Need Help With 1834 Bust Half O-103

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Author	Replies: 6 / Views: 1,261
bluesharktooth New Member United States 32 Posts	Posted 11/01/2015 3:21 pm I believe what I have is a 1834 half 0-103 variety. This has the large date and large letters. My concern is with the edge lettering. I know there are many different types and configurations of the lettering on the edge but mine clearly shows the "H" in "HALF" before and also overtop the "R" in "OR". Let me know your thoughts. Report this Post to the Staff

Coinfrog Bedrock of the Community United States 94367 Posts	Posted 11/01/2015 4:45 pm I am not a bust half nut, but I would say that this has been quite severely cleaned. Report this Post to the Staff
bluesharktooth New Member United States 32 Posts	Posted 11/01/2015 4:52 pm I figured that about the cleaning but thought the edge lettering was strange. I have not seen any examples where the letters or letter is out of sequence just missing of doubled. Report this Post to the Staff
paralyse Bedrock of the Community United States 12057 Posts	Posted 11/01/2015 5:38 pm The edge lettering was applied by rolling planchet blanks through two parallel steel bar presses, each of which impressed one-half of the edge lettering, and also provided the rim (prior to the use of the rim-upsetting presses starting in the 1830s.) Depending on how the blanks were being handled as well as issues with the press the lettering could be missing entirely, overlapping, upside down, half right and half backwards..etc. etc. That's one of the main reasons they switched to reeded edges on silver coins in the years shortly after your Bust -- equally deterrent to clipping as lettering, but far less difficult to produce on coins, and much less noticeable if the reeding was a bit off. Member ANA - EAC - TNA - SSDC - CCT #890 "Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done." -- Louis D. Brandeis Report this Post to the Staff
AcesKings Pillar of the Community United States 1627 Posts	Posted 11/01/2015 7:16 pm As paralyse said, its fairly common for the castaing machine (edge lettering) to get misaligned and either miss or overlap several letters. Here's one I have that completely missed the word "HALF" so the edge says "FIFTY CENTS OR A DOLLAR" Report this Post to the Staff
bluesharktooth New Member United States 32 Posts	Posted 11/01/2015 8:16 pm Nice piece. Is this something that is more common than not? Are there more out there of this variety type than those that are correct? Does this add anything to the value, take away or have no effect? Report this Post to the Staff
AcesKings Pillar of the Community United States 1627 Posts	Posted 11/02/2015 4:06 pm Out of the ones I have, it seems to be less common than the normal edged ones. It doesn't add any value, just a random glitch in the castaing machine not resetting right. There are some (I've heard) that have the lettering doubled or tripled (run through more than once I believe) that can add a little premium. Report this Post to the Staff
	Replies: 6 / Views: 1,261

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