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The
E-Gobrecht Volume 2, Issue 3, March 2006 Whole Number 12 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 (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
from the Editor Many thanks to Jim Gray, Len Augsburger, Dennis Fortier, and the subscribers who corresponded with me. 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. We are now up to 140 E-Gobrecht subscribers! Thanks to everyone for your interest and support. Please consider submitting something for print. A simple email will suffice: everyone knows something for which others are interested. To quote Bill Luebke in the John Reich newsletter: “An interesting find, an unreported die state, your impressions of coin shows and auctions, a good cherry pick, an interesting anecdote, bizarre coins, news from other media, your collecting goals, neat coins from your collection, opinions regarding rarity and Condition Census, collector profiles, interesting (in both the good sense and the bad) eBay listings, questions, comments and snide remarks. Most anything will do.” Features in this issue ==> Review of the Frog Run Farm Collection by Jim Gray. ==> 1867 Half Dollar with “haywire die scratches” by Bill Bugert. ==> Tribute to John McCloskey’s literary works by Len Augsburger. ==> The Learning Curve by Dennis Fortier. ==> Recent email traffic. Details ==> "Frog Run Farm Collection II" by James C. Gray The American Numismatic Rarities Prescott sale of January, 2006 featured part II of the Frog Run Farm Collection of Seated coins. Part I, featuring dimes and halves, had been sold by ANR at their November/December, 2004 sale. Like part I, the majority of the collection in part II was AU or finer and a large percentage of the coins had been cleaned, dipped, or damaged. Nonetheless, there were a number of choice pieces among the complete sets of half dimes and quarters that were presented. Many of the quarters had served as plate coins for Larry Brigg's reference on quarters. The best half
dime was a well struck, AU-53 1853-O no arrows that appeared finer than the
stated grade. The 1870-CC was VF-20 and realized $13,800 while a cleaned AU 1871-CC sold for $27,600. The MS-62 1871-S sold for $8,625 and the XF-40 1872-CC realized $10,350. A beautifully toned, AU-58 1873 no arrows closed 3 sold for an amazing $12,650. The cleaned, but attractive, AU 1873-CC arrows in lot 391 went for $23,000. Two very
impressive Seated coins in the sale were not part of the Frog Run Farm
Collection. ==> 1867 Half Dollar with “haywire die scratches” by Bill Bugert.
==> Tribute to John McCloskey’s literary works by Len Augsburger. E-Gobrecht readers are no doubt familiar with the many
contributions of Dr. John McCloskey to the LSCC and the Gobrecht
Journal. Often overlooked or unknown
by some Liberty Seated collectors, however, is McCloskey's research into
other areas of First and
foremost are the two standard references on early dimes and half dimes. Federal
Half Dimes, 1792-1837, was co-authored by Russ Logan and John McCloskey
in 1998, while Early John has also published on Classic Head gold, including A Study of Classic Half Eagles, 1834-1838, part of the ANS Coinage of Americas Conference Proceedings in 1990. Additional articles on classic quarter and half eagles have appeared in the John Reich Journal (9/1989, 1/1994, 7/1997, 1/2001). Finally, John has been a frequent contributor to the John Reich Journal on the subject of bust dimes and quarters, with about ten articles noted in the index to the John Reich Journal, online at http://www.jrcs.org/journalindex.html. ==> The Learning Curve By Dennis Fortier, LSCC 2016. I am a new Seated Liberty collector; in
fact, I have not collected any coins for 30 years. Bill Bugert thought you could all take a
trip down memory lane through my experiences as a new SL collector. It wasn't long after getting back into coin
collecting that I discovered Seated coinage. It was the beauty and detail of Christian
Gobrecht's design that caught my eye. I
chose SL halves for two reasons. First,
this size was large enough to let the detail of the design really show and
prices were more reasonable than dollars; secondly, the long period of low
mintages from 1879 thru 1890 astounded me. The first serious purchase I made was over
the internet. I knew it was risky. I had already learned about over grading and
counterfeits on EBAY by that time, but local dealers don't have the hard to
find dates that attracted me. I
believed I was dealing with a reputable outfit; now I'm not sure. I purchased an 1882 half advertised as
AU-55. I showed it to a dealer in When I was a young collector it was a
very solitary hobby for me I didn't know about coin clubs. If I had, I may not have given up the hobby
and lost all those years. I am now in
two clubs, the LSCC and my local. Being
a member of these two clubs has greatly enriched my coin collecting
experience and knowledge. The people
I've come into contact with at both clubs have been exceedingly generous with
their time and knowledge. It's made me
a more knowledgeable collector and I'm grateful to them all. The learning curve is moving along. The first rule of coin collecting I'm told
is " Buy the book before you buy the coin". I've got Bill and Randy's book now (thanks,
Bill), the Gobrecht Journal, and
the E-Gobrecht so I'm well armed in
that respect. I've got a couple rules of my own to add. Rule 2: Join a club (or two). You will profit from the knowledge other
collectors are willing to share and enjoy the fellowship as well. Rule 3: Expensive purchases should be
"Certified" until you gain the necessary experience. Even local dealers (not only the internet)
can over grade and cost you money. I've been busy over the last few months
adding to my small collection. SL half dollar - 1888 ANACS
EF-45 (Heritage Auctions) SL half dollar - 1858 VG-10
(WB-109) SL dime - 1890 AU-58 (gotta have
some diversity!) If any one cares to share a pearl of wisdom
or a warning of who or what to avoid please contact me at ricajun@msn.com.
