E-Gobrecht
Volume 22 Issue 10 • Whole Number 261 • October 2026
Uniting collectors of Liberty Seated coinage since 1973
Liberty Seated Collectors Club
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National Officers President
Leonard Augsburger leonard_augsburger@hotmail.com
Vice President
Craig Eberhart craig@eberhart.us
Secretary
Jeff Pritchard PO Box 10771, Bainbridge, WA 98110 jjpsr2@gmail.com
Treasurer
Mike Rupert oldebullion@insight.rr.com
National Positions The Gobrecht Journal Publication
Greg Johnson (Editor/Publisher) lscc@lsccweb.org
E-Gobrecht Monthly Newsletter Michael Fleming (Editor) egeditor1891@gmail.com E-Gobrecht Layout Artist Maria Fanning New Membership Chairman Joe Casazza jsazza236@gmail.com
Education Director
John Frost john.frost@doubledimes.com
Advertising Director Jeff Pritchard jjpsr2@gmail.com
Team Leader - Regional Directors Ken Otto kenotto53@gmail.com
Director - Southern Region
John Lundsten john.lundsten@yahoo.com
Director - Northeast Region
Joe Casazza (email above)
Director - Western Region
[Open Position]
Director - Central Region
Dennis Fortier ricajun@msn.com
E-Gobrecht October 2026
Liberty Seated Collectors Club Mission To encourage, promote, and dispense numismatic knowledge of Liberty Seated coins; to cultivate fraternal relations among its members and all those interested in the science of numismatics.
LSCC website: www.lsccweb.org LSCC email address: lscc@lsccweb.org LSCC Membership Information: Dues are bargain priced at $30 per year and include 3 packed issues of The Gobrecht Journal, an award winning numismatic publication printed in glossy, full color. To join the Liberty Seated Collectors Club, for The Gobrecht Journal mailing address changes, or for other membership questions, please correspond with Jeff Pritchard, LSCC Secretary listed on this page. Articles, comments, or advertisements for publication in The Gobrecht Journal magazine may be addressed to Greg Johnson, The Gobrecht Journal Publication Editor. Submissions, correspondence, information and comments for this digital publication (E-Gobrecht) are actively encouraged from its subscribers and may be sent to Michael Fleming, E-Gobrecht Publication Editor. To be added as a “free” subscriber to E-Gobrecht or removed from the mailing list or to change your email address, please send an email message indicating your preference in the subject line to: egeditor1891@gmail.com.
Wanted: Submissions for this newsletter! Please consider submitting something for print. It need not be elaborate; it can be something as simple as a short note on a favorite coin, variety, neat find, happening at a coin show or local club, Liberty Seated coinage at auction, etc. If you are interested in it; rest assured, others will be too! Sharing information is a goal of this newsletter and you need not be an experienced writer to submit material of interest to others. “This is your monthly digital publication. It is what you make of it!” Please be sure to quote the E-Gobrecht and the LSCC as its contents are not copyrighted. Use its contents freely.
Liberty Seated Collectors Club
E-Gobrecht October 2026
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Stepping back in time to a bygone era of the Liberty Seated coin design period, both far and wide, and a little before & after...
Inside this issue
Welcome to the following new LSCC members this month: Jeff Hazlett #3110 Eric Roberts #3111 Jack Vitale #3112 Jeremy Maurer #3113 D. H. Kelly, Jr #3114 David Meeks #3115 There are currently 1505 active subscribers to E-Gobrecht and counting, including 350 local coin clubs across the country.
President’s Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 By Len Augsburger Beware of This Book! A Review of Liberty Seated Half Dollars for Beginners, by Roggie Mullis Clark III, 2026. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 By Dennis Fortier, Seated Half Society President Regional News: Fall Weather Arrives – Along with Many Important Regional Coin Shows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 By Ken Otto, Regional Team Director, LSCC #2674 Featured Article: Mysterious 1870-S Liberty Seated Dollar Appears at Recent Auction! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 By Michael Fleming, LSCC #2995
Cover image:
This month’s cover features the ultra-rare and mysterious 1870-S Liberty Seated Dollar Coin. This specific example hails from the F.C.C. Boyd Collection, and most recently appeared at an auction which closed on October 8th. Keep reading to learn more! Images courtesy of Heritage Auctions.
