Exploring Liberty Seated Halves 1839-1891 Orlando FUN Show Presentation January 12, 2019 Consultation from Bill Bugert
Exploring Liberty Seated Halves Topics Where Minted and Design Types Ways to Collect Liberty Seated Halves Great Available References Detailed Review of Design Types Key and Low Mintage Dates Popular Die Varieties 1861 New Orleans Issues Over and Under Rated Dates
Exploring Liberty Seated Halves Minted 1839-1891 Four Mints: Philadelphia, New Orleans, San Francisco, Carson City Minted under 3 governments: USA, State of LA, CSA Six major design types per PCGS Price Guide: No Drapery below elbow, small letters reverse (1839) No Motto, Drapery (1839-53, 1856-1866) Arrows at date, Rays on reverse (1853 only) Arrows at date (1854-55) With Motto on reverse (1866-73, 1875-91) With Motto, Arrows at date (1873-74) Many popular die varieties to consider
Exploring Liberty Seated Halves Actually there are eight major sub-types No Motto, Drapery breaks down into three reverse types Small Letters reverse (1840-42) Medium Letters reverse (1840-O no O only) Large Letters reverse (1842-52, 1854-66)
Many, many varieties About 300 major varieties About 1,800 die marriages Overdates Misplaced dates Repunched dates Doubled dies Date and MM size variations Repunched mintmarks Major die cracks, cuds Hub changes
Collecting the series Collecting A complete date/mint set consists of 112 coins A complete sub-type set consists of 8 coins Difficult dates, varieties, and stoppers Major varieties (examples): 1847/6, 1873 NA Open 3, 1875-S Micro S, 1876 Large/Small date Expensive dates: 1851, 1852, 1855-S, 1870-CC to 1874-CC, 1878-CC Stopper: 1878-S (~60 known) Big stopper: 1853-O No Arrows (4 known)
Collecting strategies Sub-type set (8 pieces) Some collectors choose key/semi-key dates Year set (regardless of mint) Easily completed, but requires diligent searching for original coins Date and mintmark set (minus 1853-O No Arrows) 1878-S is the stopper Takes patience and money 10-piece Carson City set 1870-CC to 1878-CC is popular with collectors Includes 1873-CC both without and with arrows 1870-CC will be toughest Page 7
Typical costs and timeframes $ G-6 F12 VF20 XF40 MS63 Common Date 45 1 show 70 1 show 90 1 show 175 1 show 1,325 1 show Complete year-only set 7,500 10+ years 13,000 1-2 years 19,000 1-2 years 94,000 1-2 years Complete date/mint set, minus 1853-O No Arrows 65,000 10+ years 115,000 5 years - - Complete date/mint set, with 1853-O No Arrows 300,000 25 years 915,000** 25 years - - Red font = theoretical, some dates nearly unavailable in low grades ** 1853-O No Arrows in VF35
Excellent References
Exploring Liberty Seated Halves Detailed Review of Design Types
Drapery vs. No Drapery Other Seated denominations entirely new design and engraving by Hughes-Gobrecht
1839 No Drapery Seated Halves Design modified during the year, adding drapery and shrinking the rock (shaved down on master die) 1839 No Drapery With Drapery 1839-1891 No Drapery coin prices driven by type collectors Not particularly scarce and overrated
Where was this coin made?
How about New Orleans? Utilized left-over large eagle Medium Letters Bust Half reverse (where O was on the obverse) Bust Half Reverse Reverse of 1840 Confirmed as N.O. issue by obverse on other 1840-O coins
Pre-1853 issues from 1850-1852 Modest mintages, but most melted as bullion value exceeded face value before 1853 Very rare in low grades 1850-P, 1851-P, 1851-O, 1852-P, 1852-O
Arrows and Rays 1853 only Extremely popular as type coins Philadelphia extremely common, 1853-O requires looking Arrows coins 1853-55 have date placement in Master die
Initial San Francisco offering: 1855-S Only scarce issue of the 1854-1855 Arrows coins Difficult to find nice and in high demand Third-party graded coins are especially tough most have problems, likely from being circulated in the west
Civil War Dates No Motto 1861-1865 Philadelphia issues under great collector demand Most are available and overrated, especially 1862-1864
1866-S No Motto Low mintage of 60,000 makes it popular Available G-EF, overrated, and overpriced below AU
Adding the Motto to the coin Discussion of national Motto begins with 2-cent piece God and our Country God Our Trust In God We Trust God and Our Country discarded quickly as too long Patterns begin for Halves in 1863 with God Our Trust with multiple scroll types Later switches to In God We Trust after selection for 2-cent piece
Motto Added in 1866 1866 With Motto Philadelphia and San Francisco strikes
1873 Date Transition and Styles Three issues for Philadelphia in 1873 Closed 3 No Arrows common! Open 3 No Arrows very rare! Open 3 With Arrows very common!
