The
E-Gobrecht
Volume 2, Issue 4, April
2006
Whole Number 13
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.
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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
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Bill Bugert
Editor, E-Gobrecht
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Acknowledgements and Miscellaneous
Notes from the Editor
Many thanks to Jim Gray, Gerry Fortin, Steve Crain, Len
Augsburger, and the subscribers who corresponded with me. There are some
great articles and good information in this issue. I am sending this
issue in the body of the email; in the last issue, I had a few inquiries from
individuals who stated they could not open the Microsoft Word attachment.
I suspect those difficulties arose from recipient web browser or anti-virus
software settings but if you would like to have the Word document, please send
me an email request and I will forward it to you separately.
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 142 E-Gobrecht
subscribers! I had two rejects for the last issue and four new
subscribers this month. 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
==> Auction News by Jim Gray.
==> Establishing Rarity Weights for Top 100
==> New 1841 Half Dime variety discovered by Steve
Crain.
==> Christian Gobrecht medal, Judd-AM33 by Len
Augsburger.
==> Review of Gobrecht Journal Issue #95 by
Len Augsburger.
==> Recent email traffic.
Details
==> Auction News by James C. Gray.
Stacks March 2006 sale
featured a portion of the Northern Bay Collection. The sale
started with half cents and went to twenty cent pieces and some provenances
were given in the catalogue with the earliest dated 1954 and the latest dated
1973. It thus appears that the collection was assembled in a period of at
least twenty years. Stacks advertisement for the sale stated that the
collection had been off the market for more than thirty years.
The sale began with a lovely AU or
better 1793 half cent and contained a large number of mint state in proof half
cents and large cents. The Flying Eagle and Indian cents were complete
from 1856 to 1909 in both mint state and proof for the
The Liberty Seated half dimes and
dimes had the unmistakable Wayte Raymond toning seen on untouched coins from
that era. Many of the half dimes and dimes had been cleaned or dipped
when obtained for the collection, but the album toning had caused many of them
to still be attractive. Most of the Seated coins were mint state with
some XF's and AU's and a few in VG-F.
The half dime set was
complete except for the 1858-O and the P mints from 1958 to 1873 were present in
both proof and mint state. Half dime rarities sold as follows; 1838-O
XF/AU, $1,380, 1840-O with drapery AU, $2,085, 1842-O AU, $1,495, 1844-O
cleaned XF, $920, 1846 strong XF, $3,163, 1849-O choice BU $2,300, and a
beautifully toned 1853-O No Arrows in XF/AU for $3,738.
The dimes were complete
except for the 1871-CC, 1872-CC, and 1874-CC and, like the half dimes,
contained mint state and proof examples of the
The 1843-O graded Fine and
sold for $322, the 1844 BU at $5,750, a very nice BU 1845-O at $17, 250, a
nicely toned, strong AU 1846 listed as cleaned sold for $4,025. The
1856-S was BU, but lightly cleaned and now beautifully retoned for $6,900,
while the AU 1858-S was cleaned and sold for a paltry $1,092. The 1859-S
was a bright, cleaned AU that was acquired by the collector at Stacks 1969 Mile
sale and went for $747, while the 1860-O in XF realized $5,750.
Three S mint dimes went for
huge prices. The 1864-S was graded gem BU and sold for $32,200. In
contrast, an 1864-S in MS-64 (PCGS) sold for $3,220 in Heritage’s March 2006
The only CC rarity was the
1873-CC in VG-F with porosity and scratches selling for $2,329. The
1885-S was a nice Fine at $1,093.
While the Wayte Raymond holders
worked wonders for the silver coins, they were not kind to the nickel coinage.
Many of the nickel coins had dull gray or brown toning with streaks and
spots.
It is always a treat to see
an entire auction catalogue without a single slabbed piece for sale.
Stacks was correct in this approach since, like the Akers sale of the
Pittman Collection, bidders always give lovely, high quality coins the higher
grade.
