Another Ex-Gardner Half Dime by Electric Peak Collection

[CSJournals-migration]

Unlike some other recent acquisitions, this one is normal.

 

A couple years ago I posted about an 1861 half dime that I had gotten at auction. It is an example of the so-called 1/0 overdate, with the second 1 having extra raised metal that had been interpreted as remnants of an underlying 0. There are at least four 1861 obverse half dime dies that have this feature. It is now generally accepted that a faulty four-digit date punch was responsible, since the date digits and the supposed remnants of a 0 appear more or less identical in all four, with some variation due to strike or die state.

 

In a recent Gobrecht Journal (official publication of the Liberty Seated Collectors Club) article, half dime expert Stephen Crain identified the 1861/0 as the most overrated Liberty Seated half dime. In my own pursuit of half dimes, I have found this to be true. They are quite common, possibly even more common than the Normal Date varieties for the year. Despite that, the so-called overdate continues to command prices two to three times that of the normal date. What complicates this is that, among certified examples, many so-called overdates are not attributed as such, while some normal dates are improperly labelled as '1/0'. Neither of my two so-called overdate varieties are certified as such.

 

The one I got two years ago is graded MS66 by PCGS, and has a green CAC sticker. I am very pleased with that coin, and have had it in my main set. But I did not have an 1861 Normal Date, and of course I wanted one. Part 4 of the Gardner sale had a nice example, graded MS67 star by NGC.

 

I had been prepared to spend a quite a bit to acquire several coins from that sale. Having missed out on a couple targeted coins earlier in the session, some of that cash was still available. I wound up getting that 1861, and the pretty 1873 pictured in another recent journal. This 1861 Normal Date is now in my main set. The reverse is toned much like the obverse, pictured here.

 

Alan

 

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[jpcienkus]

Beautiful Half dime! Thanks for the background information as well.

[RWB]

Nice coin!

 

(The prongs are awful!)