Table Of ContentLiberty Seated
The E-Gobrecht Collectors Club
2008 Volume4,Issue12
TheElectronicNewsletteroftheLIBERTYSEATEDCOLLECTORSCLUB
Dec2008(Whole#46)
LSCC Meets at Baltimore
What’sInsidethisissue?
NineteenmembersandguestsattendedtheLSCCRegionalmeetingat
AuctionNewsbyJim 2
theBaltimoreConventionCenteronNovember21,2008. LenAugs- Gray
burger,theLSCCSecretary/Treasurer,openedthemeetingat9AM.
QuestionoftheMonthby 3
BillBugert,theLSCCVicePresident,providedanupdateofLSCC PaulKluth
activities. FirstwasanupdateoftheGobrechtJournalissue#103and
Nominationsforthe2009 3
thecolorcover. Theattendeescomplimentedthecovercolorphotos LSCCHallofFame
anddesiredtocontinueit. Secondly,duringthepastfewmonths,the
Answerstolastmonth’s 4
clubofficershavenoticedanunprecedentedabsenceofnewmembers. QuestionoftheMonth
Assistanceinrecruitingnewmemberswassolicitedfromtheaudience
andBillmentionedhewillworkwithclubdealerstoaddamembership 1854-ODimewithaRim 5
CudbyLynnOurso
linktotheirwebsites. ApleaforGobrechtJournalarticlesubmissions
fromthemembershipwasdiscussed. Atthecurrentrateofsubmis- FourthKnown1874No 6-7
sions,JohnMcCloskey,theGobrechtJournaleditor,willbeunableto ArrowsDimeDiscovered
byGerryFortin
maintainthe52-pageformat. BillalsoannouncedtheWiley-Bugerthalf
dollarbookisnowon-line[Detailsonpage10ofthisissue.] BaltimoreHalfDime 8
PurchasesbyJason
LenmentionedthatproductionproblemswiththeGobrechtJour- Feldman
nalCollectiveVolume#5havebeenresolvedandthatitwillbeavailable
HalfDimeErrorStudy 9-10
byMarch2009. ThedraftreviewcopieswillbeauctionedatfutureLSCC
UpdatebyDennis
meetings. Hethenaskedforpersonalrecollectionsandamomentofsi- Hengeveld
lenceforJimO’DonnellwhodiedinSeptember2008.
HalfDollarBooknowon- 10
Lenconcludedthemeetingwithanexcellentquizwheretheaudi- line
encewastestedontheirknowledgeofrecentauctionpricesrealized.
SubscriberCorrespon- 11
Everyoneenjoyedthisandtheinformaldiscussionsthattookplaceafter- dence
wards. Thankstoallwhoattended!
InformationWanted, 11-
AvailabilityofPastIssues 12
oftheE-Gobrecht,and
Advertisements
LSCCInformation 13
LSCCRegionalmeetingattendeesfortheNovember2008BaltimoreConvention
TheE-GobrechtisatwiceawardwinningelectronicpublicationoftheLibertySeatedCollectorsClub(LSCC). The
LSCCisanon-profitorganizationdedicatedtotheattributionsoftheLibertySeatedCoinseries. TheLSCCprovidestheinfor-
mationcontainedinthisemailnewsletterfromvarioussourcesfreeofchargeasageneralservicetothemembershipandothers
withthisnumismaticinterest. YoudonothavetobeaLSCCmembertobenefitfromthisnewsletter;subscriptiontotheE-
Gobrechtisavailabletoanyone. Alldisclaimersareineffectasthecompletenessand/oraccuracyoftheinformationcontained
hereincannotbecompletelyverified. Contactinformationisincludedattheend.
Page2 The E-Gobrecht
Auction News
by
Jim Gray
TheSuperiorSanta cleaned1859-SdimeinAU-55,whichwasvery
ClaraSaledidnothaveany bright,didnotsell,nordidacleanedandcor-
coinsofinterest. rodedXF1873-CCdime.
Stack’shadtwosalesandinthefirst Anattractive1856-SquarterinMS-61
one,an1874-CCdimeinFr-2,whichwasworn, realized$5,290,whileanoriginalgray1868-S
pittedandugly,didnotsell. quarterinXF-40didnotsell. Acleanedandre-
tonedVF1870-CCquarterdidnotsell.
