The Capped Bust Half Dollar 1807-1839

[JRocco]

Here is an 1813 O-107 R4
This marriage utilizes obverse 5 and reverse F
Some characteristics of this obverse die include multiple die lines in the field at the right of the upper ribbon end. Dr. Peterson calls them a “comb”. Star 10 is recut at its lower inside point. The 8 is too large. Clashing of the scroll is commonly seen.
The reverse shows a die line that extends horizontally from upper leaf tip to dentil. AM nearly touch at the base and A is slightly higher. There is a fine die crack from above the last S through the O to the scroll and the crown of the cap usually shows as a clash at 50C and the arrows.

[JRocco]

Here is an 1832 O-120a R3
This marriage utilizes obverse 13 and reverse L-s2
Some characteristics of this variety include:
Obverse - There is recut serif on the number 1 at its tip, showing at left. On this LDS, a crack shows at the rim by star 3, to lower chin, neck, curls, and ends at edge by star 10. There is also a crack at the base of the date that runs left under the bust. Most stars are flat.
Reverse - The eagle is entirely devoid of all tail feathers. The curve of the upper right margin of shield extends too far left. The A in STATES is rotated clockwise, and elevated above adjacent letters.


The obverse crack is so severe the coin has 2 planes or 2 different levels

The shield on this variety is weakly struck from the dies not from wear.

No tail feathers at all

Misplaced A in STATES

[JRocco]

Here is an 1829 O-111a R2
I love this coin with it's nice old surfaces.
This marriage utilizes Obverse 6-s2 and Reverse H
Some characteristics include:
Obverse - The 9 shows recutting on it's left side and the mouth and lips are very open. The stars are usually drawn to the edge in this die state.
Reverse - The top of the 5 is recut and the tip of the upper arrow feather extends to the left. Many of the crosslines extend well to the left and right of the shield. The second and third A's (A2 and A3) are filled at the top.
Sorry about the scratched plastic. It is in a really old small ANACS slab


Look at this beautiful face...

[JRocco]

Here is a neat variety, the 1817 O-106a
This is known as the 1817 single leaf or the Comet Head.
Some characteristics of this variety are:
Obverse:  Heavy die defect ridge shows from top of her cap to the milling above star 8, resulting in this obverse being called the “Comet Head”. Low date has 81 much closer than 18 or 17. The upper forecurl forms a loop in front of the headband, and the mouth is open. Center dot shows on neck.
Reverse: Due to heavy lapping, the upper pair of leaves now only shows as a single leaf, the upper one. The bold horizontal die line protruding from the tip of the remaining leaf is the tip of the missing lower leaf. A die crack shows from the upper berry, through the left wing tip, gradually going upwards through UNITED  to the top of the D, and down through middle of the S forming a lump to the right of the S, and ending at the top of T.
This is a tough variety to hunt down and I am happy with this piece in my collection even with the obverse scratch and odd reverse toning that has a rubber band toning appearance.

[JRocco]

Here is the 1835 O-108 R3
This variety utilizes obverse 6 and reverse F
Some characteristics of this variety include:
Obverse - A fine semi-circular die crack can be seen near star 5 to star 10 with another crack at the base of the date. Star 11 is sharply recut at the upper 3 points.
Reverse - the 5 has a short straight top and the loop is nearly closed. The left side of the I in UNITED is recut with a shadow if the first strike to the left. There are short vertical rays usually visible from the rim near 50C and the lower olive leaves.

[JRocco]

Here is another 1828, this one is the 1828 O-112 R3
This variety utilizes Obverse 7 and Reverse J
Neat variety. This obverse has a square base 2 and small 8's with the numbers being thick and close together. For a comparison, the 1828 O-108 I posted earlier in the thread has a square based 2 with large 8's and the 1828 O-104  I posted has a large curled 2 with large slender 8's. Gosh I love this series of coins. On earlier die states there are several horizontal lines to the left of the 1 and between the end of the bust and the milling. These lines are commonly lapped off on later die states.
The reverse has die defect lines connecting the arrowheads and sports a nice recut C in 50C, this also is lapped off except in earlier die states.
My coin also shows a nice example of rusted dies/pitted dies with the result seen to the left of the arrow feathers and in between the birds talons.

[coinsarefun]

Gosh JRocco.....I keep learning more and more.
They are a very interesting series.
Thanks for posting them!

