BOOK REVIEW: AUTHORITATIVE REFERENCE ON LIBERTY SEATED DOLLARS

This month we look at Kevin Flynn's latest book, The Authoritative Reference on Liberty Seated Dollars. Liberty Seated dollars in general are not as well covered in the current literature as other denominations of seated coinage. The reason is obvious - they are scarce, expensive, and variety collecting is not for the faint of wallet. It's not quite as severe as collecting double eagles by die variety, but you get the idea.

By coincidence, I note that the current Heritage sale, the Spring ANA in Atlanta, features well over a hundred Liberty Seated dollars, many of them damaged. I haven't seen the coins, or know who consigned them (perhaps one of our eagle-eyed E-Gobrecht readers can tell us), but this has the hallmarks of a die variety study. Problem coins are, of course, cheaper, and in many cases the researcher has no choice - new varieties don't come in grading sets where you get to pick and choose. This is sometimes referred to as "taking one for the team," i.e., you buy a coin you don't necessarily want because of the compulsion to complete the research.

Flynn's book does not go down that path. This is not an a detailed guide to Liberty Seated dollar die varieties. The grapevine indicates that Dick Osburn and Brian Cushing are busily engaged on that front, and we eagerly await the fruits of their labors. What we have here is rather a mixture of topics. The most valuable contribution, and the reason I bought the book, is the reproduction of U.S. Mint correspondence related to Liberty Seated coinage. This section (Appendix A) is fully one-third of the book, and with an 8.5x11 format using small font, you get a lot of bang for your buck. This presents the background on the origin and evolution of seated coinage, and to have all this material gathered together in one place is worth the price of admission.

Flynn has included an analysis of doubled obverse and reverse dies, as well as misplaced and repunched dates. The photography in this section of the book is well done and the features described are readily visible. This is not like one of the math textbooks where the writer says things like "it is clear that...," when it is not clear at all, and especially not to the mathematically impaired like me. Flynn worked with institutional collections - the Smithsonian and the American Numismatic Society - to help put this material together.

There are also specialized essays here from other experts - John Dannreuther tackles the issue of 1853 proof restrikes, while Ron Guth has written up the so-called "1851-O" Liberty Seated dollar. To these "hot topics" Flynn adds additional sections on the 1851 and 1852 restrikes, the 1866 no motto dollar, and the San Francisco issues of 1870 and 1873.

The weakest section of the book is the date-by- date analysis, which does not include much information that is not available elsewhere. If you are actively putting together a date and mintmark set of Liberty Seated dollars, your best tools will be the Heritage auction prices archives, the PCGS and NGC population reports, and a good relationship with a dealer specializing in this area. On the other hand, if you are interested in learning more of the background of Liberty Seated coinage, and in getting a look at the original documents, this book belongs in your library.

To order your copy, contact Kevin Flynn at kevinj50@comcast.net.

Wayne Homren, Editor

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