Inthesecondcatalogue,therewasa
beautifullytoned1842-OhalfdimeinMS-66but An1870-CChalfdollarinVF-30realized
withaveryflatheadthatdidnotsell,nordida $12,650inspiteofBERbeingmissing. An1871-
veryattractive1849-OhalfdimeinAU-55with CChalfinVF-25didnotsell,nordidan1873-CC
darkfieldsandhighlighteddevices. halfwitharrowsinXF-45withnicegraytoning.
An1874-CChalfinAU-55withsomeflatstars
An1846dimeinAU-58andanabsolute
butnicealbumtoningwentfor$9,200.
beautyandformerlyinmycollectionsoldfor
$28,750,morethantwicewhatitbroughtinmy An1871-CCDollarinXF-40andstrong
salein2004. An1859-SdimeinAU-55,witha forthegrade,nicelytonedinnaturalgrayand
littlesoftnessonthebowknotandLiberty’s verysharp,soaredto$14,350.
headandadarkareaatthe11thand12thstars
Recentauctionshavedisplayedsome
stillsoaredtoastrong$17,250. AnXF-45dupli-
coinshousedinthenewNGCholder. This
catethatwascleanedonlyrealized$1,035,
holderhasfourwhitetabsoneachsidethat
whileadecent1860-OdimeinAU-53didnot
coveraportionoftherimandapparentlyare
sell.
placedtheretokeepthecoinfrommoving
Averyattractive1850-ODollarinMS-62 aboutintheholder. Tomyeye,thesewhitetabs
withlovelygrayandbluetoning,andseldom distractfromthebeautyandsymmetryofthe
seenthus,didnotmeettheminimum$15,000 coin,particularlycooper,goldandtonedsilver
bid. coins. Readercommentsaboutthesenewhold-
erswouldbewelcomed.
TheBowers&MerenaBaltimoreSale
featuredan1845-OdimeinAU-55thatwasvery
wellstruckandlightlytonedfor$7,188. A
2008 Volume 4,Issue 12 (December 2008) Page 3
Question of the Month
Topicsfore-DiscussionbyPaulKluth
Half Dimes * Dimes * 20 Cent Pieces * Quarters * Halves * Dollars
Liberty Seated comes in all sizes…
What is your favorite denomination to collect and why? Why do you passion-
ately collect the Liberty Seated denominations that you do?
[Okay,if you are big on secrecy,it is okay to reply using a pen name or anoma-
lously this month. You know Bill B.is expecting over 300+ responses this round
based on the number of e-subscribers. So let’s break the record forcing the
thickest E-Gobrecht issue yet next month.]
All responses are welcome! Please give us your thoughts and opinions. Send your reply to
the E-Gobrecht editor at [email protected].
Nominations for 2009 Hall of Fame
Afterthis year’s memorableceremonywhereJohnMcCloskeyandKam Ahwash werethefirst tobe
inductedintothe LSCC’s Hall ofFame,theHall ofFame committeeis pleasedtoannouncethat it is ac-
ceptingnominations forthe LibertySeatedCollectorClub’s 2009Hall ofFame. Eligiblenominees include
clubmembers whohave madesignificant contributions toexpandingtheliteratureonSeated coinage,who
havebuilt animportant collectionof LibertySeatedcoinage,or whohaveservedinaleadershipposition
whilecontributingtothe success of LSCC. Please send yournominations totheHall ofFameCommittee
Chairman,Jim Gray,[email protected]’s nameandashort narrativeon
whyyou feel this individual shouldreceivethis honor. Deadline for2009nominations is December 31,
2008.
Page4 The E-Gobrecht
Answers to Last Month’s Question
Topicsfore-DiscussionbyPaulKluth
The Stock Market has fallen off drastically and specific large banks are in
trouble. Investments and retirement funds have seen steep declines in value re-
cently. Will any Fed bailout actually work? The economic experts are predict-
ing“recession” and possible“depression”.
What does your Crystal Ball say? What do you think is going to happen to the
coin market in general? Are coin values and the price of precious metals going
to decline too? Or is this a good time for investing in rare coins,numismatics in
general,and precious metals as values are going up?
From Keith Scott: Regardingthequestionofcoins versus stocks: Theansweris bothas longas guidelines
arefollowed.
