The E-Gobrecht

Volume 2, Issue 1, January 2006

Whole Number 10

This is an electronic publication of the Liberty Seated Collectors Club (LSCC). The LSCC is a non-profit organization dedicated to the attributions of the Liberty Seated Coin series. The LSCC provides the information contained in this email newsletter from various sources as a general service to the membership and others with this numismatic interest. You do not have to be a LSCC member to benefit from this newsletter; subscription to the E-Gobrecht is available to anyone. All disclaimers are in effect as the completeness and/or accuracy of the information contained herein cannot be completely verified.

Information, input, comments, or suggestions for improvements to this E-Gobrecht are actively solicited from anyone and may be sent to wb8cpy@arrl.net or by writing or calling:

Bill Bugert

Editor, E-Gobrecht

P.O. Box 3761

Gettysburg, PA 17325-6927

(717) 337-0229

To be added or removed from the E-Gobrecht mailing list, send an email message with the words "Subscribe/Unsubscribe" in the subject line of the message to wb8cpy@arrl.net.

Acknowledgements and Miscellaneous Notes

Many thanks to Gerry Fortin, Len Augsburger, Bill Luebke, and the subscribers who corresponded with me.

We are now up to 127 E-Gobrecht subscribers! Thanks to everyone for your interest and support. Please consider submitting something for print.

Features in this issue

==> Index to 2005 Gobrecht Journal articles.

==> December 2005 Liberty Seated Dime Update by Gerry Fortin.

==> Notes on "No Drapery" versus "With Drapery" Design Types by Len Augsburger.

==> Update on 1842 Small Date Small Letters Reverse half dollars.

==> Jules Reiver collection to be auctioned in January.

==> Recent email traffic.

Details

==> Gobrecht Journal Index for 2005. For your information and use, here is a listing of the articles published in the Gobrecht Journal in 2005 (issues 92, 93, and 94). – Editor.

Half Dimes

Issue Page # Title

93 13 An Analysis of Hand Punched Positions on No Drapery

Seated Dimes by Len Augsburger

93 34 An Unusual 1854 V-1 Half Dime by Weimar W. White

92 49 An 1856 Half Dime with Missing Denticles by John

McCloskey

94 32 An 1871 Half Dime by Weimar W. White

Dimes

Issue Page # Title

94 30 America’s First Seated Dime by Ken Cable-Camilleis

94 41 The Major 100 Liberty Seated Dime Varieties by Gerry

Fortin

93 43 An 1841 Dime with an Obverse Rim Cud by Ken Cable-

Camilleis

92 17 An 1841-O Dime with a Retained Cud Surfaces by Gerry

Fortin

93 21 A New 1853 With Arrows Half Dime with a Repunched

Date by Mark Sheldon

94 35 Updated Prices for 1871-CC through 1874-CC Seated

Dimes by Paul Bradley

93 38 Obverse Cuds on 1875-CC Dimes by Tim Cook

94 49 The 1886-S Seated Dime by Bill Cregan

Quarters

Issue Page # Title

93 3 An Updated Review of the Seated Quarter Series by Bob

Foster

93 24 Relating Seated Quarter Mintages to Events from the 19^th

Century by Carson Torpey

92 40 A Study of Two Choice Uncirculated 1840 Quarters by

Ken Cable-Camilleis

93 42 An 1842-O Quarter with an Unusual Mintmark by Roy

Maxwell

93 36 The Unique 1855-S Proof Quarter by Len Augsburger

92 52 True Rarity of the 1860-S Quarter in AU by James C.

Gray

Half Dollars

Issue Page # Title

93 45 A Summary of the Seated Half Dollar Census Data by

John McCloskey

93 30 Another 1857 Half Dollar with Extra Digits in the Rock by

Paul Brill

94 3 Die Marriages of 1861-O Half Dollars by Randall E.

