What's Your Favorite Classic Coin Variety That You Own?

i have a couple I like a lot.

this is an 1800 Half Dime. die variety LM-5. this is the only known example of that die marriage. I discovered the variety.

here is a link to the thread I started about this coin http://goccf.com/t/429293


this is a 1793 chain cent. it has a silversmith hallmark stamped on the obverse. that silversmith was in operation in newhaven connecticut until the earliest part of the 1800s.



here is a link to a thread about the chain cent: http://goccf.com/t/430207


this is 1850 large cent. variety A-5 (N-5). it was part of some significant collections and is the reference coin used for all of the books below.


here is a link to a thread about the 1850 http://goccf.com/t/431771

I like this one because Wiley and Bugert conducted a study of the 1861-O half dollar die ejection sequences and determined that this W-104 variety can be attributed to the time period when the Confederate States of America (CSA) occupied the New Orleans Mint.

1861 was a consequential year at the New Orleans Mint. The New Orleans Mint operated continuously from 1838 until January 26, 1861, when Louisiana seceded from the United States. On January 29, the Secession Convention reconvened at New Orleans (it had earlier met in Baton Rouge) and passed an ordinance that allowed Federal employees to remain in their posts, but as employees of the state of Louisiana. On February 5, 1861, during the proceedings of the Convention of the State of Louisiana in New Orleans, the committee appointed by the Convention to take an inventory on February 1, 1861, of public property in the hands of the officers of 'the late' Federal government reported that the Sub-Treasurer's vault at the mint contained $483,983 in gold and silver coins. The National Archives records in Rockville, Maryland, indicate the $483,983 consisted of $308,771 in gold coins and $175,212.08 in silver coins. The only gold coin produced in January, 1861 was the $20 gold double-eagle. This means 15,438 $20 gold coins were minted by the New Orleans Mint during January, 1861. Mint coinage records for the $20 1861-O gold double-eagle indicate only 5,000 $20 gold pieces were minted by the Federal Government in January, 1861. This discrepancy is explained in a Numismatist Journal article.[23]

In March 1861, Louisiana ratified the Constitution of the Confederate States and the Confederate government retained all the mint officers.[24] They used it briefly as their own coinage facility. The Confederates struck 962,633 of the 2,532,633 New Orleans half-dollar coins dated 1861.[25] Research suggests that 1861-O half dollars bearing a bisected date die crack ("WB-103") and 1861-O half-dollars with a "speared olive bud" anomaly ("WB-104") on the reverse had been minted under authority of the Confederacy.[26] Confederate officials designed alternate reverse dies which they used to strike their own half-dollars in New Orleans (see image). The exact number of the half-dollar coins struck by the Confederate mint with the alternate reverse is unknown; but only four are known to exist today. One of them, which was sold at auction for a large sum, had once been owned by Jefferson Davis, the only President of the C.S.A.

Confederate minting operations continued from April 1 until the bullion ran out later that month. The staff remained on duty until May 31, 1861.[27] After that the mint was used for quartering Confederate troops, until it was recaptured along with the rest of the city the following year, largely by Union naval forces under the command of Admiral David Farragut.

Although I have since upgraded the specific coin in my 7070 album to a better quality example of the same year, I've kept my original coin as well since I really like the fact that it has "1/000" as the denomination instead of the "1/100" found on other varieties (including the one I now have in my 7070 album):



Here is my replacement coin for comparison:



[The primary reason for the upgrade is because the obverse of the first coin is very worn compared to the replacement. I realize the reverse isn't that much better.]

i like those too.

they were compensating the mint employees with a rum ration during that time. I know that if I were engraving (in reverse because its a die) on a friday while consuming my rationed rum I think I might make some errors too.

here is the three errors reverse. it has a 1/000 fraction, a missing stem on the wreath and a U over inverted U punched at the beginning of United. the M in aMerica is also boldly re-punched bur for some reason that error gets ignored.


there are a number of fun varieties like that. here is the "statesof" capped bust dime. found in 1814 and 1820.


the early mint wasnt a terribly professional outfit.

1831 N-12 large cent with the "Harpooned Whale" Cud is a fun one.


edit to add that I dont own this coin. its a really fun variety though so I hope thats ok.

The 1807 "Comet" Large Cent in my 7070. Sheldon S-271.

I was lucky to find it at a show. Since I could not afford a high grade example for that hole I was going to buy something fun!

Honourable mention coin #2 from my 7070.

1835 Capped Bust quarter Dollar

B-5, known for the shattered obverse die.