A 10th known example of the rare LM-5 die marriage of 1833 Capped Bust half dime has been authenticated and encapsulated by Professional Coin Grading Service.

PCGS certified the coin as Genuine, Very Fine Details, Damage.

According to a citation in the recent issue of the JRCS Newsletter — an emailed publication of the John Reich Collectors Society — the latest LM-5 example of 1833 Capped Bust half dime just changed hands.

The piece surfaced unattributed in a 2005 sale. When it surfaced, it was only the fourth LM-5 example to be identified. Recently, 18 years later, that LM-5 1833 half dime (now the 10th of the marriage to be certified) was submitted to PCGS for encapsulation.

The LM-5 die marriage as cited by authors Russell J. Lohan and John W. McCloskey in their 1998 reference, Federal Half Dimes 1792–1837, was discovered by Howard Barron and Tom Holland in 1987 and first described by numismatic researcher, collector and author Jules Reiver in Volume 2 Issue 3 of the John Reich Journal. The discovery coin was graded as About Uncirculated.

Assigned an R-8 rarity rating initially — Unique or nearly unique, one to three pieces known — based on the rarity rating chart in the Logan-McCloskey reference, the reporting of a now 10th known example bumps the rarity to R-7 — Extremely Rare, four to 12 known.

According to PCGS CoinFacts, the finest LM-5 1833 Capped Bust half dime known is the PCGS Mint State 62 example sold by Auctions by Bowers and Merena in 2002 as part of the Russ Logan Collection, where the coin set an auction record when it realized $9,200.

Federal Half Dimes 1792–1837, describes the LM-5 1833 Capped Bust half dime as exhibiting 134 border dentils on the obverse. A dentil is centered under the right serif of the digit 1 in the date. The second of 13 stars is rotated counterclockwise.

The reverse carries 114 border dentils. The scroll begins under the left edge of the upright of T in UNITED and ends under the left upright of M in AMERICA. The collar, the edge die, imparted 96 reeds.

Connect with Coin World:  
Sign up for our free eNewsletter
Access our Dealer Directory  
Like us on Facebook  
Follow us on Twitter