Walter Breen's Encyclopedia of United States and Colonial Proof Coins 1722-1989

Half Dime. V-1. Date high, slanting down to r.; shield point above r. side of upright of 1, skirt pendant between 4's. Sometimes shows traces of repunching on first 4. (1) Mint, SI, no. 1025 in Comparette. (2) Valentine. (3) WGC:234.

- V-2. Lower date, shield point about over center of upright of 1, pendant above crosslet of first 4. No repunching on date. (1) Eliasberg. (2) Bullowa, May 1952. (3) Valentine. (4) Boyd, WGC: 235, Adolph Friedman; 1946 ANA:60. (5) Believed the variety in LM 4/66:77, H.W., 1971 ANA:626, Reed Hawn: 600.

- V-3. Low date slanting up, shield paint above left serif of 1, pendant abover. upright of first 4; heavy date, 84 almost touch. Extra serif on left upright of 1, triple cutting on 8, double foot to first 4. Later states (including some business strikes) show only traces of doubling at top of 1 and base of 8. (1) ANS. (2) Eliasberg. Not to be confused with next. Cf. E. M. Wharton: 1073, unverified.

- B-4, not in V. Date first cut too low, then corrected, the repunching differently placed from V-3. (1) Ex this writer, NN 51 :558. Two others seen. Compare Cleneay:1692, W. L. Carson. That in Dr. Judd cased set has not been attributed, as it was only to be seen under glass in an exhibit hall not too well lit.

Dime. *B-2. Shield point between tip of serif and left edge of upright of 1. Date high, slanting up a trifle.Rev. Striae at ED. (1) SI, from Mint. (2) Dr. Judd cased set. (3) LM 4/66: 139 at $700, H.W., 1971 ANA:663 at $1,250. (4) Dunham: 171, possibly from Parmelee: 1157, Mills: 1137. Barely possibly same as preceding or as following. (5) Brand - Lichtenfels II: 2996, QS 9/73:731, Joe Flynn. (6) Another last seen in Lester Merkin's hands. Others are reported. Proofs of this issue bring much more than those of other years which are actually rarer in this state, even as top grade business strikes exceed rarer ones of 1846. This inequity is due almost entirely to one Frank C. Ross, Kansas City small-time dealer, hoarder, and hack writer, who publicized the 1844 dime as an alleged rarity during the 1940's, even unto burdening it with the name "Little Orphan Annie" -possibly because her sententious gems of reactionary wisdom appear to date from about 1844.

Quarter. Shield point about over left edge of 8. (1) SI, from Mint. (2) Ex Dr. Judd cased set. (3) "J.H. South" :507. (4) LM 6/71:717. (5) One other impaired piece seen years ago, but I have long since lost track of it. "Ships that pass in the night ... "

Half Dollar. Normal date. (1) SI ex Mint? (2) Dr. Judd cased set. (3) A drastically cleaned piece I was offered, and refused, about 1954. (4) One I owned about 1953, also cleaned. (5) Brand-Lichtenfels I: 2816, impaired, possibly same as one of last two. Wayte Raymond knew at least three, only one of them likely to duplicate the above, so probably at least two others are salted away in estates or private collections.

Silver Dollar. *B-l. Date slightly above center (on business strikes it is lower); normal stripes (on business strikes they are quadruple). Shield point about over tip of serif of 1. Rev. of 1842. (1) Waldo Newcomer owned one which had been sold to him with the claim that only three were known. This is probably some dealer's dream that got into print (though perhaps not in the way the dealer might have wished), but - if we exclude impaired coins - for once the truth is not too far from the claim, or vice versa. Believed later Boyd, WGC: 132, Adolph Friedman, 1949 ANA:221, Kern:814, Golding: 235. (2) Haseltine Type Table, R. Coulton Davis, DavisGraves :1342, rev. field nick, cleaned, possibly Cass, "Empire":1726. (3) Mint, SI. (4) Dr. Judd cased set. (5) "From a proof set," Hollywood FPL, Austin:56, $4,100. (6) Garrett:260, F. G., $2,600. (7) Amon Carter Sr. & Jr., believed ex Geiss: 338. (8) Col. Green, Roe:440.

