New Variety??-MyUS Assay Commission Medal 1869 AC-6 silver (stars) with AC-5 rev

[mimid]

Because of a die crack at star 5 after a few were struck the obv. was redone removing the stars which is AC-5 (no stars). Q. David Bowers notes that there are differences between the rev. of AC-5 and AC-6 most noticeable is the location of the foot of the "A" of ASSAY to the leaf on the left. As described in the ref. book by Julian and Keusch, the AC-5 rev. has the foot of "A" at the middle of the leaf to the left and on the AC-6 the foot of the "A" is at the top of the leaf.

 

The medal I have is the AC-6 obv. silver with the stars (first obv. die) but it has the AC-5 rev. with the foot of the A at the middle of the leaf (second rev.)

 

There is no reference to this die combo.

 

The four AC-6 silver medals I've been made aware of all have the normal AC-6 rev. as described by J/K. None like mine.

 

I’m aware that it was common during some years for special muled variety to be struck for collectors. However the differences between the AC-6 reverse and the AC-5 reverse is so minuet I’m having a hard time imagining a collector settling for it. I’m also unaware of any collector mulings of this year in silver.

 

Yes arcane, but there are very few of these and I'm hoping someone may know about these varieties. Do I have a new variety of this Assay Commission Medal?

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/mimild1/DSCN0969.jpg

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/mimild1/DSCN0965.jpg

 

[AegisIII]

I think it is a new variety, but you already knew that.

 

As to why or when it was struck, I don't know. There's no evidence that either reverse die failed, necessitating the other. I am unsure as to which variety was presented to the commissioners. (It was silver. J/K say AC-5. Both seem to be about equal in rarity. Both seem to be more rare (even when combined) than the stated mintage would suggest. That may mean something, or it may just be a reminder that my records are of course incomplete. Perhaps selectively so. I have no records of a silver medal with a case of issue. The weights of the known silver AC-6's are similar to the weights of the silver 1872-1874 medals, while the silver AC-5's are somewhat heavier. Does this suggest that the AC-6 was the original variety? Maybe, maybe not. I also have no idea as to the striking sequence of the four 1869 varities.)

 

As a final note, I would be very interested as to what your specimen weighs, as this could help figure out whether it was struck around the same time as the AC-6's. Perhaps you can see if NGC has the weight on record, or maybe crack it out.)

[mimid]

Ed.S.

Having an AC-6 obv. in hand to compare to high resolution photos of the AC-5 obv.is helpful.

The seated Liberty of the AC-6 has considerably more detail in the drapping of the clothes and the way the flatter areas of Liberty are treated than the AC-5. Although harder to compare between a coin in hand and a photo, it seems that Liberty on the AC-6 has a higher relief than the AC-5. If the AC-6 Liberty is in higher relief, removing more of the field, that may account for it's lighter weight compared to the AC-5 with less field removed. The better detail and higher relief of AC-6 may be an indication that the AC-5 obv. was done in more of a hurry than the AC-6 obv.

 

I'll see if NGC has the weight. If not I will crack it open, get the weight and post it.