Wiley

92 32 The Story of a Bogus 1878-CC Half Dollar by Bill Bugert

Dollars

Issue Page # Title

92 22 The Legend Business Strike Seated Dollar Collection by

Joe Kirchgessner

93 31 Correction to Legend Seated Dollar Article by Joe

Kirchgessner

93 32 Counterfeit Seated Dollars and Trade Dollars Still

Available on eBay by Bert Schlosser

Miscellaneous

Issue Page # Title

92 3 The Best of Times: Recollections of a Dedicated Seated

Collector by James C. Gray

92 20 Some Thoughts For Success in Finding the Tough Dates

by James Macor

92 31 Drawing for Free Seated Albums by Jim Gray

93 35 Results of Drawing for Free Seated Albums by Jim Gray

92 36 When Did the With Stars Design First Appear on Seated

Dimes and Half Dimes? By Tom DeLoery

92 38 Building a Five Piece 1875-CC Silver Date Set by

Weimar W. White

92 42 The 20 Greatest Seated Coins by John McCloskey

92 50 Schlosser Wins Ahwash Award for 2004 by John

McCloskey

93 40 Premiere Edition of the Ahwash Encyclopedia by John

McCloskey

94 39 The LSCC Electronic Newsletter – The E-Gobrecht by

Bill Bugert

94 50 Report on 32^nd Annual Meeting of LSCC by Mark

Sheldon

==> December 2005 Liberty Seated Dime Update by Gerry Fortin. The past 30 days have brought about serious career developments. In early December, I finally made the decision to retire from Fairchild Semiconductor after 21 years of employment. Leading the off shoring of my organization to Singapore had been stressful but completed and all that was left was locating a new career opportunity. That task has gone well as I have accepted a senior management position with a Taiwanese semiconductor foundry in Wuxi, China. Come the second week in January, I will be based out of mainland China and focusing on a US Sales and Marketing role. My wife, Diane, is staying back in Maine to manage her retail paint business and will stay in close contact with our two young adults presently attending Boston and New York City colleges.

Unquestionably, there will be an impact to the rate at which I have been upgrading my seated dime variety collection and the upgrading of content of the web-book at www.seateddimevarieties.com. However, via the internet, I still plan to be an active buyer at major auctions or for select dimes on eBay. I hope that the Dreamweaver web-book management software will port easily to a new laptop and accompany me to China.

The Bunker Collection on eBay

There was considerable excitement for Liberty Seated Dime collectors this month as a nearly complete set of dimes appeared on eBay. The 197 dime collection was missing the 1871 through 1874 Carson City pieces, but all other key and semi-key dates were present. The average grade appeared to be in the EF40-EF45 range. Luckily, I was contacted by an agent of the seller prior to the set being disclosed on eBay. The agent subscribed to the www.seateddimevarieties.com web-book to gain access to information for evaluating the set for rare varieties. The agent was able to connect me with the dealer (seller) who had recently bought the set. As related to me, an individual appeared at a coin shop in Cincinnati, Ohio with a variety set of seated dimes to sell. The individual had inherited the collection from his father, who had spent 50 years assembling the collection by major varieties listed in Brian Greer’s guidebook. The dealer planned to first list the set on eBay in its entirety with a high reserve for advertising purposes, then planned to break up the set and list each dime separately, again on eBay.

The first listing of the collection produced a high bid of $44,100, which did not meet the reserve. Bunker, the agent listing the set, provided nice photographs of all the dimes as contained within the Dansco album pages. From the digital images, one could determine that the collector gave priority to the purchase of well-struck coins with originality being subordinated to strike. Some of the dimes appeared to be strictly choice and original while others were obviously cleaned per the Dansco album photographs.

The following week, the 197 dimes were individually listed on eBay with all lots having the same ending time. This listing strategy created problems for those individuals who rely on automated sniping programs to make last second bids and purchases on eBay. The sniping programs could only execute a handful of snipe bids against the 197 listings. Therefore, the early bidding on the individual lots was substantial with the entire collection bidding at about $42,000 at 30 minutes before the auction listing ending times. The last half hour saw furious bidding by established seated dime variety collectors pushing the total collection price realized to about $49,000. The demand for fresh seated dimes was strong with many of the coins bringing full CoinValues retail prices. Unfortunately, I did not record all of the individual prices realized and will not elaborate on individual prices.

Personally, I won 18 dimes out of the sale and kept 12 after receiving the dimes for inspection and acceptance. Most notable was a shattered F-103 1854-O dime with a new obverse/reverse die pairing. The collector had labeled the dime as being the infamous Greer-101 Shattered Obverse (F-102) but that attribution was incorrect. Instead, the cracked obverse was F-103 but paired with the reverse from F-102. This pairing was unknown prior to the sale of this set and I had to have the dime for the web-book. The winning bid was an expensive $511 for an EF45 coin as another seated dime specialist also noticed the uniqueness of this 1854-O dime. This purchase and many others have been photographed and listed at www.seateddimevarieties.com.

