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

1839 O Half Dollar. Repunched mintmark, Beistle 2-Aa (the variety usually seen and forming the majority of the large hoard which drove up the prices on this popular mintmark). (1) Boyd, WGC:411, Allenburger, R. E. Cox:1875. (2) Philip G. Straus (1951), dies aligned - is this constant for these proofs? (3) Krouner, LM 2/71:736 - is it same as (1)? (4) Private collection. These proofs have the same striking quality and surfaces as the 1838 O half dollars.

1844 O Half Dime. Atwater: 1193. Unverified.

1844 O Half Eagle. Parmelee: 1152, Woodin, various intermediates, later history uncertain. Believed to be the piece now in a Texas pvt. coll., though one other is around in a plastic holder identifying it as the Parmelee coin. The Texas piece is even more convincing. In the Parmelee catalogue was the notation "As it is allowable to strike proofs only at the Philadelphia mint, it would seem that [these two] must be extremely rare."

1844 O Eagle. Parmelee:1151, Woodin, since untraced, occasion unknown.

1845 O Half Dollar. Double date. Newcomb 11:856. Not seen, but if Newcomb called this a proof, it must be something quite extraordinary. Newcomb's criteria for proofs exceeded the mint's own. On the other hand, if the label originated with MacAllister while he was drunk . . . . .

1851 O Trime. 1976 ANA:482, $7,500. I did not see this. Occasion obviously the new denomination.

1851 O Half Dollar. Represented by 1975 ANA: 586, poorly cleaned, possibly ex Col. Green, Mason Williams?

1852 O Half Dollar. Drastically repolished dies, foot not supported, rev. upper part of first red stripe and lower part of third attenuated. Die file marks between UNIT and wing, leaves and wing, arrows and wing and final A. (1) Krouner, Merkin 2/71:755. (2) A-Mark, 1972. (3) Pvt. coll, All three poorly cleaned.

1853 O Eagle. Very low date slanting up to r. Rev. o above center, much nearer feather tip than claw. LM 3/69:421, where called a presentation piece.

1854 O Half Dollar. Date slants up to r., 54 touch. Reed Hawn:183, $1,300, unverified.

1854 O Quarter Eagle. Ronnie Carr, unverified but I trust his judgment.

1856 O Half Dime. Unattributed. Unusually broad flan. Wayte Raymond, NN 33:464. Occasion unknown. I saw the piece and thought it very remarkable at the time, but Wayte and I preferred not to list it then in the Standard Catalogue as our policy then was to confine such listing to coins either documented or made for known occasions.

1857 O Half Dime. Unattributed. Golden 1:921, unverified.

1859 O Dollar. "Heavy mintmark, placed high." (1) Amon Carter Sr. estate, ex Roe:523, Kern:912, unverified. (2) "Newport" sale, $1,450, unverified.

1860 O Half Dime. Thin mintmark, unattributed. (1) "Dupont": 1411, beautifully sharp, perfect surfaces. (2), (3) Ex this writer's collection, in 1950's, in one instance offered as a Philadelphia coin! The dealer had failed to notice the mint mark.

1860 O Dollar. Garrett:278, $1,050. I did not see this coin. Cf. Roe:525.

1861 O Half Dollar. Beistle 2-C. (1) Mass. Hist. Society, S 3/73:603, $3,000. (2) J. A. Stack estates:494, $3,400. (3) Ex V. L. Arrington ca. 1956. (4) One I formerly owned, possibly same as (3). (5) "Dupont":2168. (6) R.E. Cox:196, possibly same as (3) or (4). One of these, possibly (2) or (3), is believed to have been Col. Green's, the only one known to Beistle. All are of similar quality to Philadelphia proofs, even to knife-rims.
For the Confederate proofs, see the following chapter.

1879 O Dollar. [12] Struck Feb. 20, 1879 on reopening of the New Orleans Mint as a coining facility. Two seen; neither would ever be questioned by a collector seeing only the obverse! They compare well with Philadelphia proofs; they are among the most carefully made New Orleans proofs. They were first reported in Coin Collector's Journal about 1880, the listings continued for several years in pocketsize vademecums for collectors, but afterwards listings were dropped and the coins forgotten. One is in SI, the New Orleans Mint Superintendent having presented it to the Mint Cabinet. Two others are in private hands, one reportedly bringing $7500 (imp.) in RARCOA 1973 CSNS sale, the other Kagin 'Sale of the 70's': 1342 at $8250.

1883 O Dollar. [12] Made for presentation to officials of some local celebration, possibly having to do with the cotton industry, though equally likely having to do with the establishment of Tulane University as the State University of Louisiana. The Superintendent of the New Orleans Mint called them proofs in AJN, 1884, p. 46. The only one I have seen "carries its own credentials" like the 1879. I authenticated it for Harry Forman about 1964; it reappeared in HR 11/69:1136 at $1,600. A possible duplicate, nicked up, is - or was -in the Amon Carter Sr. estate, per Mehl's ms. catalogue (1955). Cf. 1942 ANA: 65; 1950 ANA: 858A.

1890 O Dollar. "Dupont":2592.