[rrantique]

[JRocco]

Thanks guys, you can see why it is so easy to get hooked on this series.
Here is a coin that I have had in the SB for probably the last 10 years and I only have this old set of pics of her. I have to dig her out to re-image one of these days. She sits in 35 plastic and is a nice example of an old dirty crusty CBH. This is the 1813 O-101 also known as the 1813 50C/UNI
The obverse on this variety shows a  broad 8, and the 81 is closer than 18 or 13.
The reverse is interesting on this variety.
John Reich started punching UNI from UNITED about 90 degrees off. It shows under the 50 C. Let me quote one of the bust nuts here "It is likely the error was caused because the die was upside down, with eagle’s feet at the top. Under magnification, Reich could easily have mistaken the lower arrowhead, which was then at the top, for the left wing tip. Reich’s eyesight was known to be failing him by 1813."
One of the fun varieties in this series.

[JRocco]

In reference to the 1813 50C/UNI it is important to remember a few things back then at the mint.
Sorry if this is boring, but it is important if you want to understand the way these varieties are made.
The Master Die (MD) that was used for the obverse only had an incuse "backwards" engraving of the bust of Liberty. Even the words LIBERTY were not engraved into this MD, it was only an engraving of her bust, face, cap and hair. In reverse of course. The reverse MD only included an engraving of the bird with a blank area for the shield as well as the scroll which did not include any of the lettering, E PLURIBUS UNUM.
This MD was used to produce the Master Hub (MH) by slowly turning it in a screwpress against a softened MH which then showed as a relief on the MH similar to a finished coin - it was raised not incuse and forward not backward. This work was done very carefully to protect the MD which was a very difficult, hard product to produce. Several MH's could be made from this one MD in future years.
These MH's were inspected and touched up with a graver or chisel if needed. The lettering LIBERTY on the headband and E PLURIBUS UNUM on the scroll were hand punched into the MH at this point.
The next phase involved pressing a softened Working Die (WD) on the screwpress which produced an incuse, backward die that still only included the face, bust, cap and hair of Liberty on the obverse WD and the incuse, backward bird and scroll on the reverse.
At this point the fun begins. In the early years Reich would begin adding the dentils...one by one. This was followed by then adding smaller devices, like the stars to the Working Dies. Remember that these were punched in backwards and one at a time. These sometimes had to be touched up a bit to sharpen the cavity and this leads to the common re-cut stars/date/letters etc often seen in this series. It is also because of this individual punching of the numbers, letters, stars that lead to all the wonderful varieties seen from one WD to the next WD.
It also shows why these dies were used even after they began to break or crack and why they were so often lapped or worked on after a strong clash which also led to interesting die states and further varieties seen in the series. A LOT of time and effort went into these dies and they wanted to get as much use out of them as possible.
While the stars and lettering may look to be very similar from WD to WD they are not. No two varieties are exactly the same. Close inspection will show that there are differences between every working obverse and reverse die in the series. Even the stripes and crosslines are hand punched into every working die. Look close at some of the examples posted in this thread and you will begin to see more and more examples of the hand work involved in producing these coins.
You can see how the discovery of a new variety or new WD makes the true collector base of this series go nuts with excitement not to mention the price of the coin go through the roof. Think about when you only have a handful of examples of a particular die that might be the result of die breaking after a strong clash early in the life of the run like on the 1817/4 variety.
There is a lot of discovery and history to be learned studying this series of coins and that is half the fun.

Edited to add - Some of the PUP's used to differentiate the different dies show the variations seen from one die to the next. I do not include all the diagnostic features when I talk about a variety because they are somewhat over the top for most but the avid collector. But to name a few commonly used PUPS.
Each star tip points to a specific area of the dentil...the center, lower edge, lower half or even between the dentils.
Look at star 7, it points to a specific location on the headband or hair curl.
Where does star 1 point? Star 8 ? Star 13?
Look at the relationship between the D in UNITED and the E in EPU.
Each of the A's in USA point to a particular segment of the dentil as the stars do.
Look at the relationship between the T in STATES and the I in EPU
Look at each line and stripe in the shield - they are in different places from one variety to the next.
This is some of what goes in to distinguishing one variety from another.

Just look at the last 2 examples I have posted.
Look at star 7 on the 1813 50C/UNI
The inner point of the star points to the center of the haircurl and it's distance can be measured.
Now look at star 7 on the previous coin, the 1828 O-112
The inner point of star 7 points to the junction of the haircurl and the headband and it's distance can also be measured.
This is because star 7 was hand punched into each die on each variety.
Cool stuff for sure. In fact it is fun being a variety nerd.