1854/1854 V-7 Half Dime

[RGT]

Occasionally I get a wild hair and buy a raw coin on eBay. In the last week I got three wild hairs. Two of the coins came today and this is the first one that I opened. When I get some pictures I will make a post about the second one.

 

This is an 1854 half dime that looked like an XF from the tiny pictures on ebay. They were likely scans and didn't show the surfaces well but for some reason I bid. When I first looked at the coin I thought it was a bit ligher than it should be but the surfaces looked nice. When I got it in better light and under a loupe I could see the hairlines from on old light wipe. Still, it looked like a decent coin and I didn't pay much.

 

Then I got out the reference books to see if there were any decent varieties for the date. At first I thought I had a V-3 with a repunched 1 in the date. Then I noticed the picture that Blythe had of an 1854/1854 which he said was unlisted. When the book was published it hadn't been given a Valentine number but has since been designated V-7. He mentioned that there was some speculation that the V-3 was a later die state of the V-7 that had much of the repunching polished off.

 

The latest LSCC half dime survey only had nine V-7s reported, but it is a relatively new found variety so I'm not sure what that number means. Here are some pictures with some close-ups of the date taken with different light angles.

 

[harvey8542]

Nice find (thumbs u

[EZ_E]

What a great eye! Nice pick up, Randy.

[RGT]

I thought I should add a marked picture to show where the doubling pick up points are for those that don't know where to look. I wish I could have gotten bigger pictures but that's the best I could do with my 100mm macro lens.

 

The more that I look in the Blythe book the more that I think this may be an earlier die state of the V-3. I think that I can faintly see some of these same bits of doubling in his V-3 picture and the numbers all appear to be in the same location relative to the rest of the design. But those more experienced than me have given it a new Valentine number so I can't argue.

 

I also posted these pictures on the half dime forum of the seated liberty dime site and I'm hoping Steve Crane will comment when he gets the chance.