I will be glad to hear from you. My daughter Lindsay (age 12) has joined
me in my rediscovered hobby. I've got
her started on mercury dimes. I think
she has the monkey on her back too; she said to me "Dad when you die can
I have your coins?" That's my
girl. ==> Email traffic. Here are some emails the Editor recently received: Jason Feldman. Bill, I case you have not heard I am giving away vanity email address "yourname"@seated.org that will work with the users current email address. It will forward an email to the user’s current address and if they use an email program like outlook, it can be used as the outgoing address as well. I am offering this to collectors at no charge but am limiting them to 1 per person. Feel free to pass this information on. (Thanks Jason for this generous offer; you can contact him at jasonfeldman@gmail.com. – Editor.) Charles Sullivan. Hi Bill, I continue to enjoy E-Gobrecht immensely! It has the feel of a real coin "club," albeit virtual. On behalf of the other 136 subscribers, thank you for the time and effort you put into this project. I printed out the E-Gobrecht on a very high quality color printer. The photo of the 1856 half on Page 4 turned out BEAUTIFULLY. I have two suggestions: (a) continue inserting photos and scans and (b) alert readers to find a color printer. The mass media (Coin World, Numismatic News, etc.) can’t touch this. Charles Dave Perkins. Thanks. Good issue. I was at the Reiver sale for the early silver on Friday and Saturday, thus did not get to see the Seated issues. (Later – Editor.) I knew Jules pretty well / had been to his home a couple of times. Eric Von Klinger of Coin World. The photo of the 1856 "sawtooth
cud" half dollar is really neat. Would
you consider sending a separate image for use on our
"Clearinghouse" page? (Editor’s comment…This was included in the Vicken Yegparian of Stack's Rare Coins. Dear Bill, I thought readers of the E-Gobrecht would be interested to know about Stack's upcoming auctions that will include a ton of fresh Liberty Seated coinage. The Northern Bay Collection is a collection that has been off everyone's radar screens for 30 years and features Half Cents through Silver Dollars. Some of the coins have even been off the market for as many as 50 years! Our Cheers, Vicken Dennis Martin states: I was glad to get your response to my
E-mail. It was my first attempt at
registering my E-mail address with anyone. It's encouraging to know I did it successfully.
I submit the following for the next E-Gobrecht distribution: I joined the LSCC in 2003, because I
realized I had become hopelessly "hooked" on collecting Liberty Seated
Halves. Also, I was convinced I had
discovered several dramatic new varieties that I couldn't wait to share with
the numismatic community. Thank
Goodness!! I hesitated sending in a
couple of articles, about my discoveries to the Gobrecht Journal. I
thought it prudent to do a little more research first. Then I learned to recognize
"deteriorated die doubling. What
I thought was a doubled reverse die 1854-O wasn't that at all. As my skill in recognizing "machine
doubling" increased, my certainty that I possessed the only 1872-CC half
with doubling on the reverse lettering (half dol.) began to fade into the
reality that I was wrong again. Not to
be undone, I KNEW that my 1850-O doubled obverse die was the real deal. Alas, I found where Dick Osburn had already
identified this variety in the Gobrecht
Journal. However, I am not discouraged,
because I am having more fun collecting Liberty Seated Halves, than anything
else I've collected in my lifetime. I've
learned some expensive lessons along the way, but the knowledge I've gained is
more than worth the cost of a few impulsive misjudgments. Furthermore, "if" the dealer
whose half I passed up purchasing at the Thank you, Dennis Martin, LSCC 1928. Dick Osburn states in his price list
emailing: I spent the last week in
January at the Reiver sale in Dick Osburn states in his price list emailing: Recent shows and auctions continue to support the contention that there's no cooling of the hot coin market. Prices and competition remain incredibly strong. I've been fortunate to pick up some nice coins at the shows, and I'm in the process of cataloguing a fantastic new consignment. Already on the web site (www.dickosburn.com) are near complete sets of bust, seated, and trade dollars, including a very pleasing 1794 bust dollar and a gorgeous AU50 1873-CC seated dollar. The consignment also includes complete sets of seated half dimes, bust dimes, and seated dimes, as well as a lot of other goodies. Those are yet to come, but will be appearing on the site over the next week. Today I catalogued and listed a set of seated quarters, missing only six of the keys. The set is low to mid-grade, up to XF40. Most are in the VG-VF range. Almost every coin is nicely toned and problem-free. A set that was painstakingly assembled over a period of many years. If you are looking for some nice mid-grade coins, this is a great opportunity. Calendar - Seated Dime survey – Now in progress, census due March 15th - Next issue of the Gobrecht Journal – March 2006 - LSCC Regional meeting
– Central States Convention, April 28, - LSCC Annual meeting – 2006 ANA Convention, August 2006, TBD Information on the 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: Mark Sheldon. 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 Mark Sheldon at 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 |
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