Seated Fest III Approaches – Exhibitors Needed! . . . . . . . . . . . 12 By Len Augsburger, LSCC #1271
E-Gobrecht’s
Info & Member Application:
22nd Year! 2004–2026
lsccweb.org The E-Gobrecht is an award winning informal electronic publication of the Liberty Seated Collectors Club (LSCC). The LSCC is a non-profit organization dedicated to the attributions of the Liberty Seated U.S. Coin series. The LSCC provides the information contained in this “electronic” e-mail newsletter from various sources “free of charge” as a general service to the membership and other subscribers with a numismatic interest. You do
not have to be a LSCC member to benefit from this newsletter; subscription to the E-Gobrecht is available on a complimentary basis to anyone. All disclaimers are in effect as the completeness and/or accuracy of the information contained herein cannot be completely verified. Contact information for LSCC and this publication can be found on the page 2.
Liberty Seated Collectors Club
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E-Gobrecht October 2026
President’s Message By Len Augsburger
Greetings to all readers of the October E-Gobrecht. As usual, many thanks to our editor Michael Fleming, who compiles our monthly musings on the Liberty Seated series. Fall is in the air, and the crabapple outside my office window turns more yellow each day, with red-tipped leaves appearing here and there. Naturally it makes me think of an original, toned Seated coin, and we can all be grateful that our coins don’t similarly “turn” on an annual basis – that would be bad! The LSCC is currently focused on our SeatedFest III event, which will take place at the FUN show in Orlando, January 7th-10th. We’ll have expanded exhibit space at the club table, in addition to programming at the FUN educational forum. Exhibit space is being claimed quickly, so if you have any interest in displaying a portion of your collection, this is the time to contact the club. This is not just an opportunity to exhibit, it is also a chance to confer with your fellow collec-
tors and consider changes you might wish to make to your collecting habits going forward. This social aspect is an underrated part of our club. I was speaking with a dealer this week and he remarked on the fact that we really have no idea how many collections are completely hidden. There are certainly good reasons for this, as many value their privacy highly, or they may live in regions where the collector population is sparse. But, for those who have the ability to attend to a large coin show, I would highly encourage such travel, and the January FUN show would be an excellent opportunity to do so. Not only will you see some great Seated coins, but you’ll also have an opportunity to get feedback and what’s working and what’s not working with your own collection. In the meantime, stay active with the online sites and your local shows, and I will “see” you back here again next month.
Monthly E-Gobrecht Newsletter Advertising Rates (Prices are per issue. All ads should include some Liberty Seated coins and/or related material.) Full Page $100 Half Page $50 Quarter Page $30 Inquires & Special Rates: Contact Advertising Manager Jeff Pritchard at jjpsr2@gmail.com Deadline: 25th of the month prior to month of issue For Advertising in The Gobrecht Journal, see contact above.
Liberty Seated Collectors Club
E-Gobrecht October 2026
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Beware of This Book! A Review of Liberty Seated Half Dollars for Beginners, by Roggie Mullis Clark III, 2026 By Dennis Fortier, Seated Half Society President Recently was found on eBay a book titled “Liberty Seated Half Dollars for Beginners” by Roggie Clark. I immediately purchased the book in hopes I could recommend it to newer collectors of the series. When it arrived, I dove right in and read it cover to cover in one evening. What follows are my thoughts on Mr. Clark’s work. The book is 117 pages in total. After several pages of Disclaimers, copyrights, and image credits, the introduction finally began on page 11. A brief history of the series with historic events that shaped the series follows. Mr. Clark then fairly accurately lists the basic design changes that happened during the Liberty Seated Half Dollar run. However, on page 28, and repeated on page 39, I ran into my first point of contention. He says, “…late in 1853 the Rays were removed…” (from the half dollar). The Rays were not removed in 1853 – they were removed in 1854. This may be a small point for knowledgeable collectors of the series, but this book is intended for beginning collectors of the series and could cause confusion. My next area of concern is Mr. Clark’s use of mintmark locations and descriptions from other half dollar series. This included a Denver mintmark that was never even used in the Liberty Seated half dollar series. The coins used in this mintmark section were a Barber half dollar, a Walking Liberty half dollar and a Franklin half dollar. Only the CC mintmark was from a Liberty Seated half dollar. This type of error is unpardonable.
