The E-Gobrecht
Volume 2, Issue 10,
October 2006
Whole Number 19
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 free of
charge 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. Contact information is included near the end of this
newsletter.
Miscellaneous Notes from
the Editor
Editor’s Announcements.
Reminders:
There will be a regional meeting
of the LSCC at the
LSCC yearly dues ($15) should be
submitted now to the club secretary/treasurer, Len Augsburger,
per the dues notice you received in the postal mail. He requests payments
by October 31st.
Acknowledgements.
Many thanks to Gerry Fortin, Jim Gray, Len Augsburger,
and the subscribers who corresponded with me.
Availability of past issues. Through the generosity of Gerry Fortin, the previous
issues of the E-Gobrecht are readily
accessible on his seated dime website at http://www.seateddimevarieties.com/LSCC.htm.
Please consider submitting something for print. It need not be
elaborate; it can be something as simple as a short note on your favorite
variety, neat find, nice cherry pick, happenings at a coin show, rare Liberty
Seated coinage coming up for auction, etc. If you are interested in it,
rest assured, others will be too! Sharing information is a goal of this
newsletter.
Features in this issue
==> Question of Month.
==> Auction News by Jim Gray.
==> LSCC to meet at the Baltimore Coin Show,
November 11th, by Len Augsburger.
==> Bill Cowburn wins
ANA Convention Exhibit awards!
==>
==>
==> The Nathan & Louis Kaufman Proof Seated
Coinage by Len Augsburger.
==> Extensive Seated Half Dollar Collection soon
to be auctioned by Vicken Yegparian.
==> Recent subscriber correspondence.
Details
==> Question of the month by Jim Gray. This
forum hopes to increase collector interaction and correspondence. Your
participation is welcomed and encouraged. Send your comments to the E-Gobrecht Editor at wb8cpy@arrl.net.
September’s Question
Which is the easiest of the five
original Seated series to complete in G-VG?
Replies
Julian Leidman: IMHO, half-dimes would be the easiest to complete,
leaving out the 1870-S. Dimes would be next leaving out the NA 1873-CC,
quarters without the NA 1873-CC and halves without the 1853-O NA are probably
equal as are the dollars leaving out the 1870-S. The bottom line is that
all of the collections have one monster coin to contend with.
Bill Bugert: From my observations over the years and from
talking to many collectors, I am under the impression that, if you forget about
stoppers, the half dimes would be easiest to complete (if your eyesight survives
it – ha, ha!).
Jim Gray: None.
Question of this Month
(October)
Which of the original 5 Seated series is the least
difficult to complete in MS-60 or better? (Ed., send replies to
the Editor at wb8cpy@arrl.net.
Thanks)
==>
AUCTION
NEWS
By Jim
Gray
The Goldberg Pre-Long Beach Sale had some high quality but common Seated
issues, but very little in the way of scarce or rare coins. Three original
circulation issue Gobrecht Dollars were catalogued
with patterns and presented in the portion of the catalogue that contained true
patterns. Another circulation issue Gobrecht
Dollar was catalogued with the dollars and described as a circulation issue.
At least they got it 25% correct. The only Seated coin of note was
a nicely toned 1851 original dollar in MS-62 that went for $51,750.
The Heritage Long Beach Sale had no half dimes of special interest. An
1846 dime in XF-45, but scratched, sold for $747 while an AU-55 1858-S dime
with scratches and absolutely ugly did not sell. The
Quarters featured an 1855-S in MS-62 for $5,175 and a homely whizzed 1866-S
with XF-45 details only realized $805. The star of the sale was an
original, problem free 1870-CC in AU-50. Eleven bidders participated and
the winner gladly paid $40,250.
Halves contained a cleaned VF-20 1855-S for $747, a very choice VF-35 1873-CC
arrows for $1,610 and an 1878-CC G-6 for $1,055.
A well struck, but not attractive 1856 dollar went for $2,990 in AU-55.
An original dusky toned 1870-CC in MS-62 sold for $16,010. A F-12,
but rough 1872-CC hammered for $2,990, which is better than the $2,300 bid for
a cleaned, repaired XF-45 of the same date.
The Stacks Sale contained a choice AU-58 1871-CC dollar with bright centers and
deep peripheral toning. The coin sold for $15,525 and was the only coin
of note in that sale.
The ANR Requa Sale contained a nice AU-58 1840-O with
drapery half dime that did not sell, nor did an XF-45 1844-O. A splendid
1853-O no arrows in AU-55 with nice gun metal toning and a good strike,
including full date, rang the bell for $6,325.
