Bill Jones' Early Half Dimes
1800 LIBEKTY

Owner Comments:

This is the "odd and curious" die variety that appears to have word “liberty” that appears above Ms. Liberty’s profile spelled as “LIBEKTY.” The anomaly resulted from the use of a defective “R” letter punch that was broken at the top.



This coin, which is listed in the Federal Half Dime die variety book as LM-3, is rated as a rarity 4. That means that the estimated surviving population is between 76 and 200 pieces. I believe that this piece falls into the middle of that range. Although it is viewed as a “fairly common” variety in the early half dime series, one does not see a large number of these piece offered at auction or at major coin shows.



The flat spot noted on the reverse by the eagle's beak is not a defect. It is a die injury, which appears on virtually all of the examples that I have seen of this variety.