For the silverbugs - Silver half dollar pics
 

For the silverbugs - Silver half dollar pics

For these first two I used the reference book Early Half Dollar Die Varieties 1794-1836 by Al C. Overton, third edition 1990. I bought this book seven or eight years ago. There is a newer edition but I haven't seen it. Amazon-dot-com had two old ones in used condition. If you are near a large library, you may be able to borrow a copy. This book has two or three large pictures on almost every page. Some pages are full page illustrations.

Al Overton wrote the first edition in 1967. After counless years of research, he identified 839 different die varieties used on half dollars during the 42 year period.

In the early years, dies for coins were made by hand and were used until they wore out. Many years there were more than a dozen distinguishable different die combinations.

He began each year calling a common die combination as O-101, Then started calling each new variety he discovered O-102, O-103 etc.

He also ranked die combinations by rarity on a scale of 1 to 8, with 1 being common and 8 being extremely rare.


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This first coin is a Bust Half Dollar, 1822 over 1 in AU58. There is just a slight amount of wear visible on the high spots in the hair by the Y in LIBERTY, on the eagle's head and top edge of the wings.

Look closely at the date. Back in the early years, if an 1821 die wasn't worn out, they punched a 2 over it and kept using it in 1822. The second 2 looks distorted because it is covering the 1.

Overton found two varieties of 1822/1. This coin is the most common, has a rarity of 1, and it is called 1822/1 O-101 R1. The other variety is 1822/1 O-102 R4. It is a rarity 4. It has an even larger and more distorted second 2 and some of the stars are in different locations.

Re: For the silverbugs - Silver half dollar pics
 

This coin is a Bust Half Dollar, 1833 in AU50. There is wear on the high spots of the hair in several places and the eagle's head and wings.

Overton call this one 1833 O-108 R1. Notice that the 50 C. on the reverse looks quite different than the 1822.

Re: For the silverbugs - Silver half dollar pics
 

Progress came to the mint in 1836 with steam presses. The additional pressure allowed them to put reeded edges in the coins for the first time.
Only 1200 reeded edge halfs were made in 1836 and they are very rare.

This 1837 in MS63 is one of my favorite half dollar types. Only in 1836 and 1837 did a half dollar say "50 CENTS" on the back. All other years say "50 C." or "HALF DOL." or "HALF DOLLAR".

Re: For the silverbugs - Silver half dollar pics
 

This is a Seated Liberty Half Dollar, 1879 in Proof 63. It has nice luster but is marred by smoky uneven toning. There are no unsightly nicks and it has a good strike. Looking at it with a 10X loupe, you can see slight pitting where the dark toning is, and that knocked the grade down a few points.

Re: For the silverbugs - Silver half dollar pics
 

Here is a 1940 Walking Liberty Half in Proof 66. This coin actually has great luster, but the scanner focused on the toning. The obverse has a great strike and only a few small nicks on the high spots. The reverse has no unsightly nicks and only a little strike weakness on the E.PLURIBUS

Re: For the silverbugs - Silver half dollar pics
 

1945-D Walking Liberty Half. A nick in the TRUST and another in the field near it probably brought this down from a 66.

Re: For the silverbugs - Silver half dollar pics
 

Nice pics. Thanks.

Re: For the silverbugs - Silver half dollar pics
 

1946-S Walking Liberty Half in MS66. This is the definition of cartwheel luster. This coin is so shiny that the scanner sees a dark O from reflections around the center of the coin. If you hold the coin in your hand, all you see is brilliant luster.

Re: For the silverbugs - Silver half dollar pics
 

Re: For the silverbugs - Silver half dollar pics
 

Thanks Ross!!! :adore: :adore: You've got quite a knack for coin pictures....are you and Tom related?

BTW....off topic kinda...I noticed your coins (the ones you've shared with us) are all NGC. I've also noticed recently that for same grade, same type....PCGS sometimes commands hundreds of $$$ difference!! Do you feel that it'll make a difference at all years from now, or is PCGS just distancing themselves so far from the pack that NGC and ANACS will never catch up??

Thanks again, and keep up the great work.:D

Re: For the silverbugs - Silver half dollar pics
 

Great pictures, but in my opinion, the Franklin is forever the show stealer of the halves.

Re: For the silverbugs - Silver half dollar pics
 

feel free to post some pics

Re: For the silverbugs - Silver half dollar pics
 

Just awesome halves. The Bust and Seated halves are my favorites, but they're all top quality. Man, that proof 1879 Seated Half...

Re: For the silverbugs - Silver half dollar pics
 

Don't know how ...........

:Sorry:

Re: For the silverbugs - Silver half dollar pics
 

Re: For the silverbugs - Silver half dollar pics