I would love to include pictures…but I’m afraid Mr. Clark’s copyright notice would cause me concern. His photos are average, taking up too much of the volume of the book’s 117 pages with little benefit for the reader. By that I mean, he says little or nothing about the photos, shows few reverse images and no close-ups of designs or other important elements of the coins. His minimal grading section is too small and the photos too poor in quality to be of any real use to a novice collector. He mentions counterfeits in the marketplace and discusses some things to look for but provides the beginner with no photographic evidence to educate them on this important issue.
Conclusions
For beginning collectors of the Liberty Seated half dollar series this work offers little basic in-depth series knowledge. He offers no advice on where to go in order to further a collector’s knowledge (such as the LSCC website). Mr. Clark’s work is a fairly good basic beginner coin collector book with some good generic collecting advice; however, he demonstrates little actual series knowledge. His errors are regrettable and not helpful for beginners of the series. A more concise and better product could have been helpful to collectors looking to delve into Liberty Seated Half Dollars. I’m sorry to say Mr. Clark’s work doesn’t hit the mark. One final observation: The coin on the cover of his book is not a Liberty Seated Half dollar…but a counterfeit or copy Liberty Seated Dollar – remarkable.
Liberty Seated Collectors Club
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E-Gobrecht October 2026
Liberty Seated Collectors Club
E-Gobrecht October 2026
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Regional News: Fall Weather Arrives – Along with Many Important Regional Coin Shows By Ken Otto, Regional Team Director, LSCC #2674 Fall weather has made its presence known in many areas of the country, but not in the U.S. Gulf Coast region, where I happen to live most of the year. Many important regional coin shows are occurring during the fall season, and the LSCC regional team will be present at several of them. The rare coin market remains very hot according to most market participants that we talk to. Normally there are slow periods during the calendar year, but this year has proved to be an exception to this rule. It will be interesting to see if there is any noticeable slowdown in market activity during the fourth quarter of 2026. We continue to see high collector interest in Liberty Seated coins and attendance at most coin shows has been strong. The LSCC regional team participated in the Central Ohio Numismatic Association’s (CONA’s) Ohio State Coin Show which was held on September 4th5th at the Embassy Suites-Dublin, 5100 Upper Metro Place, Dublin, Ohio. Dennis Fortier and Ken Otto hosted the club table. Dennis made a presentation on collecting Liberty Seated half dollar varieties for fun and profit. The CONA coin show was very well organized, as usual, and we had a lot of interesting discussions with existing and prospective LSCC members. The LSCC regional team also participated in the North Carolina Numismatic Association Coin Show which was held on October 2nd-4th at the Cabarrus Arena & Events Center, 4751 Highway 49 N, Concord, NC 28205. The club table was hosted by John Lundsten, Rich Uhrich, and Dan Perkins. Rich conducted an educational presentation at the show. The team reported that the show was very busy both days and one former LSCC member joined again for 5 more years! Additionally, at least 5 other people took membership forms and indicated some interest in joining the LSCC online. The regional team plans to participate in the Pennsylvania Association of Numismatists (PAN) Fall
Alex Ash and Dennis Fortier at CONA.
CONA Staff Relaxing at the CONA Show.
Show to be held October 21st-23rd at the Monroeville Convention Center, 209 Mall Blvd., Monroeville, PA 15146. The club table will be hosted by Greg Johnson and John Frost. The LSCC regional team will participate in the Whitman Expos Baltimore Fall Expo to be held November 12th-14th at the Baltimore Convention Center, Hall A, B and C, One West Pratt Street, Baltimore, MD 21201. This appears to be the last Baltimore show for at least
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E-Gobrecht October 2026
John Lundsten and Rich Uhrich at Charlotte.
‘Dan Perkins’ Liberty Seated Half Dollars on Display in Charlotte.
a while as the next Whitman shows are scheduled to be held in Washington, D.C. and Raleigh, NC in early and mid-2027. The LSCC will conduct a club meeting at the Baltimore event to be held this November. The club table will be hosted by John Frost, Dennis Fortier, Joe Cazassa, Ken Otto, and others.
The regional team plans to participate in the New Hampshire Coin & Currency Expo to be held December 4th-5th at the Doubletree by Hilton Manchester Downtown, 700 Elm Street, Manchester, NH 03101. The club table will be hosted by Joe Casazza, John Frost, and Ken Otto.
