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Message:: [QUOTE="CBJesse, post: 1957643, member: 40089"]In order to effectively attribute early federal coinage (half cents, large cents, Bust half dimes, dimes, quarters, halves and dollars, owning the reference material is a necessity. As previously stated, the knowledge gained from these references is immeasurable, and like I said, you can't confidently attribute the above coins without them. Anyway, now that I've said that, here is my explanation to the best of my ability in regards to the questions you asked: Early federal coinage - copper, silver, and gold - were all struck using hand engraved/punched dies. Because each die's letter and numbers were punched in individually and not with a hub (for the most part, there was some early experimentation with hubbing the entire die), they all have there own specific characteristics that make them distinguishable from the other dies that were used in striking that specific denomination. Here's an example: Say it's 1831, a half dollar obverse die (we'll call it Obverse 1) and a half dollar reverse die (we'll call it Reverse A) are paired, creating what is referred to as a die marriage. If Reverse A were to break, it may be replaced with a new reverse die (we'll call it Reverse B), thus creating a new die marriage (Obv 1 and Rev B). Researchers many year later, such as William Sheldon (large cents) and Al Overton (draped and capped bust half dollars), identified these dies by studying the characteristic on survivng coins. When they identified a unique die marriage (say Obv 1 and Rev A) it was assigned a number, like Overton 101, and the identifying characteristic of the dies were described. The next unique pair of dies (Obv 1 and Rev B) were assigned another number, like Overton 102. The researchers them published books with this information, and they are now used to attribute the die marriage of a particular coin. So if you wanted to attributed an 1831 half dollar, you would flip to the 1831 of Al Overton's book and find the obverse and reverse dies that match you coin. The pair of die would have an Overton number and this is the number the describes the die marriage of you coin. Some die marriages are rare, some are common. As you know, some collectors, collect coins based on their die marriages, a few even try to collect them all. This is the best description I could give for what a die marriage is and how there are related to the numbers you asked about. If anyone has any corrections, please let me know, so as to make this post as accurate as possible. Also, here is a quick list of the books you will need to attribute the coins. Be warned, many are very expensive 100+, but such is the nature of numismatic literature. EAC (Early American Coppers) has an excellent overview of Early Copper literature here: <a href="http://www.eacs.org/books.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.eacs.org/books.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.eacs.org/books.html</a> Bust Half Dimes: Federal Half Dimes by Logan and McCloskey, coins are attibuted to LM #, hard to find, $100+. Bust Dimes: Early United States Dimes by Davis, et. al. coins are attributed to JR #, hard to find, $200+. Cheap, JRCS authorized photocopies are available. Bust Quarters: Early United States Quarters by Tompkins or Early Quarter Dollars of the United States Mint, by Rea et. al. Coins are attributed to B (Browning) #. Excellent references. Both about $80, easy to find. Bust Half Dollars: Early Half Dollars by Overton, 3rd edition or later. Coins are attributed to O (Overton) #. 4th and 5th are easy to find, about $70. Bust Dollars: Books available by Jules Reiver, and Bowers/Brockart (sp?) This is not a comprehensive list, detailed studies, journals and more are available but this is a very good start. That's all I've got for tonight, hope it helps. Jesse[/QUOTE]

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