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LOT 1—1806 O.129 R.8 This die pair was unique until May 2010 when a 2nd example turned up, a cleaned VF that was immediately sold into the Overton Collection via your cataloguer. See photos here . The Discovery Coin offered here was uncovered in October 2005 when it appeared in an eBay auction conducted by Rich Sayre of California. Sayre acquired the unattributed coin a month before in a trade with Robertson Shinnick of Georgia. Shinnick owns a degree of fame from his wont to attend coin shows adorned in coat and hat bejeweled with holed coins of the world. This 1806 half-dollar came to him during the 2003 FUN Show. When he found a “better” example in 2005 he traded the old one to Sayre. Sayre’s eBay auction ended October 11, 2005. Only two bidders identified the coin as a potentially new die pair, David Hatfield of Oregon and Robert Zornes of Washington. Zornes is a part time dealer, well known to the bust half community. Hatfield is a collector and sharp-eyed eBay sleuth. Each sniped last second bids, raising the ante for this “suspicious” piece from $150 to $1,801. Zornes, who could not be certain the coin wasn’t counterfeit, had topped out at $1,776, a bid he deemed “patriotic.” Hatfield, more certain that he was on to something, stepped to the plate with a bid in excess of $7,000. He was pleased to prevail at a mere $1,801. His pleasure turned to ecstasy when he received and examined the coin. The reverse, as he thought, matched a known die, Overton’s Reverse L, appearing on the common 1806 O.116. The obverse was new. There was no evidence that the coin was anything other than a mint product. An ad hoc committee of Northwest collectors, including BHNC members Bill Nyberg, Tom Hartl*, Craig Mims and Steve Tompkins, met at a coin show in Willamette, Oregon on Saturday October 29, 2005. Hatfield brought his coin. Robert Zornes, the good natured under-bidder, drove down to see what he missed. After an exhaustive analysis there was unanimity: the coin was a new variety of 1806: reverse L married to a hitherto unknown obverse. Don Parsley was alerted. Sadly, he had already sent his revised (4th) edition of Overton’s standard reference to the printers. He was, however, able to get a loose-leaf insert, with photo, in the new edition that describes the “1806 O.129.” The coin is a holey wonder. The wear pattern matches a G-VG coin, the obverse showing less wear than the reverse. The hole and a couple of scrapes are of ancient origin. Students of the series will note that the die state of the reverse is later than the O.116. The obverse die is readily distinguished from others of 1806 by the distance of star 1 from the lower curls (unusually wide), the “crowded” cluster of left hand stars 1 through 7 and, especially, the close proximity of star 7’s inner point to the base of L in LIBERTY. What’s it worth? Open your AMBPR or visit Dave Rutherford’s web site. You will see that in 2007 and 2008 the unique 1806 O.128 (ex Meyer) and O.130 brought $72,600 and $40,250 respectively. The discovery example of the 1829 O.120, one of two known, ex Biggs/Meyer, sold for even more. *Hartl’s account of the meeting appears in the annals of The Willamette Coin Club and may be read here: http://www.pdxcoinclub.org/convention2005/bustHalf.html . LOT 2—1827 O.148 R.6+ Here is classic rarity from the capped bust series, comparable to the 1817 O.104, 1827 O.137 and 1831 O.120. Dan Thornhill discovered the variety in 1971. BHNC members honored Dan for his find, calling it the 1827 DT-1. Nearly 40 years later the population has grown to 16 or so coins. Steve Herrman’s latest AMBPR identifies seven examples that have appeared at auction or been sold via private treaty over the last 18 years. Grades of the coins extend from VG through choice XF; prices range from $8,950 to $14,300, the median being $12,100. Hatfield’s coin came to him unattributed via a 2007 eBay auction. You probably know that most 148s were struck from spoiled planchets, typically off center strikes or brockages. Double strikes are the norm! I’ve not been able to identify a previous strike on this example. The coin, in fact, is sharply impressed with high rims and well defined dentils, obverse and reverse. The coin is marred by short scratches in the left obverse field. An improvident effort was made to remove or hide the scratches, resulting in dense vertical hairlines in front of the portrait. Were it not for these defects the coin would lay claim to 2nd or 3rd in the condition census. The technical grade is XF 45, obverse burnished. Considerable luster survives on the reverse. The winning bidder will deserve congratulations for filling one of the most difficult holes in the series. TERMS OF SALE |
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