"Dupont" :2519, to G. K, is doubted, as it is from the same dies as business strikes.

Silver-Minor Proof Sets. (1) Mint, 1844, Stickney: 1788 ; half cent original, cent and dollar proofs, others uncirculated - reflecting carelessness or confusion on the part of mint employees. Probably no longer intact. If in one set of seven pieces furnished as proofs, four were business strikes, this makes more understandable the old practice of breaking up sets and placing the individual coins into date sequences by denomination. (2) Ex F. K Saab, Feb. 1945, at a then high $550, "in original holder," not described, not seen. (3) Another set lately broken up, of which the half dime and dollar (proofs) went to a Hollywood firm; not the Stickney set, as the half dime was a proof.

Quarter Eagle. Date far left, 1 touching bust. (1) Mint, S1. (2) The cased set described below. (2) Newcomer, Boyd, WGC:111, "Memorable":104.

Half Eagle. Date far left, peak of 1 microscopically out from under end of truncation. (1) Mint, S1. (2) Cased set described below. (3) Newcomer, Boyd, WGC: 395, "Memorable": 345.

Eagle. *B-1. Low date slants up to right. (1) Mint, S1. (2) Cased set described below. (3) Newcomer, Boyd, WGC:649, "Memorable":547.

For the 1844 0 mint half eagle and eagle, ex Parmelee, Woodin, see the chapter Branch Mint Proofs, below.

Complete Proof Sets. (1) Smithsonian, from Mint collection; this set's coins have been separately enumerated above, some being drastically cleaned, possibly others traded away. (2) Dr. Judd formerly owned a cased set similar to the 1843 (was this the one known to B. Max Mehl and mentioned under Neil: 2292?). Now in a N.Y. state private collection.

1845

*Half Cent. Only the one variety; large berry reverse of 1840-44. Two proofs in museums (Smithsonian, John Hopkins), at least 10 or 11 in collectors' hands plus a single restrike (Brobston, at $725: see Restrikes and Fantasy Pieces), at least three of the collectible pieces. being worn. (1) Showers, proof. (2) Chapman, June 20, 1908 - Ryder -Wayte Raymond -"Dupont": 1139 (bought at the Ryder sale, June1954: 323, to fill a gap in the "Dupont" date sequence), to D. N. Proof, spot above head. (3) Eliasberg, proof, ex Chapman 4/95, Clapp. (4) Norweb, ex J. C. Morgenthau, 9/05. (5) Brock, University of Pennsylvania, C. J. Dochkus. (6)Wolfson: 32. (7) Ex W. L. Carson. Spot at M, possibly ex #5? (8) Boyd - NN 51: 1219, proof. (9) Eliasberg duplicate, Fine. (10) NN 54th sale, nearly EF, later in the hands of Cohen & Kreisberg and reappearing as "Century": 114. I have heard a report that one from the Yale University museum robbery, very dull proof, was handled by one of the fences at $550.

Cent. N-2. Two dashes and a line r. of Y; 8 4 apart. "Dupont": 850 to D. N., part of edge rounded. Pre-striking planchet chip near C of CENT. Has been doubted, but the surface is convincing enough.

- N-5. In date 84 touch; no lines near TY; dot on base of N in ONE, two minute spines from base of E in CENT, die file marks rim to UNIT. N. J. specialist, ex T. L. Elder, Feb. 6, 1915: 1752.

- N-8. In date 84 almost touch, recutting on part of upright of 4, curl point almost over extreme r, edge of 8, date below center of space. Newcomb mentioned the variety as occurring in proof, but I am not sure whether the coin he knew was the same as either of the pieces I have seen: (1) Earle:3562 - Hillyer Ryder - Wayte Raymond - NN 41:921 - Kagin - Philadelphia Estate. (2) Calif. Specialist, ex Wurzbach, Hines, Sheldon, Ernest Henderson, T. James Clarke.