Discovery of Second Obverse for 1872 Double Die Reverse

During December, a well known LSCC member and seated coinage specialist sent me a nice 1872 Double Die Reverse (F-105) dime that he had recently bought. The dime graded EF/AU and was thought to be an earlier die state of the doubled reverse since the doubling was very pronounced. Upon receiving the coin, I immediately used my stereo microscope for a detailed inspection and discovered that the obverse die did not match the characteristics of the NGC MS61 plate coin used in the web-book. Granted, both coins had a flat or blob head which is so typical for this major variety. After inspecting the new dime, I posted the following announcement on the message board forums at www.seateddimevarieties.com;

This is why I've learned to never take a known variety for granted...

Recently, a well known seated dealer sent me an 1872 seated dime with the now famous 180 Deg DDR. The dime was all of EF45 and what I thought was an early die state with no die clashing on the obverse. This observation sparked my interest for a closer look and a comparison against my NGC61 plate coin. Well guess what? The die lathe or polish lines are completely different on both specimens. A close look at the date position revealed that they are very similar but positioned differently. The date is a tad more left on the specimen with the new obverse and has a slight upward slope. So, the new specimen was actually a new obverse paired with the later die state DDR reverse.

Now the million dollar question for this variety? Why does every 1872 DDR example have a blob or partial head. Why would an obverse paired with this DDR reverse always produce a partial head on Liberty? Does anyone in the forum have an example with a fully struck head?

Happy Hunting……Gerry Fortin

==> Notes on "No Drapery" vs. "With Drapery" Design Types by Len Augsburger. In compiling a list of bibliographic sources on Christian Gobrecht's life and work, I ran into an interesting article on the contributions of Robert Ball Hughes to seated coinage, written by Georgia Chamberlain in the August 1958 number of the Numismatist. Hughes was paid $75 for his efforts in reworking the original Gobrecht design, which resulted in the "with drapery" types beginning in 1840 for most seated denominations. Hughes invoiced the mint on June 24th, 1840, explaining in part the scarcity of "with drapery" dimes for that year, these apparently not minted until later in the year, and in relatively smaller quantities than the "no drapery" type. Chamberlain further comments on Ball's design changes: "Robert Ball Hughes probably studied Thomas Sully's original drawings for the figure of Liberty, adding the 'drapery from elbow' which Sully had indicated. Gobrecht in preparing dies from Sully's sketches had simplified the drapery to a large extent. Hughes also followed Gobrecht's Liberty closely in his model but made it in lower relief". Chamberlain further editorializes: "Hughes' knowledge of anatomy and art of sculpture is evident in his improvement over Gobrecht's rendering of Sully's design. In [Robert] Ball Hughes' seated Liberty, the head is more in proportion with the body, the hair more gracefully arranged. [Robert] Ball Hughes' introduced a lock of hair to soften the awkward length of undraped shoulder and subtly suggested in his modeling the neck muscles, collar-bones and the throat. While Robert Ball Hughes kept remarkably close to the Gobrecht rendition of limbs and drapery, he was able as a trained sculptor to model the whole body in more correct proportion and anatomy. At the same time, he softened and naturalized the drapery. Gobrecht introduced straight lined drapery from the elbow in the 1839 half dollar. [Robert] Ball Hughes, in his new design for seated Liberty of 1840, used on the dollar, quarter, dime and half dime, added the curves of a graceful linen fold design to the drapery from the elbow, which extends to the knee."

==> Update on the 1842 Small Date Small Letters Reverse half dollar by Bill Bugert. In the last issue of the E-Gobrecht, I detailed my personal events of the sale of the Stack’s 1842 Small Date and Small letters reverse half dollar. In that write-up, I mentioned there might be four known – the first VF 20 discovered by Brian Greer, the Stack’s coin, and two others believed to exist by a reliable source. Brian Greer ran the rumor of the two others to ground and discovered the other two do not exist. In his edited email, he states “Hi Bill, I spoke to “the reliable source” at the Baltimore show reference the 1842 small date, small letters halves. He is only aware of the 2 examples. He thought the two Stack’s auction coins were separate specimens and was confused regarding the grade of the circulated coin.” So to clear thongs up, there currently appears to be only two known 1842 Small Date, Small Letters Reverse half dollars.