1. Avoidcolorizedcoins soldonshop-at-homenetworks.
2. Nevertrust a"full service" BrokerorCompany.
3. Always invest forthe longterm (10+ years).
4. Research yourinvestments (thencross fingers).
I'venoticedNumismatists always havemassivereferencematerial whilestockinvestors havelittle more
thanrumors and greedon whichtobasedecisions. SolidCompanies and Industries areusuallyasafe bet.
Acoinofhigher grade, rarity, andEYEAPPEALwill beasafebet. Coinvalues will never gotozeroand
therewill always bean additional benefit forhobbyactivities, investment potential,andareallycool secu-
rityblanket.
From Dick Osburn: Inspiteofastockmarket that’s gonesouth andeconomicnews that continues toget
worseandworse,the coinmarket seems tobeholdingupremarkablywell. Ifanythingthereseems tobea
flowofadditional moneyintocoins that might otherwisebe goingintostocks andrelatedinvestments.
Peoplearelosingtheirjobs, andthat has tobenegativeforcoins, but I’dsaythat right nowtheoverall trend
is neutral. Idon’t expect thewildupwardmovement tocontinueinthenearterm,but Ialso don’t expect
thecoinmarket toturndownward. It maybea goodtimetofill someholesthat have goneunfilledinpast
years.
Ihaven’t beentoashow inthepast 3weeks, so Idon’t haveanydatapoints there,but ourbusiness
onthewebsitehas continuedtobeverystrong. Inthepast 4weeks, we’vehadtwoofourbiggest weeks
ever. Andthe orders continuetocomein,evenduringwhat is typicallyaslowtimeforthemarket. The
demandis still out thereinspiteoftheeconomy.
2008 Volume 4,Issue 12 (December 2008) Page 5
1854-O Dime with a Rim Cud
By Lynn Ourso
Picturedisan1854-OdimethatIpurchased ierandarimcudhasdeveloped.Thisisthelat-
around7yearsagoinacoinshopinLafayette estdiestateofthisvarietythatIhaveseen. I
Louisiana. Thecoinwasinaboxwithmanymis- wishedIhadrememberedIhadthiscoinwhile
cellaneoustypecoins. Thisonehadexcep- Gerrywasdevelopinghisbook.
tionalqualityandwasproblemfree. Iremem-
Around6monthsagoIsentthiscointoPGCS
beredthenthatithadanicerimcudonthere-
andtheygradeditAU-55exceptincorrectlydat-
verse.AfterexaminingthecoinbasedonBrian
ingtheholder1853-O. Iwasplanningtophoto
Greer’sbookonLibertySeatedDimesIwas
thecoinintheholderbutthesoftplasticthat
abletoattributeitasaG-102. GerryFortinhas
holdsthecoinhidtherimcud. IaskedPCGSat
givenitanF-104designationinhisE-book.
ashowiftheywouldputitinacorrectholder
Mycoinisalaterdiestatethanthecoinpic- butremoveabitoftheplastictoshowtherim
turedinGerry’sbook. Comparingthephotos cud;theyrefused(theywouldcorrectthedate).
myobversediehasmoredistinctivediecracks Icrackedthecoinoutandtookthephotosthat
atthetoeofMs.Libertyandfromtherimtoward accompanythisarticle.
thelegbelowstar#13. Theleftbaseofthe1in
Nowthatitiscurrentlyhardtolocatenice
thedatehasbeenjustaboutpolishedoff. An-
LibertySeatedcoins,hereisanothervariety
otherinterestcrackhasdevelopedfromthetop
withalatediestatethatdimecollectorswill
ofMs.Liberty’snosetotherim. Gerrydoesn’t
surelylookfor. Unfortunatelyformostcollec-
mentionthisinhisdescription;however,itmay
tors,thisisn’taPhillyorSanFranciscocoin,so
betherebutjustverylightorthin. Thereverse
beforeanyoneasks,IcollectNewOrleansLib-
isalsoalatediestatewiththecrackGerryde-
ertySeatedcoinsandit’snotforsale(however,
scribesfromtherimtotheOinOFbeingheav-
$50Kmightdoit). LOL.
