Full Metal Digger
12-18-2011, 01:01 AM
Hey diggers,
Last weekend I found an 1838-O seated liberty half dime. It is the oldest coin I have found in 3 years of MDing. I did some research and learned some interesting facts that I would like to share with you.
1838 was the first year the New Orleans mint operated. Until then, all U.S. coins had been minted at Philadephia. When the 1837 seated liberty coins were minted at Philadelphia, there were no stars on the obverse.
It was decided in early 1838 that 13 stars would be added to the front of the coin to represent the original 13 colonies. Since the 1838 dies had already been produced without the stars it was necessary to hand-punch the stars onto the dies.
The dies that were sent to the New Orleans mint in May were the ones without stars. By the time word reached the New Orleans mint that the design of the coin had been changed, it was too late. 70,000 half dimes had already been minted and released into circulation! Meanwhile, the Philadelphia mint produced 2.2 million half dimes (with stars) for 1838.
Of the 70,000 minted in New Orleans, it is estimated by the PCGS that only 200 examples in all grades survive today. The PCGS rates this coin as very rare.
Now that I learned all the history of the coin, it is that much more special to me! I hope you enjoyed learning the history of the 1838-O half dime as much as I did. I guess the PCGS is going to have to update their records to show 201 examples of the coin survive! Thanks for looking and HH to all, Dave.
http://i997.photobucket.com/albums/af95/daddydigger1/IMG_0263-1.jpg
Last weekend I found an 1838-O seated liberty half dime. It is the oldest coin I have found in 3 years of MDing. I did some research and learned some interesting facts that I would like to share with you.
1838 was the first year the New Orleans mint operated. Until then, all U.S. coins had been minted at Philadephia. When the 1837 seated liberty coins were minted at Philadelphia, there were no stars on the obverse.
It was decided in early 1838 that 13 stars would be added to the front of the coin to represent the original 13 colonies. Since the 1838 dies had already been produced without the stars it was necessary to hand-punch the stars onto the dies.
The dies that were sent to the New Orleans mint in May were the ones without stars. By the time word reached the New Orleans mint that the design of the coin had been changed, it was too late. 70,000 half dimes had already been minted and released into circulation! Meanwhile, the Philadelphia mint produced 2.2 million half dimes (with stars) for 1838.
Of the 70,000 minted in New Orleans, it is estimated by the PCGS that only 200 examples in all grades survive today. The PCGS rates this coin as very rare.
Now that I learned all the history of the coin, it is that much more special to me! I hope you enjoyed learning the history of the 1838-O half dime as much as I did. I guess the PCGS is going to have to update their records to show 201 examples of the coin survive! Thanks for looking and HH to all, Dave.
http://i997.photobucket.com/albums/af95/daddydigger1/IMG_0263-1.jpg