Lot 2396

A wonderful example with faint orange and bright blue toning on the obverse. The reverse displays various tones including pale orange, lilac, light blue, and green. The surfaces have nearly full lustre with very slightly reflective fields. The careful observor will note just a few trivial abrasions.

This "overdate" variety, historically called 1822 over 1 is now in doubt. Many, including this cataloguer, believe the "overdate" is nothing more than a damaged punch. Dr. Ivan Leaman referred to the damage as "debris." This seems quite a fitting term. Much information regarding this variety and especially the date may be found in Bust Half Fever, a "buyer's guide" to the series by Edgar E. Souders and one of our favorite books. Although containing much information for the specialist, this is an important reference for more casual collectors as well, however, caution is advised. After reading Mr. Souders' tome, you may find that you have contracted the fever.

In 1822, the Mint produced 1,559,573 half dollars. Today, there are 15 die marriages known from 14 obverse dies and a like number of reverse dies. There is only one rare die marriage and two other scarce varieties. The first two varieties listed in Overton have traditionally been called overdates, however, it is now thought that they are not. Most likely, the feature that prompted the overdate nomenclature was simply a defective punch, much like that found on the 1802 quarter eagles, sometimes also called overdates. The Logan Collection includes one example of each die marriage. Also included is a uniface copper impression from an obverse die not otherwise used for coinage. In the November 1974 issue of the INumismatic Scrapbook,I Stewart P. Witham provided a compelling argument that this die was actually produced in 1822 and not at a later date. His argument, however, does not provide any indication of when the obverse trial piece may have been produced.

Perfect dies.

Leaman/Gunnet Emission Sequence for 1822 Capped Bust half dollars: O-103, (1821 O-107), 102, 107, 111, 101, 105, 104, 114, 108, 109, 105, 110, 106, (1823 O-108), 112, 113.