Page 6 The E-Gobrecht
Fourth Known 1874 F-106 No Arrows Seated Dime is Discovered
byGerryFortin
E-Gobrechtreaders maydesireto knowthat anunnamed collector recentlypur-
chased thefourth known exampleof theextremelyrare 1874 F-106NoArrows seated
dimevariety. Thecollector contacted me inmid-November 2008toreportthe acquisition
after checking theTop 100Varietieslink atthewww.seateddimevarieties.comwebsite.
Needless tosay, the individualwasexcited withthepurchase and agreed toshare his
discovery with theLibertySeated collecting community. LuckilyIwasin theUnited
Statesand the collector immediatelysending along thedimeviaFedExfor review and va-
rietyconfirmation.
Below areimagesof the 1874NoArrows dimeincomparison totheF-106web-
bookplatecoin. The newlydiscovered specimensgradesAU55withfaint wear on Lib-
erty’sbreasts and obviouslywasdipped atsomepointintime. Theobverseand reverse
fieldsareprooflikeasistheF-106platecoin. Thedimeis well struckthroughoutwith
strong head detailsand bold shield banner and horizontaland verticalshield lines.
Fourth Known 1874 No Arrows F-106
(Continuedonpage7)
2008 Volume 4,Issue 12 (December 2008) Page 7
(Continuedfrompage6)
1874 No Arrows F-106 –Gerry Fortin Collection
Keydiagnosticfor thisvarietyinclude faintoutlines for theleftand rightarrowsfol-
lowed bynoticeable repunching on the 1 and 8digits. Inaddition, the 7and 4digitsare
unmistakablyweak for the variety. Due toits highgray,thenewspecimeneasily displays
allof theprimarydiagnostics.
Sincethe formalpublication ofthe 1874NoArrowsvariety as partoftheSeated
DimeTop 100VarietySetin 2004, atotal offour specimensareknown at this time. As
with any major variety,publicationsand awarenessdueraisetheprobabilityofadditional
piecesbeing located.
Listing ofKnown 1874 NoArrowsF-106dimes as ofNovember 2008
1. JamesSwarek- Low gradeexample asreported byBrianGreer inhisSeated Dime
guidebook(1991)
2. GerryFortin- ANACS AU58and web-bookplate coin(2003)
3. KenShield- VF35 withlightcentraltoning turning darker near theperipheries(2005)
4. Unnamed collector- Theabove specimengrading AU55(2008)
Page 8 The E-Gobrecht
Baltimore Show Half Dime Purchases
ByJasonFeldman
Hereare afewhalfdimes Ipurchased at theNovember 2008Baltimore coin show.
Ithinkthe 1872is adoubledie, not sure onthat. The1843 has aneatreversedie crack
thatdoes not matchthebooksbutI hear therewasanother onefound. 1858 isthe short
pole. Idon'tknow howrare thesearebutIamhoping someonewill.
2008 Volume 4,Issue 12 (December 2008) Page 9
Liberty Seated Half Dime Error Study Update
By Dennis Hengeveld
Thisarticleis meant togiveanupdateon errorscertainlyturn out tobeone therarest
one ofmycurrentprojects, cataloging Lib- ofallSeated denominations. Ihave notyet
ertySeated HalfDimeerrorsand determin- beenresearching theother denominations,
ing therarityofindividualpieces. Istarted butbythe amountof errorsencountered for
with thisproject inJanuary2008 and have theSeated Silver Dollars,they areequally
runasmall add ineachissue oftheE- asrare. Seated Dimesseem tobethe most
Gobrecht.Unfortunately, thishasnotyet commondenominationin errors,although
led tomanyreports oferrors. stillveryrarecompared tomodernseries.
Errorsareamuchoverlooked area of AllthreeUS MintsthatstruckSeated
numismatics. Most error collections arefo- HalfDimes(Philadelphia,New Orleansand
cused on20th centurycoinagebecauseof SanFrancisco)have reported errorsso far.
the excessiverarity ofmany typesof19th Therelative mintagesofeveryissue seem
century errors. Asfor dedicated Seated tohavesomeinfluenceonthenumber of er-
collectors,errors aremostly anarea that rorsreported for a certainMint. Most er-
occasionallygetsincluded incollection,but rorsarecirculated withonlya few examples
normallynotwith muchofafocus. thatgradeMintState. Thismeans that most
ofthesecoinswentfirstintogeneralcircu-
lationbeforeanerror wasdiscovered and
Sofar,37LibertySeated HalfDimes
the coinwaspulled fromcirculation.
havebeenreported astobe error coins.
