Haseltine Type Table

[Robert]

Another Coin World item:

In around 1881, J. Colvin Randall of Philadelphia cataloged the varieties of Capt John Haseltine's half dollars that were to appear in an auction catalog.

I wonder if this was the earliest evidence of variety collecting? Are variety catalogs known before that time?



PS this is my 100th post!

[coppercoins]

No. I have two much earlier publications. I have an RPM book published in 1961, and a large book about the "errors" of the Lincoln cent published in 1967. Doubled dies and repunched mintmarks were at least mentioned in guides as early as 1950.

Frank Spadone, although with a complete lack of understanding as to what he was cataloging, did so with doubled dies and RPMs in his books back to the mid-1960s. He called the RPMs after what they roughly resembled, like D over L, or D over C "mintmark oddities". He had no clue what they were, but he listed them anyway.

[Robert]

Chuck,

That catalog was from 1881. It supposedly listed half dollars (bust type?) varieties.