==> Jules Reiver collection to be auctioned January 23-28, 2006. With permission of Bill Luebke, the Editor of the John Reich designed coinage e-newsletter, the JR News, here is further information on the upcoming Jules Reiver Collection by Heritage.

“Mark Borckardt responds:

Finally, we have the Reiver Collection sale schedule set in stone. We anticipate three separate catalogs, one for early copper, a second for early silver, and a third for modern issues beginning with the Liberty Seated silver coinage.

All JRCS members who are not already on our mailing list will be sent a complimentary catalog of the early silver coinage upon request. The next copy of the JRCS Journal will have an insert with specific details about requesting the catalog.

January 21-22-23 (Saturday -Sunday - Monday) Lot viewing

January 24 (Tuesday)

- Noon Half Cents

- 4:30 PM Reception with Reiver family

- 6 PM Early Large Cents

January 25 (Wednesday)

- Noon Middle Date Cents

- 6 PM Late Date Cents

January 26 (Thursday)

- Noon Modern Coins I

- 6 PM Modern Coins II

January 27 (Friday.)

- Noon Half Dimes - Quarters

- 6 PM Early Half Dollars I

January 28 (Saturday)

- 10 AM Early Half Dollars II and Early Dollars

Editor: Heritage's web site can be accessed at www.hnai.com.”

==> Email traffic. Here are some emails the Editor recently received:

Len Augsburger: …By the way, I found out who has the Hoidale archive (Note: A recent George Kolbe sale featured the Glenn Hoidale archive of compiled half dime sales and auction record, covering the period from 1953-1988 – Editor). It looks like he is willing to share, so I'll have an opportunity to write this up later on.

Keith Scott: Hi Bill, Sign me up for the e-newsletter. In addition, since I started collecting SL halves I've been unable to find a copy of the WB reference book. I borrowed a copy from a member of the SJ coin club, but it's not the same as having my own. I haven't even seen one on Ebay or Charles Davis. FYI - I completed a set of proof SL quarters from 1857 and found Larry Briggs book to be invaluable. The more I know - the more I can contribute. Regards - Keith Scott (a real SLCC member).

Sherwood Elkind: Thanks Bill. Mike Fey is a friend of mine and he encouraged me to subscribe. Like so many other collectors, I started when I was young but life’s challenges sidetracked me. I recently re-entered the hobby, but, this time with a bit more time and money. Thanks for including me in the E-Gobrecht. I will contribute when I can.

Vicken Yegparian: Just a quick question about the format of the E-Gobrecht files. I usually print these out and take with me to read on the subway on the way to and from work. When the file prints out, the last line is inevitably cut off. I can't figure out what formatting to change so as not to lose the bottom of the file. Any ideas? (Editor responds: It sounds like you have a page formatting problem. I have three possible solutions.

1. In Microsoft Word, if you go to the File - Page Set Up Tabs and adjust the margins to your size paper, it may work.

2. In Microsoft Word, go to the Edit - Select all and then copy the contents of the E-Gobrecht to a new document with your preset margins, it may also work.

3. In Microsoft Word under printer options, check the fit to page option and that may also work.

Hope one of these work for you.”

Michael T. Whalen: Collecting Seated Halves is fascinating. The fact that these coins were once much more a part of our money system than they are today probably means that many more were saved, if even by accident, than some of the smaller denominations. There are an amazing (to me!) number of varieties to collect. The standard volume for Seated Half collectors is of course your volume - THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO LIBERTY SEATED HALF DOLLARS. In it, there are great descriptions in words and in pictures of the known varieties at the time of publication in 1993. This is an invaluable resource. However, since 1993, you, Randy Wiley and R. K. Osburn have discovered many more varieties. As I near a complete accumulation of the halves listed in the 1993 edition, I find that many of the coins that I want to acquire are varieties unlisted. There is a real need for a book or some reference detailing the expanding list of varieties in this series. This proposed reference would ideally include both the written description of the new variety and a photo. The photo in itself answers SO many questions. Also, this reference needs to be compiled by someone who understands fully the minting practices and methods of the mid-nineteenth century-not merely someone with an avid interest in the series, such as me. There is definitely a need. Please, some qualified individual, step forward and fill it!

Alan DeShazo: Can you believe this? And it ain't over, yet. Heritage Auctions, Lot No: 2725, Description: Seated Half Dollars, 1861-O 50C AU50 NGC. FS-7, WB-102. A spindly, mint-made die crack journeys from Liberty's nose to the rim above her head. Current Bid: $950.00. Internet Bidding Ends: 1/4/2006 10:00PM.