Liberty Seated Collectors Club
E-Gobrecht October 2026
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Featured Article: Mysterious 1870-S Liberty Seated Dollar Appears at Recent Auction! By Michael Fleming, LSCC #2995 Editor’s Note: Heritage Auctions recently featured an ity. The 1870-S Seated Liberty dollar has long stood as ultra-rare 1870-S Dollar Coin in its GACC U.S. Coins one of the most enigmatic issues in U.S. coinage. None Signature Auction of October 8th-9th. Reprinted below, were reported in San Francisco Mint records as having with permission, is the description of the coin offered been struck, and no silver dollar dies were shipped to for sale, as well as the rather colorful – and still some- the branch mint from Philadelphia in December 1869, what speculative – history of the 1870-S Liberty Seated when the ordinary allotment of working dies was sent. Dollar overall. All text and images courtesy of Heritage Yet, nine examples of this “ghost” issue exist today in collectors’ hands. So, where did they come from? Auctions. The coinage of 1870-S silver dollars came about in For more information, please visit the auction listing at: https://coins.ha.com/itm/seated-dollars/1870-s- connection with the laying of the cornerstone for the 1-repaired-pcgs-genuine-vf-details-oc-1-jd-1-low- new San Francisco Mint, which was to encase a time capsule that would include a complete set of S-mint r7/a/1397-3440.s coins in production that year. However, there was a problem with the dies shipped to San Francisco in De1870-S Seated Liberty Dollar, VF Details cember: the gold dollar and three dollar reverse dies Only Nine Examples Confirmed had been shipped without the S mintmark (mintmarks Ex: F.C.C. Boyd were punched at Philadelphia before shipment, and the 1870-S $1 -- Repaired -- PCGS Genuine. VF De- branch mints did not have their own mintmark punchtails. OC-1, JD-1, Low R.7. Ex: F.C.C. Boyd. Os- es). Correspondence between San Francisco Mint Suburn-Cushing Die State a/a, as always for this ultra rar- perintendent O.H. LaGrange and Mint Director James
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Pollock, on May 14th, 1870, addressed the problem, and Pollock notified LaGrange that he was sending replacement dies. However, LaGrange’s cable had left a bit of ambiguity for the Mint Director, as Pollock was unsure if LaGrange needed new gold dollar dies or silver dollar dies (apparently not aware that no silver dollar dies had been sent to San Francisco). To cover all the bases, Pollock shipped to LaGrange two new, mintmarked reverse dies for both gold dollars and silver dollars, as well as three dollar pieces. LaGrange cabled receipt of the dies on May 28th. Much of this information is known thanks to the research of Nancy Oliver and Richard Kelly. However, this is where another problem for the existence of 1870-S dollars presents itself. By the end of May, 1870, the San Francisco Mint had two mintmark reverse silver dollar dies, and a reason for which to strike coins (the cornerstone ceremony of the new mint building). But there were no obverse silver dollar dies allotted to the branch mint. Another revelation, clears the water on this point. In United States Proof Coins, Volume III: Silver, John Dannreuther writes: “While attending the Houston coin show in December 1916, a discussion ensued about an ‘unreported’ 1872-S half dollar variety with a large mintmark that eventually was condemned as a modern counterfeit, as it combined an 1872 Philadelphia obverse and a San Francisco reverse that was not used until 1875. During the discussion of the 1872-S half dollar, the question was raised about whether the various mints ever shared an obverse die. This author related to Liberty Seated dollar expert Dick Osburn that the only way an 1870 obverse die could have been obtained in time for the San Francisco Mint cornerstone laying ceremony was to request the Carson City Mint to send one. With his reference collection available, the next day Osburn related that it only took him and John Frost five minutes to identify his Carson City obverse die number 1 as the die used for the 1870-S silver dollar! ... “The author then postulated that the silver dollars were the coins given to the dignitaries participating in the cornerstone ceremony. Osburn agreed, as nearly all the existing examples exhibit ‘pocket piece’ wear and not normal circulation wear. Another numismatic mystery solved! A dozen or so 1870-S silver dollars were
