I need help understanding the language!

[jtryka]

Can anyone shed some light on some of the lingo associated with early coinage? I've been collecting coins for a long time, and I know a lot of the basics for Bust and Seated coinage, but as I start to tackle bust halves, I have come across a lot of numbers and shorthand that I just have no clue about. For instance, here is a description of lot #813 in the Heritage FUN Bullet sale that I was interested in:

 

1807 50C Large Stars, 50 Over 20 VG8 ANACS. O-112, R.1. Pleasing, original, gray tinged color envelops both sides. This is an evenly circulated example with no singularly distracting abrasions.

 

I know the O-112 is the Overton number, but I have no clue how that system works (I am ordering the book though), or the R.1, not a clue on what that means either. If anyone would care to enlighten me, I'd sure appreciate it!

[PQSeated]

I also would like to know these numbers, what they mean, and how they work.

[Tradedollarnut]

R-1 is the rarity. Extremely common.

[jtryka]

How does this rarity scale work? I have heard there are a few different scales, does this one go 1-10? 1-7? What do each point on the scale represent?

[EVillageProwler]

1807 50C Large Stars, 50 Over 20 VG8 ANACS. O-112, R.1. Pleasing, original, gray tinged color envelops both sides. This is an evenly circulated example with no singularly distracting abrasions.

 

Ok, I'll see if I can be of help here...

 

The ``1807 50c Lg Strs, 50/20'' is the Red Book variety. The ``O-112'' is the Overton variety designating the die marriage for that date. For each date, the numbering starts with 101. Sometimes, there will be a letter following the number. E.g., O-101a. This indicates die state ``a'' of the O-101 marriage.

 

The ``R.1'' indicates the rarity factor. There are several rarity scales, this one going from R.1 to R.8, with R.8 being the most rare. The biggest complaint about this system is that R.1 isn't granular enough. Just about all Morgan Dollars, Lincoln Cents, etc., are R.1. The ``R'' rarity scale is the oldest, most popular, and also only useful for Bust coinage.

 

Depending on the series, most people consider R.4 and better to command a price premium. For some series, the premium kicks in at R.5.

 

The comment about ``original'' is important because most Bust coins have been cleaned. The services know this, and are realistic of this fact.

 

The comment about this being ``evenly circulated'' is there because the manufacturing process those days were much poorer than today. Oftentimes, the planes of the dies would not be parallel. This would cause uneven strikes, where one side of the coin would have more detail than the other.

 

The comment about the abrasions is there because coins that old suffer much at the hands of time. Plus, many of them come with adjustment marks. This specimen, apparently, is ok. Perhaps it's ok because it's only a VG coin.

 

Hope that helps...

 

EVP