This spectacular serial number 1 Black Charter Note represents a true miracle of survival.

Discovered earlier this year, it is the only serial number 1 Black Charter Note from any bank to survive, and is one of only three Original Series Black Charter Notes known to exist (Fr. 399).

It is the “A” position note from the first sheet of fives sent to the Red Oak, Iowa bank in 1873, and, as Peter Huntoon noted in his Bank Note Reporter story earlier this year, had obviously been saved by one of the signers.

Nothing is known of the note’s pedigree since the day it left the bank in late 1873 until it walked into a small Iowa coin shop earlier this year. The note quickly changed hands and the second dealer sent it to PMG for grading because of its attractive appearance.

Only when the note came back from PMG with the attendant fanfare did the second dealer realize that this was not only a serial number 1 example but was the only serial number 1 Black Charter example ever to be recorded.

Fortunately for collectors, it is a lovely as well as unique note, with great color, signatures, and eye appeal, fully, in our opinion, meriting its PMG assigned grade of Very Fine 25.

The Note will be auctioned by Heritage in the upcoming Long Beach Currency Sale in September as Lot 3502.

(Dana Point, California) — A previously unrecorded 1943-S Lincoln cent, erroneously struck on a bronze planchet and found in circulation by a teenaged collector over a half century ago, has been acquired by Rare Coin Wholesalers of Dana Point, California. The discovery coin now is certified as AU-53 by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation.

“The coin was found in 1944 by Kenneth S. Wing Jr. of Long Beach, California who was assembling a set of Lincoln cents at the time,” said Steven L. Contursi, President of Rare Coin Wholesalers (www.RCW1.com).

Wing became a prominent Southern California architect who co-designed the Long Beach Arena in the late 1950s. He passed away in 1996.

“When his heirs recently asked me to examine the coin, I doubted it was genuine. But then I got a magnet and was surprised when the coin did not stick to it. So, on behalf of Mr. Wing’s heirs I submitted it for certification,” Contursi explained.

“It’s delightful and amazing there are still examples of great numismatic rarities to be ‘discovered’ and reported to the hobby.”

Contursi plans to publicly display the 1943-S bronze cent at various coin shows including the upcoming American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money® in Baltimore and the Long Beach Coin, Stamp & Collectibles Expo in September. To honor the memory of the coin’s finder and the family that owned it for 64 years, he requested that NGC include the notation on the encapsulation insert label, “Kenneth S. Wing Jr. Coll.” (more…)

Heritage is pleased to offer the newly discovered ninth known specimen of the rare 1817/4 overdate half dollar to the numismatic community. ICG grades this piece VG8, and indicates on the insert the Overton variety, “9th Known,” and “Obv. Scratch.”

The discovery was announced in the December 17, 2007 issue of Coin World, that says a Colorado woman, who requested anonymity, received the coin from the dispersal of her father’s coin collection to her and her three siblings 10 years ago. She indicated that she received several silver dollars, as well as many foreign coins he obtained during his military service in World War II. She said she did not know how the 1817/4 Capped Bust half dollar came to be in his possession.

According to Coin World, the woman, who believed the half dollar might be something special, purchased coin reference books over the past eight years in an attempt to place a value on the coin. After turning down an offer of around $100 from a local Colorado Springs dealer, she took the half dollar to the headquarters of the American Numismatic Association in Colorado Springs, where she was referred to Independent Coin Grading (ICG) in Englewood, a suburb of Denver.

Donald Parsley’s 2005 rewrite of Al Overton’s United States Early Half Dollar Die Varieties, 1794-1836 indicates that a later die state of this variety (O-102a) has “… a die crack spanning the entire obverse, from edge above upper peak of cap and running downward across cap, lobe of ear, lower curl and just right of 7 to edge.” In addition to the current coin, three others are classified as O-102, and five as O-102a (see roster below)

The 1817/4 half dollar was first announced to the numismatic community in the October 1930 issue of The Numismatist, under the “Editorial Comments-Numismatic News” section. The commentary, entitled NEW VARIETY OF HALF DOLLAR OF 1817 REPORTED, says:

“E.T. Wallis, of Los Angeles, Cal., writes that he has recently discovered a heretofore unknown variety of the 1817 half dollar, the last figure of the date being cut over a 4. A number of half dollars of 1817 over ‘13 are known, but this is the first one over ‘14 reported, Mr. Wallis says. He also says the coin is practically Uncirculated and the overdate can be seen plainly. The reverse is also an unlisted variety, as both I’s in United and America have the lower ceriphs broken off diagonally toward the right, and the I in United also has the left side of the top ceriph broken off. The obverse shows a die break across the coin, starting from the border to the right of the figure 7 and through the ear and between B and E of Liberty to the top of the border. Mr. Wallis thinks the die may have been cracked when the 7 was cut over the 4 and the die may have been broken when the striking began. Howard R. Newcomb, of Los Angeles, and M.L. Beistle, of Shippensburg, Pa., both authorities on the half-dollar series, have examined the coin and pronounced it a hitherto unknown variety.”

Why were so few 1817/4 half dollars apparently minted? Part of the reason may stem from Wallis’ thought above that the die may have broken when the 7 was cut over the 4, which had been partially effaced by Mint personnel. We might speculate that this effacing weakened the die, causing premature failure after just a few strikings. In this regard, it is interesting to note that the 1817/4’s cousin, the 1817/3, did not have the 3 effaced, and was produced with a considerably higher mintage. (more…)