Alan DeShazo: I don't know if you are following the bidding on the Heritage 1861-O, but it is at $1,300 and still days ahead of the on-floor bidding. A good number of years ago I bought an example of the same coin in EF for $75. A while later when pressed for money I sold it to Bowers for $135. Too bad, I did not keep it. Recently, I bought an 1861-O in EF for $270, but it was struck by Louisiana and not from the "Confederate" obverse die. I guess I may lucky getting that one.

Scott Mickelson: I was hoping to get some information about the E- Gobrecht or the electronic publication of the LSCC. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Scott Mickelson: I was reading the new edition of the E-Gobrecht and it mentioned some information on joining the LSCC. I purchased the four volume compilation set off eBay several months ago and I would really like to get on the regular mailing list for the new issues. I guess my question is who do I send the check to? Who do I make the check payable to? Additionally, do you know if it is possible to purchase back issues? On a personal note, I have to let you know I really enjoy your seated liberty half dollar book! I am 28 and I started collecting coins when I was in my teens but then I stopped while I was in college. Now that I am out I have started collecting again these past two years and it has been great. I have really been concentrating on a seated dollar collection and a seated half dollar collection. My sets are registered as the southcountycollection on the PCGS registry set. A while back I started corresponding with Bill Davenport and Dick Osborn about seated coinage and I have just been fascinated every since. In fact, I purchased your seated half book from Dick Osborn shortly before he ran out. One last note, last night I was looking at your book and my seated half dollar collection and I noticed that my 1842-O medium date seated half had part of a 4 sticking out of liberty's drapery, low and behold a WB-103 variety. I had never noticed before, and in a PCGS XF40 holder with fantastic original tone!

Dick Osburn: The next month will be a very busy one. I will be leaving for the FUN show in Orlando on Monday. There will be several auctions, and the show is always one of the busiest of the year. If you are looking for particular rarities that I don't show in stock let me know. I'll have many opportunities to buy. Also coming up is the Houston Money Show and Heritage's auction of the Jules Reiver collection. The Houston show is an upcoming show, getting bigger each year. If you live anywhere near, it is a wonderful show to attend. They expect to have over 250 dealers this year. The Reiver auction will be unbelievable. It is comprised of nearly 10,000 lots, and includes hundreds of rare varieties and die states in all the bust series as well as complete sets of most of the liberty seated series. I will be at the auction and will be bidding for a number of collectors. If you would like me to help you with evaluating and bidding on any of the lots please let me know as soon as possible. I will be viewing most of the coins the week after the FUN show. Best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year.

==> Recent or upcoming Liberty Seated Collections on the market. Please report others for distribution in the E-Gobrecht.

Heritage Numismatic Auctions will offer the Andy Geosits Collection of Trade Dollars as part of the FUN 2006 Signature auction on January 4 and 5, 2006. Check it out at www.HeritageCoins.com.

Heritage Numismatic Auctions will offer the Jules Reiver collection of copper, silver, and gold coinage on January 23-28, 2006. Details of the auction are contained in this issue of the E-Gobrecht.

Advertisements for the Sale of Liberty Seated Coinage

None this issue. You asked for this feature but no one has taken advantage of it.

Calendar

- Seated Dime survey – January 2006

- Next issue of the Gobrecht Journal – March 2006

Information on the Liberty Seated Collectors Club

The LSCC Pledge. To encourage, promote, and dispense numismatic knowledge of the Liberty Seated coins; to cultivate fraternal relations among its members and all those interested in the science of numismatics.

LSCC Officers.

President: John McCloskey.

Vice-President: Larry Briggs.

Secretary/Treasurer: Greg Shismanian.

LSCC Membership Information. Dues are $15 per year and include three issues of the Gobrecht Journal, an award winning numismatic publication. To join the Liberty Seated Collectors Club, for Gobrecht Journal mailing address changes, or for other membership questions, correspond with the LSCC Secretary Greg Shismanian. His address will be reported in a future issue. (In the meantime, send me any correspondence and I will get it to him. Editor.)

Articles, comments, or advertisements for publication in the Gobrecht Journal may be addressed to the LSCC President:

John W. McCloskey

President, LSCC, and Editor, Gobrecht Journal

Email address: John.McCloskey@notes.udayton.edu