With all of the high quality
coins in this collection, one might wonder why the rare CC dimes were only
represented by a single, low grade problem coin. During the time that the
collection was assembled, a number of collections, including the Empire,
Holmes, and Miles contained high grade or mint state examples of the rare
In other auction news, the
Heritage Palm Beach sale featured an 1842-O half dime in MS-64 that was
well struck, but had been dipped with milky toning, yet still realized $4,830;
an 1844-O nicely toned half dime in AU-58 went for $4,312. A very weakly
struck 1849-O half dime in MS-66 (oxymoron?) did not sell.
Besides the two S mint coins
that were sold in the sale and mentioned in the narrative for the Northern Bay
Collection, the Heritage sale also contained an MS-61 1871-CC dime, which
realized $46,000 in spite of an old light cleaning.
The 1867-S quarter in AU-55 brought
slightly more than $10,000 continuing the strong prices realized for this date.
A slightly rough 1870-CC quarter in VF-20 sold for $17, 250 while a well
struck, deeply toned 1872-CC quarter in XF-40 sold for $8,625.
There were 3 impaired Gobrecht
Dollars from the issue of December 1836 in the sale. The first of these
pieces was catalogued as Fine details, net Good (Plugged, Tooled, and Whizzed).
This coin had seen its fair share of adventures, but still realized a
$3,105, while a dipped 1873-CC Liberty Seated dollar with a flat head and a
large reverse rim bruise commanded $57,500.
The Bowers and Merena
sale in March, 2006 featured a very nice 1846 half dime in AU-58 which went
for $8,050 while a 1855-S half dollar in VF-20 with the E of LIBERTY gone and
the BR weak still sold for $1,783. A very nice, choice original 1871-CC
dollar in G-6 sold for $3,738.
The ANR Connoisseurs
sale featured a complete set of Liberty Seated dimes by date, mintmark, and
major variety. The coins averaged from Fine to XF with many cleaned and
damaged and 102 pieces were sold in one lot. An 1860-O in Fine
brought $13,080 while the 1871-CC in VG-8 sold for $4,140 with the
1872-CC in F-12 going for $3,220. There were two 1873-CC dimes in the
sale, both graded by ANACS. The first was graded VF-25, but appears to
have been run over by a steam roller since the highest portion of Liberty's
figure and the wreath were completely flat. This coin realized $5,060
while a choice original 1873-CC in F-12 went for $7,475. It is clear that
the buyers looked at the two coins and not at the holders. The 1874-CC
dime ex-Eliasberg graded G-6 with a full
The sale also contained two choice
1838-C half dimes, the first being an MS-64, which sold for $23,000 and
another, graded MS-63, but not nearly as nice, did not sell. An 1858-S
dime in MS-63 with mottled toning sold for $17,250 while an AU-58 1859-S dime
went for $9,075.
The 1864-S quarter in AU-58
went for $8,050, while an AU-53 1855-S with arrows half dollar sold for $5,520.
A choice original 1870-CC half dollar in VF-25 PCGS was pictured and the
E in
A beautiful, well struck
1850-O dollar in MS-64 did not sell, but the 1851 and the 1852 original dollars
both sold as they always do. The 1851 was graded MS-62 and sold for
$46,000 while the 1852 original in AU-58 sold for almost $35,000, in spite of a
weak strike on Liberty's head. A very nice original 1871-CC dollar in
VF-30 did not sell, perhaps because of the slightest weakness in the BER of
Liberty on the scroll.
March was a very busy time
for auctions and a number of choice Seated coins were available for purchase.
Question of the Month
If you needed a very fine 1870-CC half dollar for your
collection, would you pay a full VF-25 price for a piece graded VF-25 by PCGS
with the E of Liberty worn off and the R weak? Send your comments to the
Editor,
==> Establishing Rarity Weights for Top 100
As the beginning of April
approaches, the LSCC sponsored Top 100 Liberty Seated Dime Varieties and
General Population surveys have been mailed back to Paul Bradley and the task
of tabulating the results now awaits me and Paul. It was decided that I
would handle the Top 100 survey forms while Paul will assemble the General
Population outcomes. Response from LSCC club members has been excellent,
as we have received nearly 75 responses to date. I want to take this
opportunity to thank everyone who took the time to scrutinize their seated dime
collections and completed the survey forms. Since this survey was the
initial polling of LSCC membership for Top 100 varieties, I recognize the
response process took considerable time due to the need to attribute the dime
varieties in member collections, if not previously accomplished.
