1811 Caped Bust Half Dollar From Flea Market. $35

OK, here's a fun one. Anybody else like this for O-108?

O-108 is an Overton variety.

Ok thanks. That makes since. It is not actualy bent but just large in diameter. Is that good or bad?

Is that a 7070 album you are using? The pages look very similar to mine and mine is a really old one.

To verify whether or not its an o.108, I would immediately be looking at the lower right hand side of the right wing for a protruding spike. If it's there, it's an o.108...but too hard to tell from the pictures.

Very nice old Bustie, ssk!

Not a matter of good or bad, just a statement of fact. The capped bust halves had the edges lettered before striking and then were struck in what is called an "open" collar which means it did not fit closely around the planchet and so did not force the coins to be a consistent diameter. Every coin is slightly different is size because the final diameter was determined by the softness of the planchet and the force of the hand operated press. This is why the album makers have fits with these coins. Since every coin is a different size you can't make a hole that will fit the coin precisely. So they make a hole that fits the "average" size. When you get a coin that was struck a little harder than normal and it spread a little more they wind up damaging the hole trying to get it in.

That is one of the "charms" of collecting the early coinage, every coin is different. Different sizes and every die was hand punched to at least some extent so every die pair produced coins that were from every other die pair. Once the close collar and full die hubbing came along around 1836 the coins became "buttons" with very little difference between them.

Correct, the open collars that were used were useful to center the planchet on the die but did not constrain the coins expansion to a fixed size. (At least on the plain or lettered edge coins. The reeded edge early coins were a little odd. Their edges were not reeded pre-strike so the reeds had to be formed by contact with the collar yet I believe sizes still varied.)