struck for the May 25, 1870 cornerstone laying ceremony and were distributed to the attending dignitaries! One can imagine that the Masons (especially the officers) in attendance would have been among those to receive a coin. After all, the laying of the cornerstone in the northeast corner is a Masonic tradition.” Further examination of these discoveries can be read in Dannreuther’s book, Oliver and Kelly’s articles, and on seateddollarvarieties.com. For the current examination, it is enough to have a broad understanding of the coinage of 1870-S dollars, their probable purpose, and why some pieces -- such as the current VF Details specimen -- are in the condition they are. This piece turned up on the numismatic scene in William Hesslein’s December 1926 auction of the Drake and Munro collections. It was acquired by F.C.C. Boyd, and more famously appeared in his World’s Greatest Collection, sold by Numismatic Gallery in 1945. The coin changed hands on many occasions through the 1950s and 1960s, but after 1967, it did not reappear until a Stack’s auction in June 1996. Later, it appeared twice in 2008 and 2009, and most recently was offered by Legend in July 2022. Its present offering is our first time handling this storied example of the rarest San Francisco silver dollar. The coin displays strong VF Details, with the fields on the obverse tooled to remove the initials F.H.I. that had been engraved before Liberty. The “repair” work is rough, but it is thankfully restricted to the fields. The Liberty figure and the entire reverse have merely the appearance of being lightly cleaned. Overall, the coin displays medium lilac-gray patina exceptionally strong detail on the central devices for the VF designation. There are only nine confirmed examples of the 1870S dollar known today. A 10th is believed to reside in the San Francisco Mint cornerstone to this day, and an 11th, unverified example was reportedly examined by dealer Sam E. Frudakis but has never been seen again. The current example, while impaired, is a member of an elite rarity, and a coin every advanced collection of silver dollars should have. The 1870-S Seated Liberty dollar is listed among the 100 Greatest U.S. Coins (#32 in the 6th edition). Thanks to Wayne Burt and Saul Teichman for assisting with this provenance. Ex: Drake and Munro Collections (William Hesslein,
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12/1926), lot 900; F.C.C. Boyd; World’s Greatest Collection (Numismatic Gallery, 5/1945), lot 271; Southern Sale (Hollinbeck, 2/1951), lot 1248; Earl M. Skinner Collection (New Netherlands 11/1952), lot 162; Charles A. Cass; Empire Collection (Stack’s, 11/1957), lot 1759; Emanuel Taylor-America’s Outstanding Collection of Silver Dollars / Hollinbeck-Kagin FPL (1959), lot 221, unsold; Quarter Millennium Sale, Part
III (Hollinbeck Coin Company, 3/1964), lot 519; 274th Sale (Hollinbeck, 11/1967), lot 1162; Ancient, Foreign and U.S. Coins (Stack’s, 6/1996), lot 1940; 73rd Anniversary Sale (Stack’s, 10/2008), lot 457; Baltimore Auction (Bowers and Merena, 11/2009), lot 3086; M&S Petty Collection (Legend, 7/2022), lot 263. (Registry values: N1)
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Seated Fest III Approaches – Exhibitors Needed! By Len Augsburger, LSCC #1271 As previously announced…SeatedFest III is still scheduled to coincide with the FUN Show in January 2027. We’ve already met with officials from the FUN organization and they are enthusiastic. The first SeatedFest occurred at the November 2011 Baltimore show and featured exhibits of notable sets of Liberty Seated coinage. As we noted at the time: “In our recollection, there has never been a similar exhibit of Liberty Seated coinage, with the exception of auction lot viewings such as Eliasberg, Richmond, etc.” SeatedFest II was held at the March 2019 show in Baltimore and included presentations on each denomination of Seated coinage, in addition to extensive exhibits that notably included the unique 1870-S half dime. The
owner of the coin was on hand, and the event featured great conversation and camaraderie. You are invited to participate in making SeatedFest III an equally memorable event! We are looking for collectors to exhibit their Liberty Seated coins, which need not necessarily represent complete sets of a particular denomination. Thematic collections built around varieties or other ideas are also welcome – in short, if it is interesting to you, it will probably be interesting to your fellow collectors. We further invite presenters and volunteers to coordinate social events, pre-event promotion, and security. Simply indicate your interest to me or another club officer and we will guide you accordingly.
Liberty Seated Collectors Club