Paul Bradley has started
tabulating the General Population survey responses and has scanned and emailed
me the Top 100 varieties survey forms for that tally effort. Counting the
survey results will be a nice after hours activity, as
Most LSCC survey summary
articles published in the Gobrecht Journal focus on the presentation of date
and mintmark population findings. The author then provides commentary to
help club members appreciate survey outcomes against previously understood
rarity opinions for individual dates and mintmarks. For the forthcoming
Top 100 Varieties survey report, I will prepare an article that touches upon
individual variety populations but also wish to focus on complete or nearly
complete Top 100 sets. Most collectors strive to build complete sets of
seated coinage and now the opportunity exists to build a complete set of the
Top 100 seated dime varieties as an alternate collecting objective. How
does one appraise Top 100 survey responses in term of set completeness
considering the individual variety rarity can range from common to extremely
rare? A Top 100 Varieties set assessment method must recognize that both
variety rarity and state of preservation are variables that contribute to an
advanced set.
Top 100 Variety Set Evaluation Method
Since I am an active
participant in the PCGS and NGC registry set programs, I first examined the
PCGS and NGC set evaluation methods for alternatives for evaluating the
reported Top 100 Variety sets. The PCGS and NGC approaches are quite
different. PCGS uses a weighted set approach by assigning rarity weights
from 1 through 10 for the dates in most of their registry sets. NGC, on
the other hand, assigns a point score that is dependant on the date’s perceived
rarity and its certified grade. Frankly, I like the PCGS approach for its
simplicity. One has to initially define the rarity weights for each date
in a set, then with some easy math, average weighted set grades and set ratings
are determined. How are the average weighted set grades and set ratings
calculated? For the Average Weighted Grade, the grade of each set entry
is multiplied by its assigned rarity. We can call that product a weighted
rarity grade. The weighted rarity grades are added together and divided
by the total of the assigned rarity number for each coin entered into the set.
This approach recognizes both rarity and grade for individual pieces within a
set while placing more weight on the most difficult coins to obtain. A
Set Rating can be calculated as the totaled weighted rarity grades divided by
the totaled rarity weights. If a set is 100% complete, then the Set
Rating equals the Average Weighted Grade.
Now comes the hard
part…building a listing of the Top 100 Varieties with assignments of variety
rarity weights. As with the PCGS approach, each variety was given a
rarity weight from 1 to 10 with the (1) weight being allocated to a very common
variety while the (10) weight is for an excessively rare variety. In my
web-book, I estimate individual variety rarities for grades of VF or
better. For the evaluation of completed or partial sets in the Top 100
Varieties survery response, I assigned the 1 to 10 rarity weight for total
availability in grades from Good through
Below is the listing of
assigned rarity weights for the Top 100 Seated Dime Varieties. Again,
these weights will be use to evaluate and score the completeness and overall
state of preservation for complete and partial sets found within the survey
submissions. You are most welcomed to review, contemplate and
provide feedback on the individual variety weights. Since the
E-Gobrecht has 140+ readers, this should be a good forum to test out the Top
100 rarity weights for accuracy and acceptance. In the future, I plan to
update the www.seateddimevarieties.com
web-book with the rarity weights and if possible, attempt to host a small
registry page for Top 100 Variety collections. Thank you for your time,
comments are most welcomed and can be sent to me at wuximems@hotmail.com.