Theseinclude multipleoff-center strikes
(mostcommontype oferror althoughvery Onefactthatstood outtomewiththe
rarewhenmore than 20% off-center), afew coinscurrentlyfound isthat approximately
broadstruckpieces and severalstrike- 80% ofallcoinsreported weredated inthe
throughs. There werealsoseveral other 1850’s,especially the1856-1858dates. I
errorsreported,one examplebeing amir- have come up with twopossible explana-
ror brockagereverseof thepre 1860type. tionswhichwillbehighlighted inthe main
article,planned tobepublished in early
2009in theGobrechtJournal.
Itmustbe noted that Ihavedecided
toonlyinclude errorsunique to acertain
coin (each error isuniqueinitsownway). A complete check of previousissues
ThismeansI haveexcluded rotated dies, as oftheGobrechtJournalslisted in thecol-
thesewill occur for everystrikeofadiepair lectivejournalsand MintError Newshas
until thepositions of thedies were cor- onlybroughttolight afew morepieces. Not
rected. muchinformationhasbeenpublished on
theseerror coins,and muchresearchstill
hastobedone.
Itisstilltoo early to giveanyreliable
conclusions on therelativerarityofthese
pieces. However,so far Seated HalfDime
(Continuedonpage10)
Page 10 The E-Gobrecht
scansof thelotswould bereallyhelpful. All
(Continuedfrompage9)
your help isgreatly appreciated to make a
Ifyouownor know ofanySeated Half reliablearticleon therarity ofthesenumis-
Dimeerrorspleaseletmeknow. For any maticmistakes of theUS mint.
reliableconclusions tobemadeIneed to
have alistwhich can bedeemed tobeclose
DennisHengeveld
tocomplete. Unfortunately Idonothave
muchaccesstoold auction catalogs, soif LSCCMember#2112
youhave anywithmajor (or minor)error
[email protected]
collections inthempleaseletme know. A
listofwhatcoinsweresold and eventually
The Complete Guide to Liberty Seated Half Dollars
Now available on-line - for free!!
[Editor:ThroughthegenerouseffortsofJohnFeigenbaumandDavidLawrenceRare
Coins,theWiley-Bugerthalfdollarbookisavailableontheinternetwithfreeaccess!See
theannouncementbelow.ManythankstoJohnandhisstaffformakingthispossible.]
PRESSRELEASE
Thursday,November14,2008
DLRC Announces project Stella: a new Blog & Library Web SiteFree Access for
Coin Collectors to Valuable Research and Reference Books
StellaCoinNews.com
VirginiaBeach,VA—JohnFeigenbaum,PresidentofDavidLawrenceRareCoinsandDominionGradingService,announced
todaytheunveilingofanewwebsitecalledStellaCoinNews(www.stellacoinnews.com)whichwillprovidedailyBlogsbynumis-
maticleaders,aswellasfreeaccesstoDLRCPresspublications.
AccordingtoFeigenbaum,"WehopeStellawillbecomearegularstoppingpointforcollectorswhoarelookingformoreinforma-
tiononcurrenteventswithinthecoincommunity,aswellasreferencematerialthattheypreviouslycouldonlyfindinbooks.
Inourfirstmonthofoperations,wehavepublishedtworarebooksfromourcatalog.ThefirstwasDavidLawrence‘sanecdotal
storiestitled, TalesfromtheBourse.Thesecond,moreambitiouseffortisTheCompleteGuideto
LibertySeatedHalfDollarsbyRandyWileyandBillBugert.Thisamazingbookremainstheonly
standardreferencetodievarietiesofthisseriesandithasbeenlargelyunavailableforover5years.
We‘veheardoffolkshavingtopayasmuchas$200foracopy.Nowyoucangetallof
it…online…FREE.Anothermajorbenefitisuserscancommentonallaspectsofthebookwithup-
datedinformation,andtheauthorsthemselvescanaugmentdataovertime."
FutureplansforStellaincludeasmanyas10moreDLRCPresstitlesandwehopetogetotherau-
thorstocontributetheirbooksaswell.AspublishersoftheStellasite,weencourageasmuchpartici-
pationaspossibletomakethisacommunityforum.