The 1846 AU-58 dime that did not sell in the Heritage Dallas Sale in June did
not sell again. The coin is attractive and tied for the finest graded by
NGC so the consignor must have an exalted opinion as to its value. An
original 1859-S in MS-62 was bid up to $17,250. An 1873-CC dime in VF-35,
but not nearly as choice as the VF-30 in the Heritage Sale at $14,950, sold for
$10,350. An 1885-S in VF-30 did not sell, which is a common occurrence
for this overrated date.
The only quarter of interest was a lightly toned AU-55 1878-S at $2,875.
A handsome XF-45 1870-CC half dollar realized a strong $23,000. As
for dollars, a whizzed net-graded VF-20 1855 managed $2,300 while a net VG
cleaned 1871-CC eked out $1,552.
==> LSCC to meet at the Baltimore Coin Show,
November 11th by Len Augsburger.
Plan now to attend the regional LSCC meeting at the November Baltimore coin
show. Scheduled for Saturday morning, November 11th at 9 AM,
this is a change from the previous show when it was held on Friday
morning. The meeting location will be announced at the show.
==> Bill Cowburn wins
two ANA Convention exhibits awards! As recounted in the previous issue of
the E-Gobrecht, LSCC member, researcher, and
author Bill Cowburn won two awards at the 115th
Anniversary ANA Convention in
“I must say that I was VERY surprised when I received the 2nd
place for best-in-show. I fully expected the 1st place winner
to be the exhibit that won – it was outstanding! After that, I felt that
there were 4 or 5 other strong exhibits that had a good chance at 2nd
and 3rd place, so I was thrilled when they called my name at the
banquet.
My exhibit told the story of my finding this newly
discovered obverse type and the research that was done after finding the coin
to figure out what it really was. This story generally appears in the
last issue of The Gobrecht Journal.
But my exhibit also describes, explains, and shows with
examples of Trade Dollars what exactly the Type 1 Obverse, Type 2 Obverse, Type
1 Reverse and Type 2 Reverse designs are for this series. I used proof
Trade Dollars along with enlarged photos to show the reader what these more
well-known types look like so they could compare that to the transitional piece
that was in the exhibit. My goal was to have this exhibit tell the story
of the Trade Dollar so that even a non-collector of this series could easily
see what the specialists look for.” Courtesy of Bill, here are a few
photos from the exhibit. Congratulations again, Bill, well done!
|
|
|
|
Here is a detailed photo of the Transition piece from
Bill’s display at the FUN show (essentially the same display as the ANA
Convention). |
Bill Cowburn showing his award
at the 2006 ANA Convention (photo courtesy of the October issue of The
Numismatist). |
==>
I am happy to announce that “The Definitive Resource for
the Liberty Seated Dime Variety Collector” web-book is accessible via two
internet link names. Up to this point in time, members had to remember
the pertinent but long link name www.seateddimevarieties.com.
Thanks to Jason Feldman, the web-book has been crossed reference to the www.gerryfortin.com link name. I
hope that the alternative url will provide for easier
member and guest contacts with web-book and message board content.
Next on the list of updates is the seated coinage message
board. After considerable member feedback and offline discussion, I
improved the board by adding Question & Answer forums for individual seated
coinage denominations. Several active message board members were kind
enough to volunteer as hosts for the individual forums. Following are the
additions:
Seated Half Dimes – Hosted by Mrhalfdime
Seated Quarters – Hosted by Coinosauras
Seated, Trade, and Gobrecht
Dollars – Hosted by TradeDollarNut
The initial response to the Q&A forums has been simply
outstanding. TradeDollarNut presented a thread
entitled “Grading Nuances For Uncirculated Seated
Dollars” that is both remarkable and useful for any individual contemplating a
high end set of seated dollars. In the Seated Half Dime Q&A forum,
readers are delighted with carefully researched responses from Mrhalfdime. Presently, the new seated, trade dollar
forum is seeing the highest activity level. I am planning to add a Seated
Half Dollar Q&A forum during October with our own Bill Bugert
as the host.
E-Gobrecht readers are welcomed to the seated coinage message board
at http://p104.ezboard.com/bseateddimes.
Membership continues to grow with 46 individuals having registered.
Registration is not a requirement to post on the forums, so guests can jump in
and offer their questions or share their knowledge at any time.
Finally, I would like to share several important content
additions to the seated dime web-book. Two previously unknown rotated
reverse varieties have surfaced during the summer months. Jason Feldman
purchased both discovery coins and forwarded them for inclusion in the
web-book. At the recent Denver ANA, Jason located an 1854-O F-103
(cracked obverse paired with oblique O reverse) that had a reverse rotated
right by 50 degrees. On eBay, an 1876 dime appeared with a reverse
rotated left by 85 degrees. Jason was aggressive with his bidding and
secured this AU coin. Prior to the appearance of the two new examples,
the web-book listed 14 different rotated reverse varieties. Within a few
months, that amount increased by 15%, stressing the point that incremental
discoveries are awaiting variety specialists.