|
Top 100 |
Date |
Variety
References |
Description |
Rarity
Weight |
|
|
|
Fortin
Ahwash Greer |
|
|
|
1 |
1837 |
F-101c |
Large
Date, Clashed Obverse and Reverse |
6 |
|
2 |
1837 |
F-103a |
Small
Date, Reverse Horizontal Die Crack |
2 |
|
3 |
1838-O |
F-101
A-1 G-101 |
Repunched
Huge O Mintmark |
3 |
|
4 |
1838 |
F-101a A-1 |
Small
Stars |
1 |
|
5 |
1838 |
F-103b A-3 G-102 |
Vertically
Cracked Reverse Die |
4 |
|
6 |
1838 |
F-106
A-5 G-103 |
Cracked
Obverse Die #1 |
2 |
|
7 |
1838 |
F-108a A-6 |
Partial
Drapery Obverse |
2 |
|
8 |
1838 |
F110a
G-104 |
Cracked
Obverse Die #2 |
6 |
|
9 |
1838 |
F111a
G-105 |
Cracked
Obverse Die #3 |
4 |
|
10 |
1839 |
F-105b A-2 G-101 |
Pie
Shaped Shattered Obverse |
10 |
|
11 |
1839-O |
F-103
A-5 G-104 |
Small O
Obverse/ Large O Reverse |
7 |
|
12 |
1839-O |
F-104a A-3 G-102 |
Repunched
Large O mintmark |
3 |
|
13 |
1839-O |
F-106a A-6 G-101 |
Cobweb
Shattered Reverse Die |
2 |
|
14 |
1839-O |
F-108 A-7 |
Polished
Obverse/Huge O Reverse |
4 |
|
15 |
1840 ND |
F-103
G-101 |
Chin
Whiskers Variety |
3 |
|
16 |
1840-O |
F-106 A-2 |
Medium
O Mintmark With Die Crack |
5 |
|
17 |
1841 |
F-103
G-101 |
Repunched
184 Digits |
3 |
|
18 |
1841 |
F-105
G-102 |
Repunched
841 Digits |
5 |
|
19 |
1841-O |
F-101
A-1 G-102 |
Transitional
Large O Closed Bud Reverse |
7 |
|
20 |
1841-O |
F-102
G-101 |
Transitional
Small O Closed Bud Reverse |
9 |
|
21 |
1842 |
F-103a A-3 |
Large
Obverse Rim Cud at 10:00 |
3 |
|
22 |
1842-O |
F-102a
G-102 |
Shattered
Reverse Die, Med O Mintmark |
4 |
|
23 |
1842-O |
F-103
A-3 G-101 |
Shattered
Reverse Die of 1841 |
4 |
|
24 |
1842-O |
F104a A-4 |
Small O
Mintmark, Rim Cud at 10:00 |
5 |
|
25 |
1843 |
F-102
A-2 G-101 |
Repunched
1843 Digits |
1 |
|
26 |
1845 |
F-103
A-2 G-101 |
Repunched
45 Digits |
3 |
|
27 |
1845 |
F-107
G-103 |
Repunched
1845 Digits |
3 |
|
28 |
1845-O |
F-102 |
Huge O
Mintmark |
6 |
|
29 |
1847 |
F-101
A-1 G-101 |
Date
Punch Overlaps Base |
2 |
|
30 |
1849 |
F-104
A-3 G-101 |
Repunched
8 and 9 Digits |
4 |
|
31 |
1849-O |
F-104
A-3 G-103 |
Repunched
184 Digits, Small O |
3 |
|
32 |
1851 |
F-105
G-101 |
Repunched
851 Digits |
2 |
|
33 |
1852 |
F-105
A-4 G-101 |
Repunched
52 Digits |
3 |
|
34 |
1853 NA |
F-101a |
Heavily
Clashed No Arrows Obverse |
5 |
|
35 |
1853
WA |
F-107
G-103 |
Repunched
853 Digits, Unhubbed Obverse |
5 |
|
36 |
1853-O |
F-104a
G-101 |
Shattered
Obverse |
6 |
|
37 |
1854 |
F-104a
G-102 |
Shattered
Obverse Die #1 |
3 |
|
38 |
1854-O |
F-102
G-101 |
Shattered
Obverse Die |
6 |
|
39 |
1854-O |
F-103 |
Cracked
Obverse Die/Oblique Mintmark |
3 |
|
40 |
1855 |
F-103
G-101 |
Doubled
Die Obverse #2 |
3 |
|
41 |
1856 SD |
F-108
G-101 |
Doubled
Die Obverse East |
2 |
|
42 |
1856 SD |
F-110 |
Doubled
Die Obverse North |
6 |