Another nice AU coin for my variety collection

As I mentioned last time, while I wait for high quality examples of the coins I still need for my Liberty Seated Half Dime (LSHD) basic set, I will be looking for AU to low MS examples of half dime varieties. Kevin Flynn has published his new LSHD reference that lists varieties of the following types: repunched stars; doubled dies; overdates; misplaced dates; and repunched dates. He also identified several different date styles or mint mark sizes on coins of a particular date and mint.

In his list of dates for which the New Orleans mint produced LSHDs with different mint mark sizes, he did not include 1841, even though the Blythe book does. I have looked at several images of 1841-O half dimes in auction records on the Heritage website. In that small sample, it is clear that what should be called Small O and Medium O (0.8mm and 1.0mm height, respectively) were produced, in agreement with Blythe. I may look at more to see if any Large O (1.2mm) are to be found.

The reason I looked is that I had been watching an AU55 1841-O in a recent Heritage auction. It appeared to have a Small O. I wondered if that was the only size that year. When I confirmed for myself that it was not the only size, I decided to bid on it with the hope of adding it to my variety collection.

It took a fairly strong bid, but I got it. Because I do not have a 'high quality' example for that issue, this coin will reside in my primary set until I do acquire a better one. As you might guess, I will be looking for one with a Medium O...

Here's a photo of the reverse. Happy collecting, and best wishes to all for the upcoming holiday season!

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