Discussion: 1820 Capped Bust dime, "office boy reverse" (WARNING: dialuppers) 0

[James_OldeTowne]

 

When I posted this coin on Monday, nobody happened to notice that this 1820 Capped Bust half is a little bit more "special" than a typical die-marriage for the date. (Admittedly, the image may be too small to attribute from.) It happens to be the whimsically-named "office boy reverse", so-called due to the plethora amateurish errors that can be seen on the reverse. This is not a rare die-marriage - in fact, relatively obtainable, but it is well studied because it reveals many of the problems encountered by the U.S. mint in the early years, when everything was done by hand.

 

I've owned a few of these over the years, but none this nice. I grade this coin EF-45+, virtually an AU coin with as much luster and attractive, original color as it has. Accompanying is a large scan of the reverse. I numbered a few areas of interest for discussion of some of my favorite points of interest regarding this fascinating die-marriage. Please feel free to contribute to the discussion!

 

1. The "D" from UNITED was originally punched much too far to the right. It was effaced and repunched in the correct location, but you can still see remnants of the original error.

 

2. T3 (the third T) sits too high in relation to the rest of the letters in STATES.

 

3. The O of OF was actually originally punched in correctly, but was then effaced and erroneously repunched too high! Notice how high it is relative to ES OF.

 

4. The F was originally punched correctly as well, but again, was effaced and erroneously repunched rotated a little counter-clockwise. You can still see a ghost image of the top right serif from the original punching

 

5. ME of AMERICA are blatantly joined, punched much too close together.

 

6. Overall, the letters in UNITED STATE OF AMERICA are poorly spaced, and there is particularly too much space between the C and A.

 

7. This particular example displays a nice die-crack from the olive branch to the denticles.

 

 

I cherry-picked this coin off a dealer who had it incorrectly attributed, which made it a pretty sweet deal. There are still really nice picks to be made out there, so keep looking!

[DC Dawg]

Now that's cool!

 

Scott

[23Pairer]

Great job on the explanation, it is truly educational. I love looking for errors; this opens another avenue for me.

[MikeInFL]

Great post, James. Thanks for the education.

 

Take care...Mike

[Hoot]

Whacky! Weren't the letters on the ribbon for the reverse motto also punched by hand? They are also quite unevenly placed.

 

Hoot

[Mozin]

Thanks for a very interesting and educational post. I never heard of this 1820 reverse, only wish it also occured on the Capped Bust Half. Still cannot believe my eyes when looking at your coin.

[bigmoose-migration]

James, very nice post. However, the Grand Daddy of all "Office Boy Reverses" is the Sheldon-56 variety 1794 Large Cent. I would post a pic if I were computer literate. You can find a nice image on coinfacts.com.

[TomB]

This is a terrific post for a variety I was previously unfamiliar with, you also did a wonderful job highlighting the various mis-steps in its production.

[prooflike]

that was really interesting, thanks!

[Amanda]

Wow! Very interesting, thanks for sharing!

 

-Amanda

[RWB]

A 15-year old thread? This one's ready for a bar mitzvah, or communion, or.....