As Always….Happy Hunting
==>
Gerry Fortin's Seated Dime set,
PCGS/NGC #1 registry set.
Len Augsburger's
Seated Quarter set, currently #1 on the PCGS Registry.
Dick Osburn's
Seated Half set, currently #1 on the NGC Registry.
This exceptional exhibit will be located at Table 1755 in
Hall C. "
==> The Nathan & Louis Kaufman Proof Seated
Coinage by Len Augsburger. Some recent
discussion in the E-Sylum (electronic
newsletter of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society, original item at http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v09n35a16.html)
prompted me to look into the collection of Nathan and Louis Kaufman, brothers
and
Eventually catalogued and sold by
RARCOA in August 1978, this collection offers a window into collecting habits
in the early 1900s. The seated coins are represented by virtually
complete proof runs of all denominations from 1858 to 1889, with some
duplicates. There a few scattered business strike pieces and not a single
branch mint seated coin among the whole bunch. Runs of
The Kaufman seated coins have an
interesting "signature". These coins were displayed and mounted
for many years with tacks. On at least one occasion, the obverses of many
of the coins were cleaned, in order to "improve" the display.
As a result, many of the seated coins are catalogued as having brilliant
reverses, rim marks, hairlined and toned
obverses. I have never seen a seated coin attributed to the Kaufman
collection, but this description may be sufficient to identify certain pieces
in the future, or at least make a good guess.
The silver portion of the
collection went relatively unnoticed at the time, being far eclipsed by the
gold offerings in the catalog, substantial proof runs including such delicacies
as 1875 and 1876 proof examples, plus significant territorial issues.
Harry Bass was a gold buyer at the sale, and being fastidious in his note
taking, certain lots in the Bass catalogs (Bowers & Merena,
1999-2000) note the Kaufman pedigree.
==> Extensive Seated Half Dollar Collection soon
to be auctioned. Vicken Yegparian
of Stack's Rare Coins thought that E-Gobrecht
subscribers would like to know about the October 17, 2006 auction of the George
"Buddy" Byers Collection of U.S. Half Dollars. Buddy started
collecting under the tutelage of Ben Stack over 50 years ago and focused on the
Half Dollar denomination. Over the decades, he has put together an
impressive specialized collection. Many of his Half Dollars were
purchased privately from Stack's as well as through our and other firms'
auctions. The majority of acquisitions were made in the 1950s through the
1990s, so there are many coins in the collection that are not well known among
the current generation of collectors.
There is really something for all
budgets in the collection, from group lots of circulated Liberty Seated Halves
to heart-stoppers like the 1839 No Drapery Proof, the 1853-O No Arrows (Ex
Garrett-Queller), the Gem BU 1866-S No Motto (Ex
Garrett), the Prooflike BU 1878-S, as well as a slew
of Branch Mint Proofs and high quality pre-1858 Proofs.
As always, all subscribers to the E-Gobrecht
or members of LSCC who do not receive Stack's catalogues but are interested in
the Byers catalogue should email me (VickenY@stacks.com) for a
copy. The Byers Collection, as well as the other collections that are a
part of our 71st Anniversary Sale, will also be available for viewing and
bidding at www.stacks.com.
==> Subscriber correspondence.
From Mike Morrow:
Bill, thank you again for this edition. Congratulations on the
recognition by the ANA, it is worthy and well deserved. This is an
excellent publication and I enjoy every issue.
From Link McGarity:
Hello Bill, I enjoy reading the E-Gobrecht.
Also, I am just getting into trying to photograph some of my coin
collection. I have a digital 6.0mp camera with 5x optical lens, macro
function, etc. I can't seem to arrive at a lighting type, lens distance
fm coin, setup that yields good quality when making photos of silver coins. Any
tips would be appreciated. See you are also a Ham. So many
pursuits, so little time....
From Ron Feuer:
Hi Bill, thanks for adding my name to the list that receives The Gobrecht Journal, e-mail supplement. Please send
me Chris Pilliod's current e-mail address. It
may have changed since I last saw him at a fairly recent Baltimore show, and I
no longer have it. Thank you. (Ed., I do not have his email
address and wonder if a subscriber out there does.)
From Dave Perkins:
Congratulations on the nice award and thanks for all the time you put into this
wonderful newsletter each week.