1873 No Arrows, Open 3 Rare and one of the key issues of the series Approximately 60 known, as rare as the 1878-S!
Exploring Liberty Seated Halves Key and Low Mintage Dates
Early Carson City key dates CC coins 1870-1874 all difficult to very scarce issues Most in low grades, half of 1870-CC VG and below Like other denominations, mintages kept low
1873-CC No Arrows and Arrows No Arrows coin is far scarcer than the Arrows version
1874-CC Scarcer of the two With Arrows Carson City coins
1878-CC Scarce final edition from the Carson City Mint Scarcer than the 1874-CC, but priced less Grossly underrated, most survivors are well circulated
Series Key: 1878-S Production stopped to make Morgan dollars Only about 60 known Die chip in reverse shield Bill Bugert is maintaining a roster of 1878-S
Mysterious 1853-O No Arrows No record of mintage First located before 1881, only 3 known by 1911 After more than 100 years, 4 th example found in 2012! One sale every 25 years on average prior to recently
Mysterious 1853-O No Arrows Utilizes same reverse as scarcer 1852-O die marriage Confirmed from only mid-grade VF35 example
Late low-mintage dates 1879-1891 issues made in Philadelphia only Little or no demand for circulation issue Mintages range from 4,400 plus 1,100 proofs (1882) to 12,001 plus 832 proofs (1888) All dates are readily available Survival rate higher than usual Grades XF-MS are the norm Rarely seen in low grades
Exploring Liberty Seated Halves Popular Die Varieties
1844-O Doubled Date Date originally punched much too high, then corrected One of the most spectacular and popular misplaced dates
1846, 6 over horizontal 6 Bold under digit Very popular, but only somewhat scarce Note: raised ball inside base of primary 6 is unrelated to the repunching seen in many 1846-P obverses
1847/6 One of the great variety rarities of the series Rarity 6 Actually an 1/1847/46 (no trace of underdigit 8)
1847/6 One of the great variety rarities of the series Rarity 6
1849 Dramatic Double Date Date originally punched too far left A rare variety about 60 known, few are encapsulated
1876 Large Date over Small Date A rare variety most examples are in low grades Underdate same size as 20-cent piece date punch
1875-S Micro S A rare variety 75% of them are in grades VG and below First appearance of this mintmark appears again in 1876 and 1877 (not rare)
Exploring Liberty Seated Halves 1861 New Orleans Issues
Most sought-after issue: 1861-O Minted with the same date/design by 3 different governments. United States of America (Union) State of Louisiana (LA) Confederate States of America (CSA)
New Orleans timeline, early 1861 1/22 LA secedes 2/4 CSA formed 3/11 CSA Constitution 4/30 New Orleans Mint closed 1/31 LA seizes N.O. Mint 2/28 CSA controls N.O. Mint 4/12 Fort Sumter assault 4/28/62 New Orleans city captured Union State of LA CSA 30 days 29 days 62 days Who controlled the New Orleans Branch Mint?
Randy Wiley s 1861-O Study Award winning recognized expert on Liberty Seated Half Dollars and 1861-O half dollars Two articles published his findings Gobrecht Journal Issue 94, November 2005 Gobrecht Journal Issue 97, November 2006 Lengthy analysis Studied three large hoards of 1861-Os Linked all dies (next page) Suggested an average die life Exploited known minting authority mintages and applied them to the linked dies Exponentially increased interest in this date
1861-O half dollar minting authorities Die Marriage Die Combination W-01 1A W-02 1B Minting Authority United States of America (USA) Authority s Symbol Approximate Date/Mintage* January 1861 330,000 W-03 1C W-04 2C W-05 2D W-06 3D W-07 4D W-08 4B W-09 3B W-10 3E W-11 5E W-12 5CSA W-13 6E W-14 6F W-15 1F State of Louisiana (LA) Confederate States of America (CSA) February-March 1861 1,240,000 April 1861 962,633 * Recent research slightly adjusts Randy Wiley s mintage figures
Union Issues Minted in January 1861 By far, the rarest of the 1861-Os 2 die marriages (W-01, W-02) with same obverse die Warning: 1861-O half dollars are some of the most difficult die marriages to distinguish. Use all die diagnostics to differentiate them.
State of Louisiana Issues 6 die marriages (4 obverse, 3 reverse dies) W-5 and W-6 are scarce None especially interesting Distinguishable by die cracks, die lines, tiny lumps, and clashes
Confederate (CSA) Issues Most popular of the 3 minting authorities 7 die marriages (4 obverse/4 reverse dies including genuine CSA half dollar) Most popular easily identifiable die marriages WB-102 WB-103 WB-104 Confederate Bisecting Speared Olive Bud die crack die crack
Confederate Half Dollar Only 4 original examples known; struck April 1861 Images courtesy of Stack s
Overrated Liberty Seated Half Dollars 1839 No Drapery half-year type, not rare at all 1846 over Horizontal 6 popular, but not rare 1846 Tall Date not rare, but getting pricey 1853, 1853-O Arrows & Rays Type collectors drive the price 1854, 1854-O, 1855, 1855-O, Arrows type collectors again 1861-O CSA Obverse not rare, but very popular 1862-1864 Civil War dates that are in great demand 1866-S No Motto available in all grades 1873-1874 with Arrows and Motto type collectors again 1879-1890 ultra low mintages, but higher survival than other scarce issues with much higher mintages Page 50
Underrated Liberty Seated Half Dollars 1841 low mintage, gets little notice 1845 quietly under the radar 1847/6 a great rarity of the series, pricey but still underrated 1849 Dramatic Double Date only 60 examples known, if series more collected prices would be higher 1857-O, 1859-S, 1860-S, 1866, 1868 modest mintages unnoticed 1871-CC unheralded, low mintage, Carson City issue 1872-S good buy at current prices 1873 No Arrows, Open 3 rare variety of series, still underpriced 1873-S prices rising, but still underpriced 1875-CC problem-free high grade pieces difficult to find 1878-CC very underrated, problem-free examples difficult Page 51
Exploring Liberty Seated Halves Thank-you! Questions?