Russ Logan, an officer in the society and one of our most valued contributors, authored The Enigmatic 1836 Reeded Edge Half Dollar. Another of our members recently “discovered” a Reeded edge 1836 half with the Kneass (Reich) design. Russ was called upon to determine the authenticity of the coin. His research and conclusions are presented to the membership in his fine article. 

Jeffrey Oertel follows with his article A Comparative Listing of Ratings for Capped Bust Half Dollars. Jeff compares the rarity listings for the halves from the 1970 Overton, the 1987 Bust Half Nut Club revision, the 1990 Overton edited by Don Parsley, and the authors current estimated rarity factors. This is only done for the R4 and scarcer marriages. The author concludes that Al Overton was very accurate in his original assessments of rarity, but as new information is obtained the rarity factors have been changed to reflect current knowledge. 

The next article, A New Die Variety for the 1836 Half Eagle Discovered, is by John McCloskey, another of our officers. John describes, for the first time to the collecting community, his discovery of a new die marriage for the half eagles. His discovery is made all the more amazing in the fact that it is not a new marriage of old dies, but the discovery of TWO previously unknown dies for the entire series. John, who also discovered the curl base 2 1829 dime, is one of the preeminent numismatic researches of our time. His thrill of the new discovery is conveyed to the reader in his article. 

Another of our frequent contributors, Philip J. Evans, is next with his latest submission An Overlooked Detail???. Phil, through his close examination of his coins, has come up with the theory that John Reich may have used another “signature” on the Capped Bust Halves. His observations of the clasp that connects the drapery on Liberty’s shoulder is the bases for his conclusions. This is another fine article that shows what you can “discover” when looking closely at your coins. 

Rory Rea follows with his article, More (Faint) Clashed Arrowheads on Large Size Quarters. He describes his recent discovery, and purchase, of an 1821 B3 quarter in late die state showing the clashmarks. His enthusiasm for collecting, and discovering something new is evident in his writing. 

Yet another of our regular authors, W. David Perkins, writes about a remarriage in the bust dollar series in his article, Rare 1798 Dollar Die Remarriage Discovered. Research into the realm of die remarriages started with the bust half dime series some years ago. Articles were published in the journal and collectors have subsequently found them in numerous other series. The latest discovery is documented by David in his latest article. It seems that whenever there is something new in the dollars David is at the center of the research. 

Jim Haller’s article, Method of Producing an Overlay, or Why does Miss Liberty have an Adam’s Apple? is next on the list. He tells the reader an easy way of producing Mylar overlays to determine the position of die clashes on coins. His suggestions may lead to more collectors doing research with this method. 

Michael T. Williams submits the last article of the journal telling the membership about his recent acquisition of an 1834 JR4 dime. Michael has submitted a few articles lately telling us of his love for the hobby of variety collecting. 

Following this comes a pair of obituaries for Elton Dosier, extraordinary bust half collector attributor and person. His recent death has left a void in the realm of numismatics that may be impossible to fill. His wit and good humor will be missed by all those who knew him. J. Warren Long and Henry Hilgard share some of their thoughts on Elton with the rest of us. 

Russell Logan then follows with an obituary on Allen Lovejoy. Allen was a founding father of the society and co-author of the dime book. His death is felt by all of us in the JRCS. His accomplishments, both in numismatics and out, are a small testament to the man. 

This brings to close another copy of the John Reich Journal. Those of you who are reading this that are not members are invited to send for a complimentary copy of the journal for your inspection. Please send requests to JRCS, PO Box 135 Harrison, OH 45030, or E-mail me at Karoleffs4@Aol.com.