From Dennis Fortier:
Bill, Congratulations on the ANA award for "Best On-Line Newsletter".
I heartily agree with the award. Every month I look forward to the E-Gobrecht’s
arrival and have made a hard copy file of all issues. The information in
these issues is in many ways as irreplaceable as it is timely. The E-Gobrecht is an excellent addition to The Gobrecht Journal. Congratulations and continued
success, Bill.
From Kent McIntyre:
Hi Bill: I would like to subscribe to E-Gobrecht.
As an old guy and a long-time collector of other U.S. denominations, I am now
collecting Seated Liberty coins except for the dollars. What I really
need is a copy of "The Complete Guide to Liberty Seated Half
Dollars". Have you considered either reprinting it or revising
it? I use the Overton book for Bust Halves constantly. It is very
important that I get a source for R (rarity) listings and die varieties for the
Liberty Seated Halves and other denominations. I bought the set of four
books from McCloskey and look forward to volume five soon. Any help you
or other members can give will be much appreciated. Thanks.
From Ron Swerdloff:
Bill, Another terrific issue of E- Gobrecht.
Thanks.
From Michael Luck:
“…concerning CC trade dollars, which CC date is the most common and available
and comes nice with good strike eye appeal and luster. I would like one
for type.” (Ed., I forwarded this question to Trade Dollar expert Bill
Cowburn for an answer and he replied:) Hi
Bill.
The most common Carson City issue of Trade
Dollar is the 1875-CC. Fortunately, this date also usually comes well
struck. There are two main varieties of this date available – the Type
I/I and Type I/II. The Type I/I is by far the most common for this issue.
Of course, Type I/I simply refers to a coin that has a Type 1 Obverse
(LIBERTY ribbon ends point sharply to the left and Liberty has 3 fingers under
the olive branch) and a Type 1 Reverse (there is a berry beneath the eagle’s
claw). A Type I/II coin has a Type 2 Reverse, which does not have
a berry under the eagle’s claw.
However, I would also suggest looking for an
1877-CC for his type set. The 1877-CC is much scarcer than the 1875-CC,
usually comes well struck, and normally can be bought for not much more than
the 1875-CC.
I hope this helps… Bill
From Bill Oldenburg:
Good Afternoon Bill, I have a question for you related to the 1861-O Liberty
Seated Half Dollar.
I have a very nice certified AU piece coming
in the mail to me on approval from a coin dealer. I have been able to look
at an image and speak to the dealer and I am under the impression the piece is
a middle die state.
I tried to use Dick Osburn's
web site and Heritage auction prices realized as references to the different
die states. Dicks' site describes them, but has no images. Heritage
has the images, but does not describe the die states.
My question is this: Do you have any images of
the early/middle/late die states of the Confederate crack? If not, do you
know where I can go to find images of these? I would like to attribute
the piece as well as any other pieces I may run into in the future. Any
help would be much appreciated! Thank you in advance for your time and
effort.
From Alan Zischke:…Bill!
Did you see the upcoming Stack's Seated Half Sale (Ed., Buddy Byers
Collection)? It looks top notch!
In the upcoming LSCC Survey, there are many halves
that I haven't attributed. Should they be called WB 101 or will there be
a category like "I'm not sure" or just left out, I have about 250
halves and over half are not attributed yet. Can a deeply richly toned
Seated Half be naturally toned on both sides or is that almost always
artificial toning? Hope you had a good summer!
From Dave Schaefer:
…Bill, I have accessed and enjoyed the back issues of the E-Gobrecht through GF's site
with no trouble…
The E-Gobrecht
has featured interesting, informative content from the start and I hope to add
to the content in some shape or form soon. My areas of interest are
Seated Halves and Seated Dollars.
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Calendar
- LSCC yearly dues due – October 31st,
2006.
- Next issue of The Gobrecht
Journal – November 2006.
- LSCC Regional meeting – Baltimore, MD coin show,
Saturday, November 11th, 9 AM (See notice in this issue).
- Quarter census mailed out – Early 2007.
- 100th Issue of The Gobrecht Journal – November 2007
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
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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: Len Augsburger.
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 The Gobrecht Journal mailing address changes, or for other
membership questions, correspond with the LSCC Secretary Len Augsburger at:
Leonard Augsburger
Phone: (847) 816-1649.
Email: leonard_augsburger@hotmail.com.
Articles, comments, or advertisements for publication in The Gobrecht
Journal may be addressed to the LSCC President:
John W. McCloskey
President, LSCC, and Editor, The
Gobrecht Journal
Email address: John.McCloskey@notes.udayton.edu