 1839 looks like cleaned, but I like all the die cracks running around the coin.
Very nice halves there Mark. Is that also a die crack between the first 8 and the 0 on the 1808 Half?
I think both coins are nice, with the 1839-O being lightly cleaned. When I get a chance I will have to look up the attributions on it - did not seen any on heritage, but looking at coinzip it looks like it is the most common variety of 1839-O's. I have to admit they had about 7-8 bust halves that I wanted. I limited myself to these two since I knew I did not have that variety. I may go back next week for a couple of others - if they still have them.
The more I look at these coins, the more I come to realize that the stars "reaching out" to the rim is not unusual. The 1808 is another good example.
Here's my 1807. The stars are not attached to the rim. What does that mean? Early die state? Firmer strike? Higher grade? Something else?
I love the die crack on that 1808, up through the date across the hair then through the B in LIBERTY finally out the top of her cap, can't tell if its continuous but its a beautiful example of a later state O-102a. The 1839, FANTASTIC, Love the O right above the date, classic. I'm not sure how reeded edge halves are attributed, since they aren't in my Overton's.
In 1807 newer dies were put into place late in the year. To me the stars are drawn to the edge because of combination of weak strike and worn dies. I am not an expert on this. By the way that is a nice 1807.
Now think about that for a minute Mark, if the point of the star is higher than the field, how can a weak strike make the point longer or draw it closer to the edge ? Remember, the point is a depression in the die that fills with metal as it is struck. So a weak strike would cause less of a long point. The only thing that can make the points draw towards the edge is if the that depression in the die grows longer. And about the only thing that can cause that original depression to change or grow larger is if the die chips at that point or metal flow pushing to fill the depression after repeated strikes begins to stretch that star point out longer than it was to begin with. It is metal flow that does it. And the reason it's only the star points close to the edge is because the metal flows from central part of the planchet to the outer edge.
Nice coins, I like the 1839 the best, even thought it looks cleaned. It has character IMO, nice! :thumb: Phoenix
I associated the two(weak strike and worn dies) since they seem to be common in this series(but not always), when in reality they are two different qualities of the coins. So yes you are right of course.
